Abstract
Fire fighters rely on fire fighter protective clothing (FFPC) to provide adequate protection in the various hazardous environments. To enhance its protection performance, the FFPC material must be thick and thus it is difficult to achieve weight reduction. One of the methods of overcoming this problem, the addition of phase change material (PCM) to FFPC, is a new technology. In previous studies, the researches was mostly related to the temperature characteristics of the fibers incorporating PCM, but little information is available about its effect on burn injuries. Thus, in this study, the inhibitory effects of adding PCM to FFPC on second degree burns were investigated through numerical calculations. Thermal analyses of biological tissues and FFPC with embedded PCM exposed to several fire conditions causing severe tissue damage were studied by using a finite difference method based on the Pennes bio-heat equation. FFPC with embedded PCM was found to provide significantly greater protection than conventional fire fighting clothing, because the heat of absorption due to the phase change within the material is used to limit the heat conduction of the material.
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