Investigation of thermal and mechanical protection performance of polymercoated aramid blends

Abstract

Effective thermal protection is essential for worker safety in industrial settings with high heat. Designing comfortable, affordable, and efficient protective wear is a significant challenge for the textile industry, underscoring the need for costeffective heat-resistant fabric. Fire-retardant (FR) cotton, viscose, para-aramid (P-aramid), meta-aramid (M-aramid), modacrylic, and fibreglass are the most commonly used fabrics for thermal protection in industries. Polyamide fibres (Paramid and M-aramid) are blended with other fibres to develop cost-effective, high-performance protective clothing. Polymer-coated fabrics (PCF) are widely used in industry to protect against thermal hazards. In this research, seven fabrics (five woven and two knitted) coated with polymer (neoprene) are selected to investigate their thermal and mechanical protective performance as per EN ISO 11612:2015. Fabrics containing a high percentage of aramid fibres in their blend performed exceptionally well in thermal protection and exhibited high tensile and tear resistance. The performance of FR cotton fabric was moderate in thermal protection but exhibited low tear and tensile strength. Knitted fabrics exhibited low tensile strength and exceptionally high elongation during the tensile strength test.