29 Nov Natural fire-resistant solution developed for fabrics
A UK university has developed a natural solution for fire-resistant fabrics.
The University of Huddersfield worked in collaboration with Camira, a UK-based textile firm and Future Fashion Factory to develop a new finish that meets the same high performance standards for fire-resistance but has a much smaller environmental impact.
According to the university the finished product reduces the amount of water, energy and chemicals used, to make for a more efficient and sustainable manufacturing process.
Parik Goswami, from the university’s Technical Textiles Research Centre, commented: “We’re focused on using chemistry from the natural environment to support the region’s businesses to become more sustainable. It’s exciting to harness natural resources to give Yorkshire companies the cutting egde when facing tomorrow’s challenges.”
While the research has all happened within the UK, Camira is now investigating commercial sources of natural chemicals that will enable the solution to be launched at scale to commercialise the new technique and make it widely available.
The research team’s results were extremely promising and shed some light on the potential performance of a natural flame-retardant finish. Interestingly, the new solution is able to be added to fabric at the point of the dye bath, making it a one-step dyeing and finishing process.