The approach of honeycomb sandwich structure for thermal protective clothing

In view of the cumbersome and sultry problem of thermal protective clothing, this study proposes a new method to optimum the protection and comfort properties of the multilayer fabric systems by changing the structure of a separate fabric layer. This research applied the honeycomb structure into thermal liner of multilayer fabric systems in thermal protective clothing. In the study, the experimental samples included 48 honeycomb sandwich structures and 4 traditional structures. A thermal protective performance tester was applied to measure the thermal protective performance provided by these fabric systems and the influence of honeycomb parameters on thermal performance was studied. The results show that the honeycomb sandwich structure fabric systems are lighter in weight and more comfortable to wear than traditional fabric systems. The core thickness plays a dominant role in the thermal protective performance of honeycomb sandwich structure fabric. Additionally, the honeycomb's side length and wall thickness both affected the thermal protection performance of the fabric system. Increasing wall thickness as well as decreasing the side length can improve the thermal protective performance of honeycomb sandwich structure fabric system. Finally, by comparing the thermal protection performance growth rate ratio, an optimal solution was found (core thickness: 2.04, side length: 2, and wall thickness: 7.8). Research on the thermal protection performance of honeycomb sandwich fabric systems helps to provide appropriate guidance to improve thermal protection and reduce heat burden by means of structural effects that affect heat transfer.