Penetration of Permeable Chemical Protective Clothing by Drops under Pressure Loads: Repellent and Wicking Fabrics

Abstract

A new test cell has been developed to study the effect of a pressure load on the penetration of permeable protective clothing by liquids. The challenge agent is collected by a carrier gas in an open-loop gas chromatographic sampling system. The amount of penetrated agent is detected by a flame ionization detector (FID). Experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of liquids under pressure loads on the penetration of wicking and repellent fabrics. The permeable protective clothing used in these experiments consisted of a fabric as an outer layer together with an adsorbing inner layer. The adsorbing inner layer was identical in all experiments and consisted of activated carbon incorporated in a polyurethane foam. This foam was covered by a fabric having either a repellent or a wicking chemical finish. The penetration through such permeable chemical protective clothing exposed to liquid drops was increased dramatically when static pressure loads of 2.0 kg/cm2 were applied. The effect was most evident...