A review on polyurethane based multifunctional materials synthesis for advancement in textile coating applications

Polyurethanes (PUs) are among the most commonly used, versatile, and scientifically studied polymer in the world. It is an essential polymer to mitigate day to day demands of modern society. Polyurethane became popular in the textile industry as environmentally friendly coating materials. Textile material coated with one or more polymers have been developed continuously for several decades to improve properties and multiple advantages over the classic textile material. By choosing the appropriate polymer, coating technique, and manufacturing parameters, it is possible to create high-performance coating material with improved properties. Polyurethane highly used for coating in textile industry among other polymers because of its superior flexibility, weather resistance, and wear resistance. Several textile properties, including wear comfort, tensile strength, tear strength, wrinkle resistance, water contact angle, antibacterial properties, colour fastness, etc., can be significantly enhanced by polyurethanes coating. This article contains a comprehensive review of recent developments and research works concerning polyurethane's direct involvement as coatings to the textile substrates. This feature article presents an up-to-date review of polyurethane in textile applications. The various methods to fabricate these polyurethanes and the performances of the polyurethanes in textile material are discussed.