Manufacturing Process for Application of Selectively Permeable Coatings to Textiles

Permselective coatings are proposed for fabrics used in the construction of protective garments for use in chemically contaminated environments. These coatings comprise sulfonated poly(styrene-block-isobutylene-block-styrene) block copolymer applied to the fabric from solution. The coating will provide barrier protection against chemical threats including chemical warfare agents (CWA), yet will provide a sufficiently high level of water transport to eliminate the heat stress that plagues other protective garments. In Phase II, block copolymer sulfonation will be scaled-up using an environmentally benign synthetic procedure, which uses inexpensive reagents, while reducing solvent and energy consumption. Novel coating formulations will be developed, allowing strict control over crucial drying stage structuring of the polymeric material, thereby insuring reproducible results in high volume manufacturing operations. Phase II will advance production of coated fabrics from laboratory through pilot-plant production leading to the manufacture of >50 yard quantities of coated fabric per batch using methods directly applicable to full-scale production.