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Analyzing impact penetration performance of fabrics used in protective clothing

Article · January 2012

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 Analyzing impact penetration performance of fabrics used in
protective clothing
Yehu Lu1, 2, Guowen Song2, Jun Li1, Wei Cao3
1
Fashion Institute, Donghua University, Shanghai, China, 2Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada, 3Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, California State University Northridge, California, USA
guowen.song@ualberta.ca; luyehu@gmail.com

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact Table I Specifications of test fabrics
penetration performance of protective materials exposed Fabric
Fiber content Weave
Weight Thickness
to hot water splash. The intention was also to investigate code (g/m2) (mm)
the effect of water temperature and impingement angle on 88%cotton,
N-FRC twill 301 0.67
the water penetration performance. 12% nylon
88%cotton,
B-FRC twill 305 0.69
12% nylon
INTRODUCTION
Nomex 100% Nomex plain 180 0.58
Industrial workers of oil and gas industry are at risk of
40%Kevlar,
steam, hot water and drilling mud scald burn injuries K-PBI basket 212 0.46
60%PBI
(Rohit et al., 2008). When hot liquid is sprayed on PU PU coated 260 1.19
protective clothing, the energy is transferred by TL Nomex quilted 339 1.08
conduction and penetrated liquid. Due to the high heat
capacity of hazardous liquid, the energy transmitted by Test apparatus and method
small liquid splash is pretty high. Based on the analysis of To well understand the performance of protective
collected burn injury data, the hot liquid hazards present materials associated with liquid penetration resistance,
in current work environments are shown to be a modified hot liquid splash tester was employed, as shown
considerable risk in workplace safety for numerous in Figure 1. The water was heated to 27oC, 55oC and 85oC
industries. It has been found the mass transfer during hot respectively. The total volume of hot water was controlled
liquid splash bench scale test is the most important factors to 0.8 liter. Impingement angles of 20o and 45o to
influencing protective performance (Gholamreza and horizontal were employed. The blotter paper
Song, 2012). Therefore, the thoroughly investigation on recommended in Standard AATCC 42 was located behind
the penetration performance of protective materials is the test fabric to absorb the penetrated water. The weight
considerable. of the blotting paper before and after test was both
The liquid penetration of fabric is usually evaluated by measured. The weight difference of test fabric was
hydrostatic pressure test (AATCC 127) and impact calculated.
penetration test (AATCC 42, ISO 18695). For the fabric
used in protective clothing, the hydrostatic pressure test
condition is almost impossible to encounter, except for
immersion suit. The impact penetration relatively accords
with actual wear condition. Generally, the temperature of
exposure fluids is much higher than temperature of 21 or
27oC prescribed in standard test. The effect of temperature
up to 37oC on penetration performance of surgical gown
fabrics has been investigated (Cao and Cloud, 2010).
Actually, the temperature of the liquid in standard test
cannot be easily control. The hot liquid splash with
pressure cannot be simulated in the standard. While Figure 1 Schematic of impact penetration tester
wearing protective clothing, the hot liquid will impinge
the fabric in various directions, whether the interacting RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
angle affects is still unknown. The water stored and penetrated through the fabric
systems were analyzed at different temperatures and
EXPERIMENTAL interacting angles.
Test fabrics
A variety of commercially available permeable, semi- Effect of temperature on penetration performance
permeable and impermeable fabrics used in protective The water penetration of single fabrics at different
clothing were employed in this study. The detail temepratures was compared in Figure 2. It is indicated
specifications were shown in Table I. that the penetration amount sharply increases with the
 temperature, especially as the temperature rises from 27 oC
to 55oC. The penetration resistance of Nomex is the worst
except at the low temperature, and the PU shows the best
performance. The water cannot easily penetrate through
Kevlar/PBI even at high temperature. When hot water
sprays on the surface of Nomex, it spreads and penetrates
quickly, and thus the protective performance is low, i.e.
nearly half of the exposure water (49%) is penetrated. The
high performance of K-PBI may be related to basket
woven structure and surface roughness. It was observed
that water flows quickly and doesn’t spread when hot
water sprays on the surface. However, the temperature
doesn’t show obvious effect on this fabric. The N-FRC
and B-FRC have the same fiber content, similar thickness
and weight, and the weave structures are twill, but they
show significantly different performance. It demonstrates
the impact of surface property is very important. It seems
that the high temperature of water causes worse damage
to B-FRC.
Figure 2 Water penetrations of single fabrics with 45o
However, when water is 27oC, the maximum penetration
in this study is lower than 3g, and the difference among
fabrics is low. As known, the water surface tension and
kinematic viscosity decrease with high temperature.
Therefore, water penetration resistance decrease, resulting
in more water penetrated. Additionally, the finishing and
surface properties of fabrics may be changed by water at
high temperature. The above results indicate that the
water temperature greatly affects impact penetration
performance.
Figure 3 Penetration performance of double layer
Figure 3 indicates the penetration of double layer
significantly increases as the temperature increases from
55oC to 85oC, which is different from that of single layer.
When the thermal liner is added to shell fabrics, the
overall performance will increase, compared with Figure
2. It is inferred that the thermal liner slows down the
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water penetration. Actually, more water is stored in the
fabric system. In addition, the moisture barrier is critical
to prevent the water penetration. There is a little weight
increase in blotter paper as a result of the vapor
condensation.
Effect of angle on penetration resistance
Figure 4 comparison of penetration performance with
different angles at 55oC
Normally, hot water interacts with clothing in different
directions. The effect of angle on the penetration
performance was compared in Figure 4. It is obviously
that both the water absorption in fabric and penetration
are higher when the angle is 20o to horizontal. The contact
angle between hot water and fabric surface may be
influenced by fabric position. The gravity component
contributes to the flow velocity. The higher the angle is,
the faster the water flows, and thus the lower water
absorption and penetration performs.
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that water temperature has great
effect on the impact penetration of fabrics. Different
fabrics show different performance. Adding layers
improves the penetration resistance. The interacting angle
also remarkably impacts the water absorption and
penetration.
FUTURE WORK
The impact penetration resistance depends on many
factors such as liquid properties, material properties,
temperature, interacting angle, pressure and durations.
The complicated impact penetration resistance of
protective materials will be analyzed and the relationship
between penetration performance and thermal protective
performance will be established.
REFERENCES
S. Rohit, E. M. Crown, M. Ackerman, et al., International
Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 14(1),
29-41(2008)
F. Gholamreza and G. Song, Analyzing thermal protective
clothing performance upon hot liquid splash. Submitted to
Textile Research Journal, (2012)
W. Cao and R. Cloud, International Journal of Clothing
Science and Technology, 22(5), 319-332 (2010)