Effects of simulated pressure of wooden, plastic, and metal materials on the thermal insulation of cold-protective gloves of various designs

Abstract

The paper proposes a new approach to selecting cold-protective gloves for workers by evaluating the effects of simulated pressure of wood, plastic, and metal materials on the thermal insulation of gloves of various designs. Thermal insulation tests involved three models of gloves offering stable thermal insulation at various temperatures. The tests were carried out on a thermal hand model according to EN 511:2006. In the study, three variants of contact surface were used: metal, plastic, and wood. It was found that the thermal insulation of protective gloves under pressure decreases and depends on the glove construction, surface type, ambient temperature, and pressure variant. The application of pressure decreased the mean thermal insulation of the tested mitts (variant 1) by 30.46% for metal, 21.32% for wood, and 23.04% for plastic at an ambient temperature of –10℃; by 23.12% for metal, 21.79% for wood, and 19.39% for plastic at 0℃; and by 29.88% for metal, 23.80% for wood, and 19.28% for plastic at 10℃. The smallest relative decline in glove thermal insulation for the wooden pressure-simulating element at –10℃ and for the plastic element at 10℃ and 0℃ was found. Therefore, when choosing gloves for manual work in a cold environment, this change in performance level should be taken into account.