Preparation, thermal properties and permeabilities of aluminum‐coated fabrics destined for thermal radiation protective clothing

Summary In this study, radiant reflective, flame retardant and water vapor permeable coatings were fabricated on aramid fabric (AF) for thermal radiation protective clothing by using a simple cost‐effective coating method, which included an aluminum paste, APP‐PER‐MEL and a silk fibroin powder in the TPU solution system. The permeability, flame retardancy, thermal stability, radiative spectral reflectance, as well as RPP of these prepared fabrics were characterized and compared with the pure AF and aluminum‐foiled AF (AF‐AF). Results show that the newly developed aluminized AF had rather high permeability, and the permeable capability would be further enhanced with the additive of silk fibroin powder. The flame retardancy (FR) of the coated fabric sample was also achieved by introducing an intumescent FR system. In contrast to the pure AF, the aluminum‐coated AF provided higher levels of radiation protection in RPP testing. This was further confirmed by the fact that aluminum‐coated AF exhibited comparative high average reflectivities (more than 0.7) in the radiant spectral range of 1547 nm to 2500 nm. Thus, the aluminum‐coated AF prepared by functional coating method exhibit great and competitive practicability in thermal protective clothing due to their excellent moisture comfort and radiant thermal protection.