Comparison of Thermal Protective Performance Test of Firefighter’s Protective Clothing against Convection and radiation heat sources

Abstract

The test methods using convection (flame) and radiation heat sources were compared to evaluate the thermal protective performance of the firefighter's protective clothing. In particular, the influence of the outer shell, mid-layer, and lining constituting the firefighter's protective clothing on the thermal protective performance was compared for convection and radiation heat sources. Tests for the thermal protective performance were carried out according to KS K ISO 9151 (convection), KS K ISO 6942 (radiation), and KS K ISO 17492 (convection and radiation). When tested under the same incident heat flux conditions (80 kW/m 2), the heat transfer index (t 12 and t 24) for the radiation heat source was higher than that for the convection heat source. This means that radiation has a lesser effect than convection. For the convection heat source, the lining had the greatest effect on the thermal protective performance, followed by the mid-layer and the outer shell. On the other hand, for the radiation heat source, the effect on the thermal protective performance was great in the order of lining, outer shell, and mid-layer. Convection and radiation have fundamentally different mechanisms of heat transfer, and different heat sources can lead to different thermal protective performance results depending on the material composition. Therefore, to evaluate the thermal protective performance of the firefighter's protective clothing, it is important to test not only the convection heat source, but also the radiation heat source.