Non-Reflective,Wettable,Fibrous Fabric Assemblies for Firefighters'Clothing.

摘要

The Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) has developed a nonreflective, wettable, firefighters' proximity garment made from water-absorptive fibrous fabric assemblies in combination with a vapor barrier fabric and insulation liner. When wetted out, the garment affords heat protection equal to or greater than the highly reflective, aluminized material currently being used in garments worn by firefighters in close proximity JP-4 fuel fires. Laboratory investigation of comparative heat-protective characteristics of fibrous fabric assemblies shows that, when they are dry and exposed to a radiant heat flux of 1.82 cal/sq cm/sec from about 50 to 83 seconds (total heat transfer of 150 F to back of assembly), the outershell, inner liner and vapor barrier are charred while the insulation liner exhibits no change. Seven of the dry assemblies, when tested wet for a minimum exposure time of 180 seconds, showed the surface of the outershell exhibited no change to burnt, the surface of the inner liner exhibited no change to singed, and the vapor barrier and insulation liner no change. After mild abrasion and soiling, the aluminized 20-ounce asbestos fabrics, in assembly with a vapor barrier and insulation liner and exposed to the same test conditions as the wet assemblies, showed a significant reduction in exposure time of 48 seconds, compared with the wet fabric assembly and slightly worse than the dry fabric assemblies.