Patent Application
20090075017
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a textile product having flame retardant properties provided by intumescent particles coated on the upper surface of a tufting primary backing that provide enhanced flame and/or smoke retardant properties to the textile product. The invention also relates to methods of manufacturing such a textile product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many commercial textile products are required by law to have smoke suppressant and flame retardant properties in order to help prevent smoke generation and flame spread through the textile products in the event of a fire. Typically, most carpet structures have nylon fibers bonded, tufted, or otherwise joined to a primary backing layer, collectively referred to as a face cloth. The face cloth is then bonded to a back coating layer, commonly made of polyvinylchloride (PVC) or PVC resin, which is quite flammable. Although nylon fibers do not support flames or combustion well, heat from a fire can heat or melt the nylon fibers, which in turn can ignite the PVC, providing a sustained flame source and causing the nylon fibers to burn and emit noxious gases.
Thus, in order to meet the flame and smoke standards, it is fairly common for textile products to be comprised of fibers having flame retardant or smoke suppressant properties. See generally U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,546 to Schwartz et al., which discloses a carpet containing flame retardant fibers, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Alternatively, many textile products consist of at least two distinct components where a textile material is used in conjunction with various additional backing layers or blocking sheets that impart smoke suppressant and flame retardant properties to a given textile product. For instance, much transportation upholstery material is used in conjunction with separate fire blocking sheet layers.
As a further example, many carpets include secondary or tertiary backing layers that have smoke suppressant and flame retardant properties. For instance, some carpets incorporate polybrominated biphenyl oxides, such as decabromobiphenyl oxide (“decabrome”), or antimony oxide in these additional backing layers. However, decabrome is very expensive and antimony oxide may pose toxicity problems. The practice of including fire block sheets and separate backing layers to increase smoke suppression and flame retardancy is expensive and is often difficult to incorporate in the manufacturing process of textile products.
Another attempt to provide textile products with flame retardant and smoke suppressant properties is described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,709, to Tschirch, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent describes incorporating intumescent particles into a backcoating of a textile product. This practice, however, does not prevent the flame from reaching the backcoating layer, but is merely an attempt to attenuate the effects of a flame once it does reach the backcoating layer. One reason this approach may be considered acceptable is that nylon fibers are not particularly flammable, as noted above.
However, advanced technology has led to the manufacture of carpet fibers from materials other than nylon. In some instances, the new carpet fiber materials provide enhanced properties over nylon fibers, such as increased softness, durability, and so forth. On the other hand, the fibers are often not as flame resistant as nylon fibers. This presents additional difficulties for manufacturers of such products.
The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,709, to Tschirch would not be effective for use with carpets that have fibers made from a flammable material. Specifically, nylon fibers do not propagate a flame, and as such, there has not been as much need to provide a flame resistant material in close proximity to the fibers. On the other hand, carpets having fibers made of materials that are more flammable than nylon present an increased challenge to providing a flame retarding mechanism. Due to regulations and also due to manufacturers' incentives to provide flame resistant textile products, additional products and methods must be explored for use with less flame resistant carpet fibers. Additionally, it would also be beneficial to provide a carpet product that prevents a flame from ever reaching the flammable backcoating of the carpet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,151 to Vincent, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, discusses providing a carpet with a primary backing support for tufted yarn that bears microcapsules containing volatile or volatilizable flame-retarding agent. The agent may also be incorporated into an adhesive applied to the back of the primary backing. In use, the flame-retarding agent is released from the microcapsules under the action of heat to volatize and form a flame-resistant, gaseous atmosphere surrounding each of the yarn tufts. The reference suggests that the use of unencapsulated flame-retardants is not as useful because the volatile, toxic material would evaporate from the adhesive and not be available for protection of the carpet. Microcapsules may contain a gas that expands when heated and escapes to yield free gas, and therefore flame retardance.
The present invention, however, solves these problems by providing commercially available smoke suppressant-flame retardant intumescent particles coated on or applied to the upper surface of the primary layer or incorporated into the primary layer, or both. Providing the flame retardant barrier above the backcoating, i.e., between the backcoating and the carpet fibers on the upper surface of the primary layer, prevents the flame from ever reaching the more flammable backcoating layer. Accordingly, this invention better prevents PVC backcoating from generating and/or propagating a flame better than the methods currently known. Moreover, the present invention is particularly useful for carpets having fibers that are more flammable than nylon because it provides a flame barrier closer to the fibers and between the fibers and the flammable PVC backcoating. It improves the potential for smoke and flame suppression by preventing a flame from ever reaching the more flammable backcoating layer. Additionally, the use of intumescent particles rather than microcapsules containing volatile or volatilizable flame-retarding agent is advantageous because intumescent particles are less expensive and decompose when heated to form a gas that may put out a flame or may form cellular char for insulation from flame.
The textile product of the present invention includes a textile material that constitutes a primary backing layer and a tufted layer, for instance, a pile carpet or plush material. The primary backing has a layer of intumescent material, such as intumescent particles, coated on the surface to which the textile layer is bonded, tufted, or otherwise joined. Alternatively or additionally, the particles may be incorporated into the primary backing layer.
The flame intumescent material may be a polymer matrix containing inorganic smoke suppressant and/or flame retardant intumescent particles, which are comprised of commercially available mixtures. See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,955,987; 4,514,524; 4,824,709; 5,723,515; 6,114,421; 6,242,502, describing various intumescent materials and formulations, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,012,546; 4,173,671; 4,218,502; 4,234,639; 4,372,997; 4,504,546; 4,521,133; 4,539,045; 4,610,905; and 4,618,522; and J
When exposed to heat, the intumescent particles of this invention will swell and form an insulating char, thus choking off flames and reducing smoke. This swelling serves as a barrier between the heat source and the backcoating layer, effectively isolating the backcoating layer so that it will not burn.
This invention is particularly beneficial for use in carpets that do not have nylon fibers. Although nylon fibers do not propagate a flame well, new carpet fibers are being developed that are not as flame resistant as nylon. For example, PLA (polylactic acid) fibers are environmentally safe, provide a soft, subtle surface, but have been shown to ignite easily. While nylon fibers usually only melt and form a puddle that subjects the backcoating to an atmosphere that is conducive to burning, PLA fibers will catch fire themselves. This generates a need for a strong flame barrier closer to the fibers themselves, i.e., not in the backcoating.
The intumescent layer may include additional agents to provide enhanced qualities to the textile product, such as antimicrobial agents, softening agents, pliability agent, stain resistant agents, waterproofing agents, static resistance additives to enhance static dissipation, and combinations thereof. Additionally, other flame retardant materials may be incorporated with the intumescent particles or incorporated into other portions of the textile product.
The intumescent particles (or particles mixed with another agent) may be directly applied to the primary layer, or may be incorporated into the fibers that are used to form the primary layer, or both. The material may be mixed with or applied to the primary layer prior to the tufting process, or may be applied simultaneously during the tufting process. It may also be possible to apply the material to the primary layer after it has been tufted.
Some of the features and advantages of the invention have been identified above. Others will become apparent from the detailed description which follows, and from the accompanying drawings, in which:
In each of the figures, the pattern of intumescent particles is continued beyond the associated carpet structure on the left side of the figure to facilitate visualization of the location of the particles in the carpet structure.
This invention will now be described more fully with reference to the drawings, showing preferred embodiments of the invention. However, this invention can be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth.
In general, the textile products of this invention have a flame retardant material, such as intumescent particles coated, screen printed, applied to, dotted onto, incorporated into, or otherwise associated with a primary backing layer. This provides a flame barrier between carpet tufts and the more flammable backcoating.
Intumescent particles 16 may comprise any commercially available intumescent material, including but not limited to those described by the references incorporated above. For example, hydrated alkali metal silicates and/or an oxy boron compound may be used. Hydrated alkali metal silicates have been previously used as smoke suppressant and/or flame retardant additives in roofing materials, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,218,502 and 4,521,333, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. When subjected to the high temperatures present in a fire, water of hydration in the intumescent compound is driven off, causing the composition to puff and expand by some 7 to 30 times its original volume. Sodium silicates are often preferred because of their commercial availability and low cost, but silicates formed from other alkali metals may also be used including, for example, those formed from potassium and lithium. Any intumescent particles that provide the swelling characteristics described above are considered useable with this invention, such as, but not limited to, the intumescent particles disclosed in any incorporated references.
The primary backing layer 14 (also referred to as the primary backing) of
In an alternate embodiment, shown in
Additionally, although not shown, a combination of the embodiments shown in
Also shown in
Finally, a secondary backing 22 may be adhered to the backcoating. The secondary backing 22 may be formed of natural or synthetic fibers, or of a foamed or unfoamed polymer sheet, such as for example, PVC foam or ethylene vinyl acetate foam. As is conventional, the pile yarns 10 may be cut to form cut pile tufts as illustrated in
Intumescent particles 16 may also be coated on a lower surface of primary backing 14, so long as there is a flame barrier provided between the backcoating 20 and tufts 12 according to the primary concepts of this invention.
In one specific embodiment of this invention, the intumescent particles comprise an acrylic binder, ammonium phosphate, melamine (2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-trizine) or melamine cyanurate, water, aluminum trihydrate, and melamine-formaldehyde resin. The percentages of these compounds may vary. For example, the particles may comprise about 10-30% acrylic binder (preferably about 20% acrylic binder), about 15-35% ammonium phosphate (preferably about 24% ammonium phosphate), about 5-20% melamine (2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-trizine) or melamine cyanurate (preferably about 8% melamine (2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-trizine) or melamine cyanurate), about 10-30% water (preferably about 20% water), about 15-35% aluminum trihydrate (preferably about 23% aluminum trihydrate), and about 1-15% melamine-formaldehyde resin (preferably about 5% melamine-formaldehyde resin). One specific embodiment comprises about 20% acrylic binder, about 20% water, about 24% ammonium polyphosphate, about 8% melamine cyanurate, and about 28% alumina trihydrate.
It may be desirable for the carpet 10 of the present invention to be provided with additional agents imparting various additional characteristics, including but not limited to stain resistance, softness, pliability, waterproofing, antimicrobial action, static resistance additives, and combinations thereof. An exemplary antimicrobial agent for use with this invention is Intersept® brand antimicrobial. Such agents or particles may also be incorporated with the intumescent particles 16 and applied to or incorporated with the primary backing 14.
The particular embodiments of the invention described above are merely illustrative and are not the only embodiments possible. Those skilled in the art can readily identify additional embodiments and features of the invention that are within the scope of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/334,797 entitled “Textile Products Having Flame Retardant Properties and Methods of Manufacture,” filed Nov. 15, 2001, which document is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60334797 | Nov 2001 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11348622 | Jan 2006 | US |
| Child | 12272041 | US | |
| Parent | 10294367 | Nov 2002 | US |
| Child | 11348622 | US |
