Fire Retardant Textiles: Firefighter suit and

important test methods

AICTE FDP on "Innovation and Recent

Advancement in Fashion and Textiles“-
18th -22nd July 2022

Organized by
VIDYA Institute of Fashion Technology,
Meerut

Prof (Dr.) M.S.Parmar,

Director (Labs), NITRA

drmsparmar@nitratextile.org
drmsparmar.blogspot.com
in.linkedin.com/in/drmsparmar
 Protective Textiles
• Protective textiles are a collection of textile goods and associated
stuff used in the manufacturing of a variety of protective clothing for
people working in hazardous atmosphere.
• The protective fabrics comprises garments and related belongings
for protection from
– Harmful chemical environment,
– Extreme temperature environments,
– Low visibility,
– Ballistic protection
– Fire hazrds, etc
• Military, paramilitary and police forces are leading consumers of
protective textiles in India.
Application of Protective textiles
Some well known application of protective textiles
are in
Bullet proof jackets
Body protectors
NBC(Nuclear Biological and Chemical) suits
High altitude clothing (extreme cold climate suit)
Fire and heat retardant textiles (Work-wear,
Firefighter suit, FR tent, FR upholsteries etc)
Military and paramilitary
 How does a Fire develop?
A fire can basically be split into three phases,
• The initiating fire
• The fully developed fire Temperature

• Decreasing fire Fully developed fire

Fire triangle with three elements Initiation of fire

Heat

Start of fire

Heat Transfer Heat Transfer Flash over after < 10 min

Fire

Fuel Air

Mixing of fuel & air

Secondary Effects of Fire

a) Smoke development

b) Fire gas toxicity

c) Corrosivity and contamination by soot

These do not primarily determine the course of the Fire , but cause
most of the fire deaths or damage to materials
 Flame retardant/resistance textiles

Those textile materials that can be used to reduce the

impact of fire/flame are called flame retardant/resistance
textiles.
L I F E S A V I N G S E C O N D S….

SYNTHETIC COTTON SYNTHETIC COTTON FR SYNTHETIC COTTON FR

FR treated
BLENDED BLENDED BLENDED BLENDED treated BLENDED BLENDED treated
FABRIC
FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC FABRIC
 Flame retardant/resistance textiles

Flame Retardant
They are designed to slow down the spread of fire. They
might also be self-extinguishing. Such fabrics can be made
from any material but they must have a special chemical
application to qualify as flame retardant. When exposed to
heat or flame, the chemical application will expel gases to
help to suppress and slow the spread of the fire.

Flame Resistant
Fabrics made with inherent flame resistance fibre come in
this category. Examples are aramids, modacrylic etc. These
fabrics will not melt, drip or support combustion in the air.
 Technology of FR Textiles
• Specialty fibers
– not manufactured in India & expensive like Para
and meta aramid, modacrylic, FR Viscose etc
• Chemical finishing on conventional
fibers
– less expensive
– Additional cost of Rs 30 to 100 per mt depending
upon the quality
Ammonium requirement
polyphosphate- Non or semi durable
Diammonium phosphate- Non durable
Borax/Boric acid (7:3 % w/w)Non durable
Organophosphorus-Durable
 Preliminary test to judge FR or not FR
textiles
• IS 13501: Determination of flammability
by oxygen index Chemical finishing on
conventional fibers (LOI)
.
The minimum concentration of
oxygen by percentage volume
in a mixture of oxygen and
nitrogen that will just support
combustion of a material under
specified test conditions
LOI of some fibres and classification
Polymer type LOI Classificatio
n
Cotton 16
Viscose 19
Flax 17
Polyester 20.6 Flammable
Acrylic 18 (<21)
Nylon 6 20.1
Polypropylene 18.6
Silk 23
Wool 24 Slow burning
(>21and<28 )
Nylon 66 24
 LOI of some fibres........

Polymer type LOI Classification

FR viscose 28
FR polyester 28
Modacrylic 26-30 Self
M-Aramid 30 extinguishing
P-Aramid 29 (>28)
PBI 40-42
(Polybenzimidazole)

Ref: M C Silva-Santos et al, 2017, IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 254, 052006
 Indian Standards on FR Textile /Work place
safety/Ballistic Protection
• Indian Standards published by BIS on FR
Textiles/work place safety/Ballistic Protection so far
cover the following:
– IS 16890 Protective clothing for Fire fighter
– IS 16874 Protective gloves for fire fighter
– IS 17051 Bullet Resistant Jacket
– IS 15748 Protective Clothing for Industrial Workers
– IS 15742 Protective Clothing with Limited Flame Spread Properties
– IS 16655 Protective clothing for use in welding and allied processes
– IS 15809 High Visibility Warning Clothing
– IS 14744 Flame retardant protective hoods
– IS 15321 Molten metal splash protective hoods
– IS 15071 Chemical protective clothing
– IS 12467, IS 15741: 2007, IS 15768:2008 Test Methods for testing and
evaluation of Flame Retardancy/Flammability/Ignition Resistance of
upholstery, curtains etc
 Application of FR textiles
We can divide uses in the following
categories:
• Public places
• Workstations (protective work wear
including firefighter clothing)
• Defence
• Mobiltech textiles
 Fire Fighter clothing
IS 16890 Protective clothing for Fire fighter
IS 16874 Protective gloves for fire fighter

• Flame resistance as per IS 15758(PART 4) :Protection against heat

& flame-Method of test for limited flame spread
• Heat Transfer (Flame Exposure) as per IS 15758 (Part 1)
• Heat Transfer (Radiant Exposure) as per IS 15758 (Part 2)
• Residual Strength of material when exposed to 10 kW/m2 (IS 15758
part-2) radiant heat as per IS 1969 (Part 1)
• Heat Resistance as per ISO 17493 at temperature 180±5oC using
hot air circulating oven
• Heat transfer (Conductive exposure) as per ISO 12127-1 (For
gloves)
 AIM OF THE STUDY

The Study is divided in to two parts:

To study and develop various types of

thermal layers used in fire fighter suit

To investigate effect of dry and wet

conditions on performance of multilayered
protective clothing ensembles of fire fighter
suit during operation.
 EXPERIMENTAL

Outer shell Thermal layers Liner Fabrics

Fabrics+Mois
ture barrier

Complete
assembly
 Evaluation
Following tests were conducted on various
thermal layers as per EN 469 :

Limited flame spread test

Convective heat

Radiant Heat
 Surface Ignition- vertical oriented material
(IS 15758 Part 4 A/ISO 15025-Method A)

• Useful to test work- Fabric Specimen

wear and combat
uniform
• Pass/Fail assessment
is based on Burner

- flaming behaviour to the

top or either side edges
- hole formation
- flaming or molten debris
- after flame and after 25 mm
glow time
Flame application time: 10 s
 Edge Ignition- vertical oriented material
(IS 15758 Part 4 BISO 15025-Method B)

Fabric specimen
• Useful to test work-
wear and combat
uniforms
• Pass/Fail assessment
based on
- flaming behaviour to the
top or either side edges
- flaming or molten debris 40mm
Burner
- after flame and after
glow time
30o

Flame application time: 10 s

 Heat transmission -Radiant heat
(IS 15758 Part 2/ISO 6942)

• Useful for work wear/ defence

clothing

• Pass/Fail is based on RHTI

Calorimeter
value

• Radiant Heat Transfer Index

(RHTI): Calculated from mean
time to achieve a temperature
rise of (24±0.2)oC in the
calorimeter when testing with a
specified incident heat flux
density.
Heat Flux: 20 kW/m2

• Incident heat flux density: Heat

flux is defined as the amount of
heat transferred per unit area per Radiant heat source Fabric specimen
unit time from or to a surface (the
exposed face of the calorimeter,
express in kW/m2.)
 Radiant heat…….

• When tested in Perform Heat transfer

accordance with IS 15758 ance factor RHTIa 24
Part 2/ISO 6942 at heat Level (s)
flux density 20 kW/m2, Min. Max.
the protection against
C1 7.0 <20.0
radiant heat shall meet at
least C1 level for work C2 20.0 <50.0
wear
C3 50.0 <95.0
C4 95.0
a Radiant heat transfer Index

21
 Heat transmission-Convective heat
(IS 15758 Part 1 /ISO 9151)

• Useful for work wear/defence Calorimeter

clothing
Fabric specimen
• Pass/Fail based on HTI value
• Heat Transfer Index (HTI):
Calculated from mean time to
achieve a temperature rise of
(24±0.2)oC in the calorimeter
when specimen is exposed
under specified incident heat
flux density.
Heat Flux: 80 kW/m2
• Incident heat flux density:
Amount of energy incident per
unit time on the exposed face
of the specimen, expressed in
Kilowatts per square meter Convective heat source
(the exposed face of the
calorimeter, express in kW/m2.)
 Convective heat……

• When tested in Perform Range of HTIa 24

accordance with IS 15758 ance value (s)
Part 1 /ISO 9151, the Level Min. Max.
protection against B1 4.0 <10.0
convective heat shall
meet at least the B2 10.0 <20.0
performance level B1 for B3 20.0
work wear. a Heat transfer Index

23
 Heat Transfer Performance (HTP)
(ASTM F 2700, Heat Flux: 84 kW/m2)

Six specimen : 150 mm±5mm X 150 mm±5mm (Consists all layers)

Three specimen tested- space configuration
Three specimen tested – contact configuration
Fabric when tested shall have a spaced HTP rating of not less than 25 J/cm2
(6.0 cal/cm2) and contact HTP rating not less than 12.6 J/Cm2 (3.0 cal/cm2)
HTP rating are measured with the sensor both in “contact” with the specimen
and “spaced” 6 mm away from the specimen.

(Heat Flux 84 kW/m2)

When tested for flame resistance (ASTM

D 6413) shall have char length of not more
than 100 mm, after flame not more than 2
seconds.
 THERMAL LAYERS

Thermal layer shall prevent radiant

heat during fire fighter rescue
operation. It should have good water
vapour permeability. Therefore for
safety purpose, determination of
radiant heat property of thermal layer
is a very important.
 THERMAL LAYERS

Thermal Fabric Fibre Areal density, Thickness ,mm

layers type g/m2

TL1 Woven M-Armid 217 1.34mm

TL2 Woven M-Aramid 206 1.42mm

TL3 Woven M-Aramid 254 1.45mm

TL4 Woven M-Aramid 267 1.40mm

TL5 Woven M-Aramid 305 1.49mm

TL6 Woven M-Aramid 227 1.40mm

TL7 Woven M-Aramid 234 1.70mm

TL8 Woven M-Aramid (double layers) 432 2.03mm

TL9 Woven* M-Aramid (double layers) 537 2.52mm

TL10 Woven* M-Aramid 225 1.50mm

TL11 Non-woven M-Aramid 347 2.22mm

TL12 Non-woven M-Aramid 180 0.79mm

All woven fabric were 1/1 plain weave, *

Raised
Determination of radiant heat
Most important parameters are
• Transmitted Heat Flux (Qc)
• Heat Transfer Factor(TF)
• Radiant Heat Transfer Index (RHTI at
24oC)
 The transmitted heat flux density, Qc

The transmitted heat flux density, Qc in kW/m2, is

calculated from the following equation:
Qc = {M x Cp x 12} / {A x (T24 –T12)}

M is the mass of the copper plate in Kg

Cp is the specific heat of copper 0.385(kJ/kg.oC)
12/(T24 –T12) is the mean rate of rise of the calorimeter temperature
in oC/s, in the region between a 12oC and a 24oC rise
A is the area of copper plate in m2

Calorimeter
 The heat transfer factor , TF(Qo)

The heat transfer factor , TF(Qo), for the

incident heat flux density level Qo is given
by the following equation:
TF=Qc/Qo Here Qo is 40 kW/m 2

Radiant Heat Transfer Index (RHTI at 24oC)

• The radiant heat transfer index, RHTI(Qo) ,
for the incident heat flux density level Qo is
determined as the mean of t24, the time in
0.1 seconds, for a temperature rise in the
calorimeter of (24±0.2)oC
 STUDY ON DIFFERENT heat FLUX

The study on thermal layers was carried

out on the following incident heat flux:
15 kW/m2
20 kW/m2
40 kW/m2
 RADAINT HEAT s of different thermal layers at 40 kW/m2 heat flux

Thermal Incident Radiant heat Radiant heat Transmitte Heat transfer

layers heat flux transfer index transfer index at d heat flux factor (TF)
density at 12o C (RHTI 24o C(RHTI 24) density
(Qo) 12) (Qc)
TL1 39.172 4.4 8.5 16.22 0.414

TL2 39.172 5.0 9.3 15.47 0.395

TL3 39.172 4.9 9.2 15.47 0.395

TL4 39.172 5.0 9.3 15.47 0.395

TL5 40.874 5.8 10.6 13.86 0.339

TL6 38.642 5.6 10.2 14.46 0.374

TL7 38.642 4.7 8.7 16.63 0.430

TL8 38.139 9.1(432g/m2) 15.6 10.23 0.265

TL9 39.710 11(537 g/m2) 18.0 9.642 0.243

TL10 40.874 8.0(225 g/m2) 13.9 11.28 0.275

TL11 39.710 9.6(347 g/m2) 15.9 10.56 0.278

TL12 41.976 4.5 8.2 17.98 0.428

Performance level 2: RHTI ≥18 as per EN 469

Limited flame spread test-thermal layers

All the thermal layers meet the

requirements of ISO 15025
(Procedure A)
- Flames did not reach the upper or either
vertical edges
- No flaming or molten debris
- No Hole formation
- Afterglow time-zero
- Afterflame time - zero
Although thermal Layers TL8, TL9, TL10 and TL11 were
showing higher RHTI24 value, TL10 was selected for
further study as its mass was lower than other.
 COMBINING ALL LAYERS

• OL(with moisture barrier) + TL10 + LF

OL: Aramid based fabric with PTFE lamination
(Aerial Density: 165 g/m2)
TL : Thermal Layer
LF: Liner fabric (Flame retardant)
Effect of moisture on - Combined layers

Combined Dry or wet Code

layers
Dry (Used as C1
such)
Wet pick up 35% C2
OL-TL10-LF
Wet pick up 55% C3

Wet pick up 70% C4

* Padding mangle
was used
 Radiant heat test results for all combined fabrics
(40 kW/m2 heat flux)

Samples C1 C2 C3 C4

Parameters
Dry 35% wet Pick-up 55% wet pick- 70% wet pick-
up up

T12 13.6 16.9 22.3 24.4

Seconds

T24 21.5 26.9 34.1 37.7

Seconds

T24-12 7.9 10.0 11.8 13.3

Seconds
 Effect of wet pick-up on RHTI

40
35
RHTI (24 Seconds)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
C 35 water pick-up
1 C 55

2 C 70

water pick-up (%)

3 C
4
 CONCLUSIONS
• It was found that with the increase of wet pickup from
35% to 70%, the RHTI24 increases from 21.5 seconds
to 37.7 seconds.
• This is due to fact that part of the incident radiant heat
consumed to evaporate water from the outer layer.
There is a minimal temperature rise of the fabric due to
the phase change from liquid to vapour. Thus presence
of water can increase life saving seconds.
• Another important point is that the presence of moisture
barrier is must. In the absence of moisture barrier with
thermal layer, there will be chances of passing vapours
through the thermal layer to the skin of the wearer and
cause burn injury.
Fire Fighter suit developed by
NITRA