Study on thermal performance of microencapsulated phase- change materials for fire-retardant clothing

摘要

The fabrication of functional clothing able to provide thermal regulation and comfort for the body has attracted increasing interests in recent years. Therefore, the use of phase change material microcapsules (PCMMcs) that can absorb and store heat by an aggregate state change for applications in firefighters’ protective clothing was introduced. A heat transfer model of multi-layer fire protective clothing is proposed in the paper based on the apparatus for evaluating radiant protective performance (RPP). It was found that PCMMcs have a positive effect on heat protection compared to the fire protective clothing commonly used. However, the efficiency of protecting human being from burning depends on the location and the thermal properties of PCMMcs layer.