Intumescent Biobased-Polylactide Films to Flame Retard Nonwovens

The work focuses on the development of a newprocess to flame retard nonwovens, using films basedon renewable resources. Films consist in intumescentformulations of polylactic acid (PLA), ammoniumpolyphosphate (APP) blended with lignin or starchand are coated on hemp or wool nonwovens. Theobjective of this study was to investigate the fireretardant and mechanical properties of textilesprotected by FR PLA films for potential use inbuilding applications. Horizontal and vertical flamespread tests as well as cone calorimetry tests showthat flammability properties of nonwovens aresignificantly improved. Better mechanical propertiesare also obtained with coated nonwovens.