Effects of Wearing Impermeable and Permeable Protective Clothing on Thermoregulatory Responses While Sedentary

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if protective overgarments made from the same material but with different moisture vapor transmission rates would influence thermoregulatory responses in volunteers exposed to typical indoor workplace environments. Eight volunteers wore an impermeable overgarment (10) and a permeable overgarment (PO) during a 4 h sedentary exposure at l8.3 deg C/50% rh (COOL) and 29.7 deg C/52% rh (WARM). During both COOL and WARM, skin and core temperatures were lower when wearing the PO. Skin wettedness was significantly higher during both COOL and WARM when wearing the 10. The 10 had the highest weight increase due to absorption of non-evaporated moisture vapor during the 4 h test. These results showed that a moisture vapor permeable overgarment reduced overall thermal strain, minimized underclothing absorption of sweat and increased evaporation of moisture vapor during an extended sedentary exposure to simulated workplace environments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA384152

Entities

People

  • Richard R. Gonzalez
  • Thomas L. Endrusick

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Clothing
  • Environment
  • Fluoropolymers
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Moisture
  • Protective Clothing
  • Semiconductor Manufacturing
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Thermal Resistance
  • Transition Temperature
  • Vapors
  • Volunteers
  • Weight

Readers

  • Exercise and Sports Science.
  • Materials Science