Manufacturing process and property analysis of industrial flame retarded PET fiber and polyurethane composite

Abstract Nonwovens are manufactured with a fast and low-cost process and are used extensively for clothing, transportation, building, upholstery and medical applications. Thus, the issue of safety while using nonwovens becomes more and more significant. In this paper, we discuss the manufacturing process of flame retarded nonwovens by PET flame retarded hollow fiber and PET low melting point fiber. Polyurethane foam was coated between two nonwoven sheets to construct a sandwich structure. The weight ratio of the PET low melting point fiber in the nonwoven sheet was changed to evaluate its limit oxygen index (LOI). And the thermal conductivity of industrial flame retarded PET fiber and polyurethane composites was estimated by the Taguchi method. The parameters included in the Taguchi method were the needle punching density of the nonwoven sheets, the fineness of the flame retarded PET hollow fiber, the weight ratios of PET low melting point fiber and the thickness of polyurethane foam. Follow-up results of the Taguchi method were obtained in this research; extra specimens were prepared with varying thickness of the polyurethane foam to demonstrate the accuracy of the Taguchi method.