Influence of Coating on High Performance Heat Resistant Textile Curtains

The protection of human life and goods assumes a growing concern in all forms of activities. The fire and smoke curtains act as a physical barrier to prevent the fire from spreading between spaces as well as to staunch the smoke and heat transfer to adjacent areas, while causing minimal interference. Usually, curtains are based on fiber structures that can be coated to enhance their protective capabilities. Also, the fiber structure can be developed into a complex pattern of 2D and 3D threads, with single or multiple materials that can be tailored to optimize its behavior. The thermal and fire protection depends on the fibers, fabric pattern and coatings. The present paper reports the development of novel coated structures of fibers used for fire protection curtains. Basalt and glass fibers are used as yarn materials. Following the certification standards the samples were assessed for their thermal resistance by measuring the temperature differential they provide while their integrity is evaluated. The sample is placed under stress in an attempt to mimic its own weight effect when in service. The temperature is monitored using thermocouples which are placed at both sides of the fabric and the integrity parameter is assessed through the occurrence of fabric rupture and smoke and/or odor release motivated by its deterioration. Regarding the uncoated samples, the one composed of glass-fiber in both directions presents the best thermal performance. The addition of an alumina coating significantly improves the performance of all samples. However, while a thinner (0.05 μm) alumina layer provides better results for the sample with glass-fiber in both warp and weft directions, the behavior of samples composed of glass-fiber and basalt is superior when a thicker (0.3 μm) alumina layer is used. In both cases, an alumina coating application results in an increase of the gradient temperature (between curtain inside/outside temperatures) of about 38.0% (310.0 °C vs. 427.0 °C for the first and 386.0 °C vs. 526.0 °C for the latter.