Effects of Radiant Heat and Frictional Abrasion on Thermal Protective Performance of Clothing Against High Pressurized Steam

Abstract

This study focused on changes in protective performance of steam protective clothing after exposure to conditions such as thermal radiation and frictional abrasion. Totally eight radiation conditions varying on exposure duration and times, four types of abrasion scenarios with different friction cycles and three different combined treatments were designed. Results demonstrated that any increase in radiant exposure duration or exposure times would lead to an initial increase and then a following decrease in the steam protective performance. However, the steam protective performance seemed relatively immune to the friction cycles. When thermal radiation and frictional abrasion acted together, interactions between them existed and their specific interaction highly depended on the distribution of heat exposure duration and friction cycles. Findings of this study provided insight into factors influencing steam protective performance, and could be an aid in developing high performance materials or guidelines for use and maintenance of protective clothing.

Characterizing Steam Penetration through Thermal Protective Fabric Materials

“…They recommended that it is essential to place a moisture barrier with zero air permeability in the outer layer of multilayered fabric systems in order to achieve a high SPP. This air-impermeable moisture barrier will immediately stop the steam penetration through the fabric system, which will considerably decrease the chances of burns on the bodies of wearers [7,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Along with air permeability, Desruelle et al (2002) indicated that the thickness of the fabric systems has a considerable impact on its steam protective performance [25].…”

“…Although previous researchers extensively studied steam penetration through fabrics by evaluating the SPP, only a few studies focused considerably on the TTTE through fabrics in steam exposure of a certain duration [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. This paper studied experimentally both the SPP and TTTE and identified fabric features affecting both.…”