Thermal Radiation Protective Performance of Aluminized Fabrics for Firefighting

The development of fire protection clothing with long term durability has always been a matter for public attention. In order to prevent or minimize skin burn damage resulting flash fire for a long time, a new thermal protective composite fabric, of which the outer layer is Aluminized fabric, has been upgraded and developed. It is reported that flash fires generally have a typical temperature range of 800-1000 degrees C and heat emanating from such sources consists primarily of infrared radiation of wavelength of 1-6 micron, peaking at 2 micron. Using the ultraviolet spectrophotometer, the thermal radiation protective performance of aluminum foils and different kinds of aluminized fabrics were characterized. The aluminum fabrics were also exposed to fire environment simulated by burning butane gas for a few minutes. The experimental results showed that the spectral reflectance of different aluminum foils over a wide range of wavelengths only present little discrepancies, while those of different kinds of aluminized fabrics present obvious differences perhaps due to the different yam parameters and weave structure. The fire exposure experiment indicates the aluminum foils laminated on the fabrics have good practical performance. It can be concluded that the aluminized fabrics have great potential use in the fields of firefighting and military.