Soldier Outerwear/Uniform Burn Hazard Protection Evaluation

Proper protective clothing offers the potential of significant reduction of battlefield casualties due to flame/thermal hazards. However, current procedures for testing the flame/thermal protective performance of military clothing fabric samples areunsatisfactory for routine automated evaluations. These test methods are either highly simplified without evaluation of skin burn injuries or too complicated to use by the textile industry. Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a testingapparatus to evaluate protective clothing fabrics for the military procurement process. PSI's design includes an IR radiant heat source (matching battlefield levels), a thermal response sensor system, an adjustable fabric sample holder, data acquisitionhardware, and relevant burn injury calculations. The system components will be integrated into an automated system that is capable of running multiple selected test scenarios and analyzing the data directly from the user interface. PSI's design hasinnovative features providing state of the art capabilities to the Army and its contractors. PSI will also incorporate a flexible system design to incorporate different heat sources and measurement techniques for other military and commercialapplications. This program will provide the Army with a new and quantitative capability for the evaluation and procurement approval of protective fabrics leading to reduction of casualties.