The function of cleanroom clothing is to protect the product from contamination by people, and to dissipate electrostatic discharge. People in the cleanroom work environment often complain about the discomforts associated with the wearing of cleanroom clothing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of air permeability and water vapor permeability of cleanroom clothing on the subject's physiological and subjective responses. Five male and five female subjects participated in this study. The experimental goal was to simulate the operator's regular tasks in a semiconductor manufacturing cleanroom. Each subject completed three treatment combinations with three different cleanroom clothing types. A three-factor experiment was designed (significance level p = 0.05). The independent variables included gender, cleanroom clothing, and duration. The dependent measures included heart rate, core temperature, skin temperature, micro-climate relative humidity, micro-climate temperature, and subjective responses. A total of 40 min was involved for each treatment condition. The results indicate that skin temperature, micro-climate temperature and micro-climate relative humidity were lower while wearing cleanroom clothing with high air permeability and high water vapor permeability. The significant gender difference was found in skin temperature. As the task time increased, the micro-climate temperature also increased but the micro-climate relative humidity decreased at first and then increased. In addition, the physiological responses showed significant positive correlations with the subjective perception of clothing comfort. The findings of this study may provide useful information for cleanroom clothing design and selection.

This study aims to investigate the influence of double‐layer clothing in a semiconductor manufacturing clean‐room environment. Twenty subjects including ten males and ten females participated in this study. Each subject completed four treatment combinations with four different inner pieces of clothing (i.e., 100% cotton, 70% cotton + 30% polyester, 65% polyester + 35% cotton, 100% polyester). The dependent measures included moisture absorption, skin temperature, and subjective responses in three body regions. The results indicate that wearing 100% polyester inner clothing caused a significant increase in inner microclimate relative humidity (RH; p < .01). Wearing 100% cotton inner clothing caused a significant increase in both inner microclimate RH (p < .01) and the inner clothing's moisture absorption. This was due to cotton fiber tends to trap more water molecules and allow less water vapor to pass through as compared to other types of fiber. Furthermore, wearing the blended fiber inner clothing caused lower RH in the inner and outer clothing microclimate (p < .05). Moreover, wearing 65% polyester + 35% cotton inner clothing had higher subjective comfort than did wearing 70% cotton + 30% polyester. In summary, the moisture absorption and water vapor transport characteristics of the inner clothing are the major factors affecting the comfort of wearing double‐layer clothing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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