Making a fireproof fabric

One of the most fascinating uses of alum is to make materials fireproof, meaning not attackable by fire.

For example, it can be used to prevent a tablecloth from catching fire if it is near a fireplace.

Alum works with any porous fabric, but it's not a trivial process, so it's best to practice with some rags first.

It is also important to always wash your hands thoroughly after handling alum.

Prepare a solution of half a kilo of alum powder and half a liter of hot water.

Then dip the fabric you want to treat in the solution and make sure it is completely covered with it. Remove it immediately and put it to dry without letting it drip on other fabrics (like your clothes or a carpet).

Don't worry if it rains on it. It won't get damaged.

Once dry, the fabric should be slightly stiffer.

Now if you try to set it on fire you will notice that the alumed fabric does not catch fire (you can only notice the smothered glow) while the untreated fabric will burn in no time.

(THIS ARTICLE IS FOR IFORMATIVE PURPOSE ONLY)

Potassium alum is a mixed salt of aluminum and potassium. At room temperature it appears as a colorless substance

Usually if you buy it in bottles, it will most likely create clumps of alum. So it is first necessary to crush it in order to have a powder.

Hot water is used to dissolve the substance in water more quickly.

After immersing the fabric, you can use a hot air source such as a hairdryer to dry it more quickly.

Obviously nowadays fireproof fabrics are much more complicated and particular, they use substances that need machines specifically to be processed, also because most of these substances are very harmful to humans