Effect of Orientation of Test on Radiant Protective Performance of Outer Layer of Multilayer Thermal Protective Clothing

Abstract

Thermal protective performance of protective clothing is greatly affected by structural parameters of fabric, air gap, and orientation of testing. This paper used Box-Behnken design experimental design to see the influence of pick density of shell (outer) layer, air gap, and orientation of test on thermal protective performance in terms of protection time. The testing was done at constant radiant heat flux. Thermal protective performance was measured in terms of second degree burn time using Stoll’s curve. The model showed F value of 72.98 and p-value 0.0001 which shows that model was significant. It was also found that there was significant effect of pick density, air gap, and orientation angle on thermal protective performance. There was positive effect of pick density and air gap but negative effect of orientation angle. This was also observed that effect of pick density was more when air gap increases. The study can help in development of thermal protective clothing for different parts of body.