Engineering an eco-friendly hybrid bi-layer fabric having inherently flame-resistant & antibacterial characteristics for children's protective clothing

•Modacrylic and bamboo yarn offers a promising alternative to clothing treated with chemicals for flame retardant and antibacterial fabrics.•Air Permeability of fabrics is unaffected by the percentage of materials used.•The overall moisture management capacity (OMMC) of samples affected by both structures and materials percentage.•The bursting strength of samples has been affected by fabric structures than material percentage. Children's clothing is often treated with flame-retardant chemicals to prevent injury in the event of a fire. However, concerns about the potential health risks of these chemicals have led to a growing interest in the development of naturally flame-resistant children's wear. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the development of a multipurpose fabric inheriting antibacterial and flammability properties without the use of chemical treatments. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the different material ratios by changing knitted design structures to enhance the flame resistance of the clothing, antibacterial property as well as their durability and comfort characteristics. 9 samples of bilayer weft knitted fabrics have been developed with 3 different designs on 1 side of the fabric i.e., plain jersey, cross tuck and cross miss, while the other side is kept as plain jersey fabric. A higher percentage of modacrylic (from 40 % to 60 %) also increases the flame resistance and smoldering resistance of bilayer fabric without sacrificing the comfort properties, and the results showed that the cross-miss structure has the most ability to resist the flame compared to the cross tuck and plain jersey structures. Cross tuck structure with 60:40 percent modacrylic: bamboo shows the best results of flame resistance. The overall goal of creating naturally flame-resistant children's clothing is to keep kids safe, secure, and comfortable without subjecting them to unnecessary chemicals.