Water Transmission through Chemical Protective Clothing Materials

Authors

  • Mehreen Ijaz Lahore College for Women University, Lahore
  • Samia Kalsoom Former Principal, Government College of Home Economics, Gulberg Lahore
  • Niaz Ahmed Akthar Vice Chancellor, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila

Abstract

This present study aims at investigating the role of water transmission in the clothing materials used for manufacturing chemical protective coveralls for various chemical industries in Pakistan.  The research was conducted at Nishat Mills Limited (Dyeing and Finishing Unit). The samples were tested for their water transmission behavior both in water and vapour form at various laundering intervals by following AATCC 79-2010 and AATCC 197-2011 respectively. The results indicated that all the tested samples were unable to resist water and completely wet even at initial washing intervals and their condition became worse with an increasing number of laundering cycles. At 20th wash, the sample S-1 made with polyester fiber was able to resist wetting only for 0.15 seconds and cotton fiber S-2 resisted water for 8.84 seconds, whereas, sample S-3 made with a combination of cotton and polyester with a blend ration of (45/55) resisted up to 29.94 seconds which showed its better performance as compared to the other samples. Similarly, in the case of their wicking behavior, the water travelled from the sample S-3 was 14.5 cm at 10 minutes in the warp direction and 13.3 cm in the weft direction at the 20th wash. The water travelled from sample S5 was 17cm in its warp and weft directions which completely wet the whole specimen. It shows the poor performance of the specimen in evaluating its wicking behavior.

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Published

2018-09-11

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Section

Chemical Engineering