Construction of bio‐safety flame retardant coatings on polyethylene terephthalate fabric with ammonium phytate and cyclodextrin

Abstract Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric has been widely used in textile industry for decades. However, it faces poor flame retardant performance and dripping problem during burning. In our study, a novel intumescent flame retardant coating containing bio‐materials ammonium phytate (APA) and cyclodextrin (CD) had been constructed on PET fabrics surface via pad‐dry‐cure method. The fire performance, mechanical properties and bio‐safety of APA/CD coated fabric were evaluated. PET fabric coated with 19%APA/6%CD showed a limiting oxygen index value of 29.5% with self‐extinguish from fire and no melt dripping during the vertical burning test. Cone calorimetry test revealed that treated PET fabric significantly suppressed heat release and mass loss. The peak heat release rate was decreased from 277.1 KW/m 2 of PET fabric to 158.3 KW/m 2 of PET‐19%APA/6%CD sample. Furthermore, the residue of treated fabric after combustion was also increased significantly. Tensile strength test showed that the maximum force of fabric was improved by 109.5% in warp direction and 24.2% in weft direction after treatment. Skin irritation test indicated that APA/CD coated PET fabric did not cause erythema and edema to rabbit skin and exhibited satisfactory bio‐safety. All these results suggest that this study proposes a viable way to produce bio‐safety flame retardant PET fabrics.