Thermal Shrinkage Effect of Fabrics in the TPP Test

摘要

In current standard thermal protective performance (TPP) test, as the fabric test sample is placed in close contaction with the heat flux sensor, the thermal shrinkage of the fabric when exposed to flash fire is always restricted. In this paper, the thermal shrinkage and its effect on the TPP test result was investigated. Three groups of comparative fabric sample were used for the TPP test. Two test protocols that is with or without 6.4 cm air gap between the fabric and the heat flux sensor were applied. It showed that the TPP test results of the three groups of fabric were different when there was or not air gap existing. The thermal shrinkage is an important factor to affect the TPP of flame resistant fabric and the TPP test protocol with air gap exsiting is more close to reality because it takes the effect of thermal shrinkage into consideration.