Fabric Selection for the Reference Clothing Destined for Ergonomics Test of Protective Clothing: Physiological Comfort Point of View

Abstract

The currently used methods of ergonomic assessment of protective clothing depend on the subjective feeling of research participants and don’t take into consideration all aspects of its use. Therefore, more amount of work is undertaken toward the development of new research tools for the ergonomic assessment of protective clothing. Research was carried out at the Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute in Lodz. A new methodology will take into consideration a variant of reference clothing, which is related to the results of ergonomics research of protective clothing. Preparation of the reference clothing initiated by picking the appropriate fabric is based on the results of parameters influencing the physiological comfort and sensorial comfort. In the current part, results of different fabric parameters are presented, which are related to physiological comfort, i.e., the thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, hygroscopicity, and air permeability. In the next part of research, we will focus on the parameters related to objective sensorial feelings, i.e., total hand value and its components. Seven fabrics, including six cotton/polyester fabrics, diverse in terms of constituent fiber content and structure parameters (weave, thread density per 1 dm, thread linear density, mass per square meter, thickness), and Tencel/polyester fabric were tested. The best in terms of thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, and air permeability was the cotton/polyester fabric (35% cotton/65% PES) with the smallest mass per square meter. This fabric also exhibits the high hygroscopicity of 7.5%, which puts it into the fourth position.

Classification, Structure and Construction of Functional Orthopaedic Compression Knits for Medical Application: A Review

“…It is proved that thermal properties are hardly affected by the capillary structure of fibres and yarn surface geometry. Also, air in the knitted fabric structure plays a prevalent role in heat transfer [108,112]. Air permeability may be defined as a function of the loop density, tightness and thickness whilst water vapour permeability greatly depends on the material properties [113].…”

Research on the influence of indoor thermal environment and activity levels on thermal comfort in protective clothing

“…The Technical Requirements for Medical Disposable Protection numbered GB19082-2009 has stipulated that the humidity permeability of MDPC should not be less than 2500 [7] . Bartkowiak et al [13] put forward the viewpoint of sensory comfort by choosing the fabric of reference clothing for ergonomics test of MDPC. Jiang et al [14] conducted a humidity permeability test on the comfort of several different MDPC fabrics, the research showed that the humidity permeability of various coated materials was far lower than that level.…”

Research and Analysis on the Influence of Indoor Thermal Environment and Activity Level on Thermal Comfort in Protective Clothing

“…The Technical Requirements for Medical Disposable Protection numbered GB19082-2009 has stipulated that the humidity permeability of MDPC should not be less than 2500 g/(m2 d) [7]. Bartkowiak et al [13] put forward the viewpoint of sensory comfort by choosing the fabric of reference clothing for ergonomics test of MDPC. Jiang et al [14] conducted a humidity permeability test on the comfort of several different MDPC fabrics, the research showed that the humidity permeability of various coated materials was far lower than that level.…”