Abstract
The latest directions of research on the design of protective clothing concern the implementation of smart materials, in order to increase its protective performance. This paper presents results on the resistance to thermal factors such as flames, radiant heat, and molten metals, which were obtained for the developed smart textile material with shape memory alloys (SMAs). The laboratory tests performed indicated that the application of the designed SMA elements in the selected textile material system caused more than a twofold increase in the resistance to radiant heat (RHTI24 = 224 s) with an increase of thickness of 13 mm (sample located vertically with a load), while in the case of tests on the resistance to flames, it was equal to 41 mm (sample located vertically without a load) and in the case of tests on the resistance to molten metal, it was 17 mm (sample located horizontally).
Highlights
Significant progress in the field of materials engineering has enabled the construction of products that are more suited to the individual needs of the user and changeable environmental conditions.The working environment is a specific area of application of such products due to the presence of varied hazards to which a person can be exposed
A developed smart material with shape memory alloys (SMAs) elements can act as a supplement to currently used materials in clothing protecting against heat, which are usually heavy, multilayered, and give a high level of protection for the whole time of clothing use
The application of smart SMA elements to clothing allowed for the use of much lighter and thinner materials and a beneficial achievement, which is the adaptation of protective properties of clothing to changing working environment conditions
Summary
Significant progress in the field of materials engineering has enabled the construction of products that are more suited to the individual needs of the user and changeable environmental conditions.The working environment is a specific area of application of such products due to the presence of varied hazards to which a person can be exposed. In order to ensure the safety of the worker, the use of protective clothing is often required. The latest directions of research on the design of protective clothing concern the implementation of smart materials that receive stimuli directly from the human body and the environment, and respond to them with significant physical, chemical, and biological changes, which are frequently reversible. A group of garments in which it is appropriate to use smart materials in order to improve their functionality is protective clothing against thermal factors (flames, radiant heat, and molten metal splash), especially when such factors occur in the form of thermal impulses [1]. The protective clothing currently used by workers is characterized by identical protective properties over the entire surface, which are adjusted to the maximum level of exposure to thermal factors
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