The Application of Phase Change Material in Fire Fighter Protective Clothing

Fire fighters rely on fire fighter protective clothing (FFPC) to provide adequate protection in the various hazardous environments they may encounter during operations. FFPC has seen significant advancement in technology over the past few decades. The addition of phase change material (PCM) to FFPC is a new technology with potential to enhance the thermal protection provided by the FFPC. To explore this technology, data from bench-scale experiments involving FFPC both with PCMs and without are compared with a theoretical finite difference heat transfer model. The results provide insight into the effectiveness of PCM improving the thermal protection of FFPC. The experiments confirm that the latent heat absorbed during the phase change reduces temperatures that might be experienced at the fire fighter's skin surface, advancing the high temperature performance of FFPC. Further, the theoretical model compared the PCM layers to the standard FFPC batting layers, and demonstrated that using PCM could reduce the thickness of the gear while maintaining similar thermal performances.