Biomacromolecules as effective "green" flame retardants for textile substrates

This talk is aimed at describing the potentialities offered by selected biomacromolecules (namely, nucleic acids, whey proteins and caseins) as low impact flame retardant additives for cotton and polyester fabrics. In fact, these substrates can be easily treated using impregnation/exhaustion or layer by layer methods: more specifically, the fire behavior of the fabrics is remarkably enhanced because of the presence of the deposited coatings/assemblies, as clearly indicated by flammability and forced combustion tests. Furthermore, the potential progresses and the existing limitations of the proposed approach are also discussed.