Eco‐friendly high‐performance coating for polyester fabric

ABSTRACT Due to increasing environmental concerns and depletion of petroleum resources, the use of green materials has become popular with garment industry. In the past, natural rubber, which is one of the most prevalent bio‐based elastomers, was used as waterproof coating for many applications due to its inherent elasticity, high tear and abrasion resistance, and hydrophobicity. However, NR has significant drawbacks when applying to garments including its poor adhesion to polyester fabrics and low breathability. Polyurethane, on the other hand, possesses high breathability but relatively poor elasticity. In this study, the fabric coating based on waterborne polyurethane and pre‐vulcanized natural rubber latex was synthesized with the goal to produce fabric for high‐performance applications, which could surpass criteria including water vapor permeability (WVP) (>10 000 g/m 2 •24hr), water pressure resistance (WPR) (>1000 mmH 2 O), and stretchability (>300%). The best condition achieved when using 60NR cured for 15 min by using 1.5 phr sulfur could provide WPR value of 4090 mmH 2 O and WVP of 11 033 g/m 2 •24hr. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 48002.