Influence of Ti-Si-N Nanocomposite Coating on Heat Radiation Resistance of Fireproof Fabrics

Fireproof fabrics are commonly used for protection of fireguards. Such materials must be characterized by improved heat resistance, especially to radiation and flame. In this paper, fireproof fabric (NATAN and PROTON-trademark names) was covered with Ti-Si-N nanocomposite reflective coating using magnetron sputtering. The fabrics were subjected to heat radiation of heat flux density from 0.615 to 2.525 kW/m². A testing stage equipped with a heat source, thermal imaging camera and thermocouples was used. Two variants of the coatings were studied: Ti-Si and (Ti,Si)N considering different thicknesses of layers. The temperature increment and time to reach the pain threshold (60 °C) which corresponds approximately to a 2nd-degree burn according to Henriques criterion were analyzed. In addition, the microstructural analysis of the samples using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) system was performed. The improvement of heat resistance showed for Ti-Si-coated PROTON and NATAN for all tested heat flux densities. Time to reach 60 °C for PROTON fabric increased maximally from 11.23 s (without coating) to 13.13 s (Ti-Si coating) for heat flux density of 0.615 kW/m² and for NATAN-maximally from 7.76 s (without coating) to 11.30 s (Ti-Si coating) for the same heat flux density.