Wash Durable Flame Resistant NonWovens

Luna Innovations, teamed with North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) Non-Wovens Institute (NWI), will meet the Army’s need to develop a novel wash durable, flame resistant, non-woven textile. This practical system will provide military uniforms with excellent flame resistant (FR) protection at a lower manufacturing cost without compromising performance such as durability, repellency, and vector protection. The initial targeted application will be a combat shirt fabric (Basic material A of GL-PD-10-02E). The production of the inherently FR nonwoven for fabrication will be done at NCSU-NWI. Color matching, ink system development and printing of the OCP pattern will be done at NCSU in its textile inkjet printing facility. The printed fabric will be treated with Luna’s Eversheild™ treatment at NCSU by electrospray. Combat shirt prototype (100+ items) manufacture will be done at Lisa Enterprises with non-fabric A materials support from Propper. These combat shirts will be delivered to the Army PM for flame and field testing. Additional value will be added by the development of a wash durable version of Luna’s Evershield™ textile treatment. This treatment will add FR protection along with fluid resistence to Army textiles.