In seeking new possibilities to lower the flammability of textiles made fro
m polypropylene, the application of the pneumothermic (,,melt-blown") metho
d has been considered as a way to obtain nonwovens having fire retardant pa
rticles combined with their component fibres. So far the above method has b
een applied by the Textile Research Institute in Lodz, Poland in the manufa
cture of polypropylene nonwovens for filtration of air and some liquid medi
a. As result from the experiments carried out, the application of highly di
sintegrated fire resistant particles in liquid polymer streams before their
solidification into fibres makes it possible to obtain nonwovens with lowe
red flammability. Some well-known pw retardants (as melamine cyanurate and
ammonium polyphosphate) have been tested in the experiments but the best re
sults have been obtained for a non-typical system: polyvinyl chloride - ant
imony trioxide. The obtained nonwovens have been examined in view of their
five properties. Electron microscopy and mechanical tests haw also been use
d to examine the properties of nonwovens.