Development and Manufacturing of Lightweight Textile Fire Barrier for Furniture and Mattresses

Through this NIST SBIR program, Tex Tech Industries is developing furniture and mattress fire blocking materials. Fire barrier methods are necessary to protect furniture and mattresses from fire. In Phase I, Tex Tech used a variety of fibers to make and evaluate fibers for fire barriers. In Phase II, Tex Tech proposed to continue to develop a fire protection barrier from textiles that can potentially provide better fire protection, are easy to use and put into production, and low cost. Tex Tech will work with Georgia Tech¿s Dr. Satish Kumar, who has developed a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and carbon nanofiber (CNF) fiber that has the potential to be produced into a high char yield product and lower shrinkage. The increased char may provide a stronger barrier during a fire to protect the inside of a mattress or the furniture from burning. In Phase II, Tex Tech proposes to carry this work to the next development stage. Specific solutions using unique fibers based on textile barrier solutions will be addressed.