Flame-Resistant Materials for Use in Pyrotechnic Safety Clothing
Abstract:
Twelve material assemblies were tested for possible use in pyrotechnic safety clothing that the Navy Clothing Textile Research Facility NCTRF, undertook to develop for the U.S. Army Munitions Production Base Modernization Agency. The 12 assemblies, each containing an outershell flame- and-heat block fabric, high-temperature-resistant batt insulation, and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene PTFE plastic film laminated to a 3.2-ounce Nomex fabric, were exposed to a flash-off of 15 pounds of pyrotechnic illuminant composition. Two of the outershell fabrics, a 15.5-ounce PBIOPF 2080 fabric and a 16-ounce OPF fabric, along with Kynola nd kevlar batt insulations, were found to be significantly better than the others. Either of the two outershell fabrics in assembly with Kevlar or Kynol batts should show a temperature transmission of less than 115 degrees F as determined with a skin simulant sensor when exposed to a 6-second flash-off of about 5500 degrees F. For the initial prototype pyrotechnic safety clothing, NCTRF recommended a fabric assembly containing a 15.5-ounce PBIOPF 2080 flame-and-heat block outershell fabric, a 10-ounce para-armaif Kevlar batt insulation, and a vapor barier comfort fabric consisting of a moisture-vapor-permeable plastic film PTFE laminated to a 5.5-ounce FR cotton fabric. NCTRF also recommended consideration of PBI webbing hold-down straps and PBI sewing thread.