PSI - Issue 5

Ewelina Małek et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 5 (2017) 508 – 515 Ewelina Małek / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2017) 000 – 000

510

3

1.3. Construction of special clothes

Special firefighter's clothing consists of a cut jacket and trousers. Trousers and jackets must be made of construction materials of the same specifications. Special clothing have layered construction – Fig. 2. The basic layers are:  outer layer  membrane  thermal insulation layer  lining

Fig. 2. Arrangement of fabric layers (Jaworski 2011)

Another layer of clothing is a microporous, waterproof, vapour-permeable membrane, protecting the thermal insulation layer against dampness, at the same time, it allows the evaporation of water vapour caused by sweating of the wearer. Otherwise, the heat-insulating layer as a result of the soaking of the user's clothes sweat or water from the outside will lose its protective parameters. To properly sewn and sealed fireman's membrane it should provide complete protection against dampness for at least one hour. Another layer of special clothing is the so-called thermal insulation layer. The main purpose of applying this layer is to prevent heat from penetrating the garment interior. Because air is one of the best heat insulators, construction of the heat insulating layer has to keep between the fibers as much air as possible which will isolate the user's clothes. The last layer is the lining. The lining may be an integral part of the thermal insulation layer, ie. be blown with the nonwoven fabric or be an additional layer (Jaworski 2011).

2. Object of study

2.1. Fireproof textile - Proton

The test material which served as a base for applying a surface layer of titanium silicide was a clothing fabric called PROTON. This fabric is intended for protective clothing. Material composition: paraamide 58%, PBI 40%, antistatic 2%, surface mass 205 ± 10 g/m 2 . Both materials (with and without coating) were compared in Fig.3.

b)

a)

Fig.3. Zoomed fabric a) without coating b) with coating