Thermophysiological comfort analysis of aerogel nanoparticle incorporated fabric for fire fighter's protective clothing

The paper discusses the thermophysiological comfort of a newly developed fabric potentially for firefighter's protective clothing. The fabrics were developed by incorporating super hydrophobic silica aerogel nanoparticles in 65/35 wool-Aramid blended fabric. Then the theromophysiological comfort was analyzed by determining air, moisture and heat transfer performance. It has been found that only 2% coating of aerogel nanoparticle increases thermal resistance by up to 68.64% and can reduce air permeability by up to 45.46% whereas 4% aerogel coating can reduce 61.76% air permeability. Moisture management properties of the aerogel coated fabric have also been investigated and discussed in details. In brief, it can be said that the thickener that was used for the coating, has a positive impact on moisture transportation and overall moisture management property of the fabric. Again aerogel coated next-to-skin layer and aerogel coated outer layer acted differently on the same fabric. It was observed that, the coated fabric acts as more likely as a moisture management fabric when the coating was applied on next-to-skin surface.