SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1986
STP17338S

U.S. Navy Protective Clothing Program

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The Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility is involved in a major effort to develop fire retardant-heat protective clothing for Navy shipboard personnel encompassing both work and special protective clothing.

To determine the degree of protection afforded by the various articles of clothing being developed, both laboratory and field testing have been employed. Laboratory material tests have included vertical flammability resistance tests and protection time determinations for flame impingement exposure. Field tests have involved exposure of garments to total flame envelopment utilizing manikins equipped with paper tape temperature sensors to estimate the extent of burn injury sustained.

The usefulness of laboratory tests such as flame impingement tests to predict material/clothing performance under more realistic fire threat conditions is limited because of differences in exposure conditions between laboratory tests and full-scale fire tests. Laboratory tests do, however, provide an extremely useful screening tool to limit the number of candidate systems to be evaluated under field conditions.

This paper covers the nature of some of the clothing systems being developed, the laboratory and field evaluation procedures employed, and some of the laboratory and field test data accumulated on the materials and clothing items investigated.

Author Information

Audet, NF
U.S. Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility, Natick, MA
Spindola, KJ
U.S. Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility, Natick, MA
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Details
Developed by Committee: F23
Pages: 497–512
DOI: 10.1520/STP17338S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4967-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0461-7