Investigation of the Effects of Thermal Aging and Wetting Processes on the Mechanical and Comfort Properties and Seam Strength of Firefighter Clothing
Project no. 23033 · Status: Kapanmış · 2021
Summary
<p>Firefighters who provide first aid to fires and victims waiting to be rescued need high-performance protection to ensure their own safety. This is due to the risk that firefighters may be exposed to severe burn injuries while on duty, most of which result in death. Another factor that puts firefighters' lives at risk is the increased physical activity due to the difficulty of the working environment and the stress felt in the clothing cause difficulties in the vital functions of the firefighter. This emphasizes importance of thermal protective clothing in ensuring the thermophysiological comfort of firefighters. Firefighter clothing should act as a thermal barrier against the heat and moisture source in the external environment, while also ensuring the transfer of metabolic heat and sweat from the internal environment to the external environment. It is quite a challenge for the fabric structure to ensure these two opposing mechanisms. The amount of water in the liquids used to extinguish fire may increase the ambient humidity or may wet the protective clothing. Within the scope of the project, based on the deficiencies identified in the literature, the changes in the comfort properties and the differences in the wet and dry mechanical properties of a total 7 different woven and knitted fabrics, which are used commercially in the outer layer of high temperature or fire protective clothing, were revealed after thermal aging. In addition, the strength of the seams, which is one of the most important elements in maintaining the integrity of the protective clothing under extreme conditions, was also evaluated within the scope of the study as a part of the mechanical properties. For this purpose, the fabrics examined within the scope of the study were sewn with special sewing threads, and then their wet and dry seam strength properties after thermal aging were examined.</p>