• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.97-103
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• 2014

To ensure adequate protection from the risk of burns, fire fighter's turnout has a composite of more than three components and air gaps between layers of materials. During the flame exposure, radiation and convection heat transfer occurs in the air gap, thus the air gap acts as a thermal resistance with non-linear characteristics. Therefore, in this study, the experiments were performed to identify the effect of various air gap width (0~7 mm) on the thermal protective performance of fire fighter's clothing. The temperatures on each layer and RPP (Radiant Protective Performance, the most effective index representing the thermal protective performance) were measured with various incident radiant heat fluxes. The temperature at the rear surface of the garment decreased and RPP increased with increasing air gap width because the thermal resistance increased. Especially, it could be found that RPP value and air gap width has almost linear relation for the constant incident heat flux conditions. Thus relatively simple RPP predictive equation was suggested for various incident heat flux and air gap conditions.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

Despite advancements in the development of synthetic fibers and materials that provide better insulation, fire burn injuries remain a significant issue. To ensure adequate protection, clothing and equipment must be selected on the basis of performance. There are different standards like ISO standards applicable to each of the various types of clothing used by fire fighters. But, in most cases, the tests are performed in the conditions of high heat flux exposure, the clothing material can be destroyed easily. Thus the effective way to investigate the protective performance for the low (radiant) heat flux conditions should be needed. Therefore improved RPP (Radiant Protective Performance) test method based on the onset of pain burn injury was suggested. Experiments were performed to verify the proposed method with current protective clothing for fire fighters and the transient heat transfer characteristics were identified, also. Moreover, several protective performance indices were acquired from experimental results to analyze their relations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.853-863
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• 1999

the change of physical properties (thickness, weight, air permeability) and mechanical properties(abrasion resistance breaking load and displacement) of samples were determined after heat exposure by a RPP tester. The effect of exposure time and heat flux intensity on the changes and the relationship between physical properties and mechanical properties were investigated. FR treated cotton Kevlar/PBI and Nomex with different structureal characteristics were chosen for specimens. The changes of physical properties and mechanical properties were calculated based on their initial values before heat exposure. The longer exposure time and the high heat flux intensity the more changes of those properties. Heat flux intensity was more effective on the changes, The showed to be affected by an interplay of shrinkage and pyrolysis products loss. The changes of thickness and abrasion resistance showed to be higher for plain weave fabric and those of air permeabiliyt and breaking load and displacement for twill weave fabric. While FR treated cotton which have high RPP value experienced serious and detrimental changes after heat exposure Kevlar/PBI which has low RPP value showed no high changes. In conclusion it could be confirmed that when total performance of a protective clothing is estimated retention capability of physical and mechanical properties after heat exposure as well as RPP value must be considered.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2013.04a
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• pp.78-79
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• 2013

소방보호복은 화재진압현장에서 소방관들을 화상 위험으로부터 보호하기 위해 가장 많이 착용하는 장비이다. 소방보호복의 열보호 특성을 정확히 파악하고 있어야 소방관들의 화재진압작업시 위험요소를 적절히 판단하여 화상 사고 등을 예방할 수 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 복사열 노출에 따른 소방보호복의 열보호 성능을 정확히 측정 및 분석하기 위해 실험 장비를 제작하고 실험을 수행하였다. 소방 보호복의 구성 재료 각각에 대해 복사열 노출을 시켜 시간에 따른 피복 전후면의 온도차와 통과 열유속을 측정하여 소방 보호복의 열보호 성능 특성을 살펴보았다.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2013.11a
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• pp.55-56
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• 2013

소방보호복의 열보호특성을 정확히 파악하는 것은 보호복 개발 뿐만 아니라 화상에 의한 부상 방지 및 생명 보호라는 측면에서 매우 중요하다. 하지만 대부분의 경우 고열유속 조건에서 시험을 수행하여 시편의 파괴가 발생하기 쉽고, 그에 의해 제대로 된 결과를 얻어낼 수 없는 경우가 많다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 저열유속 조건의 복사열 노출시 열보호성능을 효과적으로 제시할 수 있는 지표 및 측정 방법을 기존 RPP (Radiant Protective Performance) 측정방법을 개선하여 제안하였다. 또한 실험을 통해 여러 가지 보호성능지표들의 관계를 파악하였다.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.227-236
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• 2018

As consciousness of safety becomes an important social issue, the demand for protective clothing is increasing. Conventional flame-retardant cotton working wear has low durability, and working wear with m-aramid fibers are stiff, heavy, less permeable, and expensive. In this study, recycled m-aramid and cotton have been blended to produce woven fabric of different compositions to enhance high performance and comfort to solve aforementioned problems. The fabrics were analyzed according to constituents and various structural factors. Mechanical properties were measured using KES-FB system. The measured thermal properties are TGA, $Q_{max}$, TPP and RPP. Fabric with polyurethane yarn covered by m-aramid/cotton spun yarn is observed to have good wearability. The fabric of open end spun yarn showed more stiffness than that of ring spun yarn. The sample with the high count of yarn has more smooth surface. In addition, high m-aramid content fabric is considered to have relatively high stiffness when using as clothing. In TGA the fabric with higher m-aramid content showed more stable decomposition behavior. The fabric having rough surface showed lower heat transfer properties in $Q_{max}$. The influence of the fabric thickness was important in convection and radiant heat test.