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Multifunctional polyurethane coatings boost textile performance and sustainability
A recent review highlights how advanced polyurethane (PU) coatings provide textiles with properties such as flame retardancy, water repellency, antibacterial protection and UV resistance – increasingly achieved using eco-friendly waterborne systems.
Polyurethane has become a key polymer for functional textile coatings, enabling surfaces to gain diverse properties including antimicrobial activity, flame resistance, water repellency, UV protection and even ballistic resistance. Application methods such as dip coating, knife coating and transfer coating ensure controlled layer thickness and additive integration.
In recent years, waterborne polyurethanes (WPU) have attracted growing interest due to their low volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and robust performance. By incorporating nanomaterials and functional chain extenders – such as titanium dioxide nanoparticles, flame-retardant additives, nanometals, fluorocarbons, silicones and UV absorbers – researchers have developed coatings that combine several protective features in one system.
Reading tip: High-performance Polyurethanes
Get up to speed with the latest developments in high-performance polyurethanes thanks to the new multi-media EC Tech Report! Placing special focus on innovative and environmentally friendly formulation of coatings systems, this extensive report provides deep insights into technological findings such as: Innovative routes to producing water-borne acrylic polyols for 2K PU topcoats, new silicone additives for high-performance anti-graffiti polyurethane applications, environmentally compliant two-component water-borne urethane dispersions and making ecological PU coatings a reality: using renewable acetone from bio-based, bio-circular and circular feedstocks.
Durable protection even after repeated washing
Reported PU systems achieve over 90 % antibacterial efficiency even after 30 washing cycles, ultraviolet protection factors (UPF) above 50+, water contact angles exceeding 140° for pronounced repellency and limiting oxygen index (LOI) values above 29.4 % for improved flame resistance. Other benefits include enhanced thermal stability and ballistic protection.
The review underlines the potential of waterborne multifunctional PU coatings to deliver sustainable, high-performance textile finishes while opening new opportunities for innovative protective and comfort-enhancing features.
Source: Srivastava, A., Maity, S. & Das, B. R., A review on multi-functional polyurethane (PU) coatings for fabric applications: Materials, processes and recent developments. Progress in Organic Coatings, 207, 109377 (2025).
