Manufacturing and physical properties of fire-retardant fibrous laminate thermal insulation

In this study, fire-retardant polyester fibers (FRPFs), which are hollow and have a 3D-crimp shape, were processed using nonwoven manufacturing technology to create fire-retardant fibrous material. The content of low-Tm fibers (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 %) and number of layers of loose nonwoven sheet (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 layers) were changed to determine tensile strength and elongation, thermal conductivity, air permeability and the limiting oxygen index. The purposes of this study are to develop a manufacturing procedure for convenient installation of thermal insulation material and improve the application of fiber materials in thermal insulation. Experimental results demonstrate that, due to the loose nonwoven sheet combined with needle punching nonwoven sheets, tensile strength FRPFs increased to 100 %. The contents of the polyester low-melting-temperature fiber and the number of combined layers affected thermal conductivity results. In the test for the limit oxygen index, the optimal sample was manufactured using 7.78 dtex FRPFs, 10 % PET low-melting-temperature fiber and 5 layers of loose nonwoven sheet. The limit oxygen index is 35.