A hybrid hydrogel/textile composite as flame-resistant dress
Yuanling Nie, Mugaanire Tendo Innocent, Ying Guo, Ruili Wang, Kai Hou, Meifang Zhu
Abstract
Currently, the functional and cost-effective flame-resistant textiles (FRTs) are on high demand. However, such FRTs based on general polymer fabrics are always expensive, readily decompose, and their temperatures quickly rise once exposed to thermal environments. Inspired by the large specific heat of water and high decomposition temperature of inorganic substances like SiO2, this study establishes a simple casting strategy for preparing flame-resistant gel/textiles (FR-GTs). The findings showed that active diffusion of aqueous AAM/SiO2 pre-gel solution into the textile structure enabled the formation of a tough interfacial adhesion between the hydrogel and textiles. The interfacial toughness reached ~272 J/m2 because the PAAM/SiO2 nanocomposite hydrogel was filled into textile to form the semi-interpenetrating structure at the interface. The presence of chemical crosslinker (PEGDA) and physical crosslinker (SiO2) limited the volume expansion of the hydrogel upon swelling. In addition, the PAAM/SiO2 nanocomposite hydrogel layer prevented burning in high temperature environments (over 100 °C), due to the heat dissipation of water during evaporation. This simple strategy provides a guidance towards the fabrication of hybrid hydrogel/textile composites for the applications like household fire resistant materials such as flame-resistant gloves.