Thermal Protective Performance of Single-Layer and Multiple-Layer Fabrics Exposed to Electrical Flashovers

TL;DRAbstract

Utility workers can be exposed to an acute flammability hazard when they are working close to an arcing fault or flashover from electrical equipment or power lines. In the past, it has not been possible to recommend the type of protective clothing that should be worn in these circumstances because no laboratory test method has been available to measure the thermal protective performance (TPP) of fabrics and other laminae against exposure to a high intensity, infrared dominant, radiant energy source similar to that emitted from electrical flashovers. The study describes the use of a recently developed Flash Tester, which, by generating a controlled electrical discharge across welding electrodes, produces radiant flux densities in the 40 to 600 kW/m2 (1 to 15 cals/cm2/s) range. By exposing fabric layers equivalent to various clothing assemblies worn by utility linesmen and a range of 32 flame-retardant (FR) fabrics as single- and multiple-layer specimens, it has been shown that those par

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