Textile and Apparel Science

Investigation of Thermal Comfort Properties of Firefighters’ Gloves: Effects of Glove Type, Material, Size, and Wind Speed

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Abstract

Current firefighter glovesreceive many complaints due to insufficient protection, poor comfort, anddecreased dexterity. As key traits ofcomfort properties, thermal insulation and evaporative resistance determine thesatisfactory thermal protective and moisture management capabilities of gloves. Thus, the purpose ofthe present study was to investigate the relationships among material,structure, and environmental conditions and the resulting comfort properties offirefighter gloves. Seven types of firefighter gloves including two types of single-layeredwildland firefighter gloves and five types of three-layered structuralfirefighter turnout gloves were selected for this study. An 8-zone thermal hand manikin was used to investigatethe total and intrinsic thermal insulations and evaporative resistances of the gloves. This study confirmed that the material type and thickness, layerconstruction, and usage environments all affect resulting thermal comfortproperties of firefighter gloves. Some two-way interactive effects revealedthat various combination of glove layers can result in significantly differentthermal comfort. The results of current study suggest that strategicallyarrange various material compositions at different location of glove is apromising way to achieve improved and balanced protection and comfort. 

Keywords: thermal insulation, evaporative resistance, hand manikin

How to Cite:

Li, R., Wu, Y., Zhang, M., Wang, L., Xiang, C. & Song, G., (2022) “Investigation of Thermal Comfort Properties of Firefighters’ Gloves: Effects of Glove Type, Material, Size, and Wind Speed”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13492