- Author
- Lawson, J. R. | Walton, W. D. | Bryner, N. P. | Amon, F. K.
- Title
- Estimates of Thermal Properties for Fire Fighters' Protective Clothing Materials.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NISTIR 7282, June 2005, 71 p.
- Keywords
- fire fighters | protective clothing | thermal properties | absorptivity | absorptance | heat transfer | reflectivity | reflectance | specific heat | thermal conductivity | transmissivity | transmittance
- Identifiers
- thermo-optical properties
- Abstract
- A series of measurements has been carried out to quantify the thermal properties of materials used to fabricate fire fighters' thermal protective clothing. The thermal property measurements chosen have direct application for use in heat transfer model computations that may be used to predict the thermal performance of fire fighters' protective clothing. The thermal properties are: thermal conductivity, specific heat, and the thermo-optical properties of absorptivity, reflectivity, and transmissivity. In addition, the physical property of density was also measured. Since thermal properties varywith ambient temperature conditions, thermal conductivity measurements were made over a range of temperatures, 20 °C to 100 °C. Specific heat was measured over a range of 0°C to 100 °C. The maximum temperature of 100 °C was selected because it is below the temperature wherematerial's thermal degradation occurs, and the temperature range used covers the temperatures where burn injuries occur in human skin. The thermo-optical properties data were generated only at room temperature, approximately 23 °C, since the test apparatus was not designed to operate at higher temperatures.