The mystery of why a high-performance fabric commonly used in firefighting and other protective garments weakens prematurely when exposed to moisture has been solved by researchers at the University of Alberta.
PhD student Saiful Hoque, led new research that could lead to stronger, safer protective clothing for firefighters and other workers.
‘‘The breakthrough helps solve a big safety challenge,” says Saiful Hoque, a researcher in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences at University of Alberta
“As the garment weakens over time, there’s no way to know whether the wearer is still protected or not,” adds further.
“Now we know the root cause, and this gives information to the manufacturers to find a solution to this problem.”
Here is what the protective clothing research revealed
The recent study looked into the accelerated hydrothermal ageing of different fabrics that are commonly used as outer shells in clothing for firefighters, oil and gas workers, and electricians.
For up to 1,200 hours, the fabrics were immersed in water at temperatures ranging from 60 to 95 degrees Celsius. Some of them lost significant tensile strength — the amount of stress a fabric can withstand without splitting or breaking — after exposure without showing any visible signs of degradation.
The high Sulphur content in some of the fibers was discovered to be the cause, resulting in an accelerated loss of fabric strength when exposed to moisture. When exposed to sweat, water, rain, snow, or laundering, this degradation compromises the safety of protective garments.
Aside from fiber damage, the water-repellent finish in some of the fabrics deteriorated, raising safety concerns, according to Hoque.
“When a fabric starts absorbing water it transfers more heat, which can result in burns. And water also makes what is already a heavy safety garment even heavier.”
According to ALES professor Patricia Dolez, the findings shed new light on what previous University of Alberta research discovered about the sensitivity of some high-performance fabrics to water. Previously, she led the research efforts that had found laundering contributes to a loss of performance in some fire-resistant fabrics.
Dolez, who co-authored Hoque’s study with Professor Hyun-Joong Chung and Ankit Saha of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Engineering, says the next step is to share the latest findings with textile manufacturers.
"We hope to collaborate with the industry to find solutions."
The discovery will also help Dolez’s ongoing research to develop end-of-life sensors that detect damage in firefighters’ clothing.
The study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
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