Drip molding process of PCM for improving thermal and moisture comfort of thermal protective clothing

Abstract

The application of phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal protective clothing can effectively adjust the heat transfer through thermal storage, thus providing extra thermal protection to firefighter. However, the incorporation of PCMs resulted in lower thermal and moisture comfort, and greater weight bearing for firefighter. To solve the above deficiencies, a new method (drip molding process) was used to prepare the PCM thermal protective clothing with phase change temperatures (PCTs) of 25 °C and 42 °C. The effects of diameter and interval of droplet on physical and mechanical properties, were analyzed. A dynamic hotplate system was used to calculate total heat loss (THL) for evaluating the thermal and moisture comfort. The results showed that the drip molding process can effectively improve the air permeability and bending performance of the PCM fabrics compared with dry coating process. The weight of dripped fabrics was decreased by 50.99–257.76 g/m2. In addition, the thermal insulation for the dripped fabric systems had a minor change compared to the coated fabric systems (−14.02 %∼16.88 %), while there was a significant decline for the moisture resistance (65.3 %∼89.9 %). The THL for the dripped fabric systems increased by 88.7 %∼182.5 %, indicating that the thermal and moisture comfort of thermal protective clothing was significantly improved by the new method. The findings obtained by the study can be used to engineer thermal protective clothing that provide better wearing comfort for firefighter.