The fire protection of materials has an important role in our everyday life and covers a highly diverse spectrum of substances, materials, and fields of application. Important fields of application for fire protection, especially in public areas, are construction and transport, electronic devices, furnishings, and textiles (e.g., applications for occupational safety, carpets, curtains, upholstery, insulation, and technical applications in outdoor areas). The efficient and durable finishing of materials with flame retardant additives is crucial to ensure effective fire protection. Many of the flame retardant additives currently used are based on bromides, chlorides, phosphates, or antimony. However, these flame retardants are harmful to the environment and/or health (not phosphates). Therefore, the use of these flame retardants is already being restricted by EU directives (e.g., REACH regulation), and it is foreseeable that they will be further restricted in the future. To keep up with this development, innovative and sustainable solutions must be developed in the short term. The amount of flame retardant additives that are harmful to the environment and health must be reduced. In the medium term, these harmful additives must be completely replaced by sustainable flame retardant additives that are not harmful to the environment and health. This paper describes research results to reduce the amount of additives in the short term. In order to reduce the amount of additives used, an innovative refinement process is being developed. In a first step, the flame retardant additives are combined with bio-based adhesion promoters (anchor peptides). Anchor peptides bind with high selectivity, binding strength, and occupancy density to a broad portfolio of materials (e.g., synthetic polymers, metals, ceramics, and natural materials) and enable the finishing of the materials with a broad spectrum of functional units (e.g., flame retardant additives). Material functionalization by anchor peptides is energy-efficient and resource-saving at room temperature in aqueous solution and is scalable in its production. Based on these developments, in this paper, a finishing process is presented with which flame retardant textiles can be equipped with bio-based anchor peptides. A requirements’ outline for the new finishing process is described. Established processes (e.g., foulard, coating machine, and roller application) are compared with each other and evaluated with regard to the requirements and their suitability. The most suitable process is then designed, and a laboratory scale as well as an industry scale concept are presented.
Skip Nav Destination
Development of a process for flame retardant coating of textiles with bio-hybrid anchor peptides
Article navigation
September 2023
Research Article|
August 18 2023
Development of a process for flame retardant coating of textiles with bio-hybrid anchor peptides

Rahel Heesemann
;
Rahel Heesemann
a)
(Conceptualization, Project administration, Writing – original draft)
1
Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: rahel.heesemann@ita.rwth-aachen.de
Search for other works by this author on:
Isa Bettermann
;
Isa Bettermann
(Resources, Supervision)
1
Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Roshan Paul
;
Roshan Paul
(Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Milena Rey
;
Milena Rey
(Investigation, Methodology)
1
Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Thomas Gries
;
Thomas Gries
(Resources)
1
Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Lilin Feng
;
Lilin Feng
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
2
Institute of Biotechnology of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Ulrich Schwaneberg
;
Ulrich Schwaneberg
(Resources)
2
Institute of Biotechnology of RWTH Aachen University
, Aachen 52074, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Claus Hummelsheim
Claus Hummelsheim
(Resources)
3
Klevers GmbH & Co. Kg
, Mönchengladbach 41199, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: rahel.heesemann@ita.rwth-aachen.de
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 41, 053110 (2023)
Article history
Received:
April 20 2023
Accepted:
July 07 2023
Connected Content
A companion article has been published:
Producing safer, more environmentally friendly fire-resistant fabrics
Citation
Rahel Heesemann, Isa Bettermann, Roshan Paul, Milena Rey, Thomas Gries, Lilin Feng, Ulrich Schwaneberg, Claus Hummelsheim; Development of a process for flame retardant coating of textiles with bio-hybrid anchor peptides. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 September 2023; 41 (5): 053110. https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002776
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionPay-Per-View Access
$40.00
806
Views
Citing articles via
Related Content
Correction coefficiency of physical and mechanical properties of fabrics and calculation of irrigation
AIP Conference Proceedings (June 2022)
Utilization of egg yolk as an alternative fatliquoring agent for fur tanning of rabbit skin
AIP Conference Proceedings (January 2023)
Sound absorption characteristics of theater seats and reverberation time in unoccupied concert halls
J Acoust Soc Am (August 2005)
Producing safer, more environmentally friendly fire-resistant fabrics
Scilight (August 2023)
A Nonreflecting Wall Lining for Underwater Sound Studies
J Acoust Soc Am (June 2005)