Electrospinning Machine | Rigorous Fireproofing, Thermal Protection, Graded Fire Alarm and Body Language Recognition: Designing Nano-Coated Aramid for Smart Firefighting Clothing

1.Research Findings Introduction
Recently, Associate Professor Xiang Dong's team from the School of Safety Science and Engineering at Anhui University of Science and Technology has made significant progress in the field of intelligent firefighting materials. The research team developed a new nano-composite coated aramid nanofiber material (NCANF) with rigorous fireproofing, thermal protection performance, capable of achieving rapid fire alarm response and graded fire alarm indication. By integrating signal acquisition and transmission technology, NCANF can establish a linked rescue mode based on real-time field information collection. These research findings were recently published in the journal Advanced Fiber Materials (CAS Zone 1, TOP, IF=16.1) under the title "Rigorous Fireproofing, Thermal Protection, Graded Fire Alarm and Body Language Recognition: Designing Nano-Coated Aramid for Smart Firefighting Clothing". Associate Professor Xiang Dong and Yan Ma, a master's student in Safety Science and Engineering (Class of 2023), are co-first authors of this paper.

2.Composite Material Design
This work utilized a novel two-dimensional nanomaterial AgNP@PDA@M(OH)(OCH3) to construct the nano-composite coated aramid nanofiber material (NCANF) through layer-by-layer self-assembly technology. NCANF possesses fireproofing, thermal protection, and thermal/pressure-sensitive sensing properties, enabling intelligent firefighting applications such as fire scene protection, fire alarm, and behavior recognition.

Figure 1 Preparation process, excellent properties, and intelligent firefighting applications of NCANF.

Figure 2 Morphology and composition analysis of NCANF.

3.Material Excellent Performance
NCANF forms a unique "metal-char-air" honeycomb buffer layer upon encountering fire, which can withstand flame (1300 °C) impact for at least 60 seconds. NCANF is expected to solve the problem of existing intelligent firefighting fabrics lacking rigorous fireproofing. Furthermore, the low thermal conductivity of NCANF gives it excellent protection when in direct contact with a heat source. Simultaneously, in a thermal radiation environment, the uniformly distributed silver nanoparticles on the material's surface form a protective mechanism by efficiently reflecting infrared electromagnetic waves.

Figure 3 Fireproof performance of NCANF.

Figure 4 Thermal protection performance of NCANF.

4.Intelligent Firefighting Application
NCANF can be applied for rapid fire alarm response and supports graded fire alarm indication based on operational amplifier circuits. Integrating NCANF, which acts as a variable resistor, at the finger joints of a robotic hand, and repeatedly bending the joints, NCANF maintains a stable resistance change rate. Through the mapping relationship between joint bending angle and resistance change rate, "posture encoding" can be established. Combined with monitoring the movement of shoulder and elbow joints, it can achieve recognition of firefighting sign language.

Figure 5 Thermal sensing performance and fire alarm application of NCANF.

Figure 6 Pressure sensing performance and firefighting sign language recognition application of NCANF.

Original Information
Xiang Dong *, Yan Ma, Shidai Zhang, Caiyu Rong, Xiaoyu Jiang, Yan Li, Shibin Nie, Konghu Tian. Rigorous Fireproofing, Thermal Protection, Graded Fire Alarm and Body Language Recognition: Designing Nano-Coated Aramid for Smart Firefighting Clothing. Adv. Fiber Mater., 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-025-00569-y