Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Evaluation Of Moisture Barriers For Fire Fighting Turnout Gear Assessment Of Product Failure And Test Method Development Predicting Failure Modes, Chastity Danielle Newsome

Theses and Dissertations--Retailing and Tourism Management

The purpose of this study was to investigate the failures seen in the moisture barrier of fire fighting turnout gear. Moisture barriers taken from garments in field were evaluated to establish a baseline for comparison. Moisture barriers were exposed as part of a three-piece ensemble and as a single layer moisture barrier to instrumental light exposure in a Carbon Arc Fade-ometer and natural sunlight exposure according to AATCC and ASTM test methods. After exposure, moisture barriers were visually examined using stereo and compound microscopes. A performance measurement was conducted on the exposed moisture barriers using a modified NFPA Hydrostatic Water …