Measuring the Thermal Conductive Property of Protective Fabrics to Radiant Heat Exposure

A novel experimental apparatus called thermal simulating box is designed to evaluate the heat transmission of protective fabrics subject to radiation/ convection heat flux representative of typical high temperature occupational environments. The cold side of the test sample is maintained around human body skin temperature as high as 36 ^° C, however, the hot side was exposed to dry hot air. An indirect method based on thermal-electric analog principle is proposed to measure the thermal conductivity of protective fabric. Protective fabrics made with flame-resistant cotton, Nomex, PANOF and fabrics from fiberglass are measured. Experiments show how the hot plate temperature, air pressure, air gap thickness affect thermal conductivity of test samples.