Firefighters clothing materials

The types of textile materials used in protective clothing are determined by the performance requirements of the clothing, which come from the analysis of the specific human-clothing-environment system. In this chapter, the application of high performance textile materials in the firefighters clothing, body armour and chemical protective clothing are reviewed, and the effects of the properties of those new materials on the overall performance of those PPE products will be briefly reviewed. 

Different types of protective clothing need to withstand attack from specific environmental hazards and thus require the constituent textile materials to have high performance in specific properties. For example, a body armour system requires the textile materials used to have superior mechanical properties firefighters clothing requires its component materials to have exceptional fire resistance properties and chemical protective clothing requires the materials to be resistant to the attacks of chemical agents. 

A summary of some commercially available MB materials used in firefighters clothing is shown in Table 3.7. 

Besides the high performance fibres used in the OS layer, flame-retardant-treated natural and regenerated fibres such as wool and cellu-losic fibres might also be used to make the thermal insulation liner. Some commercially available TL materials for firefighters clothing are shown in Table 3.8. 

Table 3.7 Examples of some commercially available MB materials for firefighters clothing 2-= =...

Table 3.8 Examples of some commercially available TL materials for firefighters clothing " ...

Polymers form the basis for fire-resistant textiles. For instance, many of the firefighters and race car drivers wear clothing made from aromatic nylons because these materials resist melting, dripping, supporting combustion in air, or burning. 

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