According to foreign media reports, the United States has been calling for a military uniform that is not only flame-retardant but also repellent. Now, a team led by Dr. Ramasawamy Nagarajan from the Lowell Center for Advanced Materials at the University of Massachusetts has found a new multifunctional material that can meet this requirement. It is reported that the material is made of commercial nylon cotton yarn mixed with non-toxic chemicals.
The main function of military uniforms is to allow soldiers on the same side to identify their companions when intimidating the enemy. In the past, uniforms may be impressive, with bright colors, but they are uncomfortable to wear, difficult to clean and maintain, and are not very practical in combat or daily tasks.
Nowadays, uniforms are becoming more and more high-tech, with digital camouflage, anti-biochemical agents, explosion protection and even self-heating gloves. However, the most ideal uniform for a global deployment like the US Army should be comfortable, easy to clean, durable, flame-retardant, and insect-repellent in all weather conditions.
In addition, the U.S. government also hopes to supply as many of these uniforms domestically as possible, while at the same time keeping the uniforms cheap and environmentally friendly. Obviously, this is not easy to achieve.
In this regard, Nagarajan said: “The Army put forward this interesting and challenging multifunctional requirement to us. There are flame-resistant army combat uniforms made of various materials that can meet the flame-retardant requirements. But they are expensive, and fabric dyeing is also possible. The problem. And some of the raw materials are not produced in the United States. So, our goal is to find an existing material that we can modify to make it flame-retardant and insect-repellent, and is a fabric that soldiers want to wear."
As the base material, Nagarajan's team chose a semi-nylon-cotton blend material sold on the market, which is cheap, comfortable, strong and wear-resistant. Then, they added a non-toxic, phosphorus-containing plant acid to the fiber, which is extracted from seeds, nuts and grains.
“We started with the manufacture of flame retardants for fabrics and focused on the cotton part of the mixture,†said team member Sourabh Kulkarn. “There are many hydroxyl groups on the surface of cotton, which can be activated by ready-made chemicals and then combined with phosphorus-containing compounds. This produces flame retardancy."
Afterwards, the researchers added a daily non-toxic insect repellent called permethrin to the material. Permethrin is a synthetic chemical substance that acts like a natural extract of chrysanthemum. It can adhere to the fiber through plasma-assisted deposition.
The flame retardancy of the new material is at least 20% higher than that of the untreated material in the heat release ability, total heat release test and vertical flame test. At the same time, live insect tests on mosquitoes showed that the mosquito’s ability to repel mosquitoes has also increased by 98%. In addition, the fabric is still breathable.
Nagarajan said: "We are very excited because we have proven that we can modify this fabric to make it flame-retardant and insect-repellent-and still be quite durable and comfortable. We want to use a substance other than phytic acid, This substance contains more phosphorus, so it will bring higher flame resistance, better durability, and more non-toxic to soldiers’ skin."
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