Abstract:

In order to evaluate the influencet of moisture content on thermal protective performance of fabric for firefighters, burning predication was proposed according to the Henriques human body skin burn model by using the modified existing thermal protective performance tester, adopting two kinds of method of conventional thermal protective performance test, and utilizing the skin simulant sensor to replace the copper sheet sensor. The influence of the moisture content of the fabric assembly on second degree skin burn (MET) and stored energy index (SEI) were investigated. The results show that the MET obtained by these two methods reduced with the moisture content and the SEI also decreases. A negative correlation relationship exists between the moisture content and MET. Simple linear regression equations are developed between SET and moisture content.

Key words: firefighters' protective clothing, multilayer fabric assembly, heat storage, moisture content