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Testing Services

Protection performance evaluation

Thermal Protective Performance Test (TPP/HTP)

The thermal protective performance tester/heat transfer performance tester can measure the conductive and convective heat transferred through and stored in the test specimen in the period of exposure. The measurement can be used to predict the time to get a second degree burn to evaluate the thermal protective performance of the specimen.

ASTM F 1060 – Standard Test Method for Thermal Protective Performance of Materials for Protective Clothing for Hot Surface Contact
ASTM F 1939 – Standard Test Method for Radiant Heat Resistance of Flame Resistant Clothing Materials with Continuous Heating
ASTM F 2700 – Standard Test Method for Unsteady-State Heat Transfer Evaluation of Flame Resistant Materials for Clothing with Continuous Heating
ASTM F 2702 – Standard Test Method for Radiant Heat Performance of Flame Resistant Clothing Materials with Burn Injury Prediction
ASTM F 2703 – Standard Test Method for Unsteady-State Heat Transfer Evaluation of Flame Resistant Materials for Clothing with Burn Injury Prediction
ASTM F 2731 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Transmitted and Stored Energy of Firefighter Protective Clothing Systems
ASTM F 2733 – Standard Specification for Flame Resistant Rainwear for Protection against Flame Hazards; Section 8, Thermal Performance Testing Procedures
NFPA 1971 – Thermal Protective Performance (TPP)
NFPA 2112 – Heat Transfer Performance (HTP) Test

Video Demo for TPP

Off-gassing Test

The off-gassing tester is specially designed to cope with the TPP tester to collect the off-gas during and after the exposure of the specimen to the heat source. The off-gas can be collected in gas form or be collected in designated chemical solutions for further analysis such as gas analysis and/or GS-MS analysis.

Radiant Protective Performance Test (RPP)

The Radiant protective performance tester can measure the convective heat transferred through the test specimen in the period of exposure. The measurement can be used to predict the time to get a second degree burn to evaluate the Radiant protective performance of the specimen.

ASTM F 1939 – Standard Test Method for Radiant Heat Resistance of Flame Resistant Clothing Materials with Continuous Heating
ASTM F 2702 – Standard Test Method for Radiant Heat Performance of Flame Resistant Clothing Materials with Burn Injury Prediction

Steam and Hot Liquid Splash and Immerse Test

The steam and hot liquid splash and immerse tester can simulate hazards exposure such as steam splash, hot liquid splash, and immerse into hot liquid with or without applying compression. The tests will be able to measure the total heat transferred to the specimen and predict the burn time with different settings of exposure time and compression pressure and time.

Video demo for Hot Liquid Splash

Video demo for Steam Hazard Performance Tester

Cone Calorimeter

The cone calorimeter is used to study the thermal degradation of the test specimen. By analyzing the thermal degradation of the test specimen in different radiant heat flux level, information such as heat release rate, total heat release, smoke release rate, weight loss rate will be measured. In addition, a specially designed human simulant sensor will be attached to the specimen to measure the heat transferred to the sensor in the thermal degradation process to predict the burn time.

ASTM E 1354 Standard Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products Using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter
ISO 5660-1 Reaction-to-fire tests – Heat release, smoke production and mass loss rate.

Video demo for Cone Calorimeter

Comfort performance evaluation

Sweating Hot Plate

The sweating hot plate instrumentation gives an assessment of heat and moisture (vapor) transport through the material into a controlled environment. The sweating guarded hot plate determines the thermal resistance (insulation), evaporative resistance (breathability/permeability) of a material, and the Total Heat Loss from the plate through the fabric into a specified environment. These are widely used characterizations for determining a clothing system’s impact on heat and moisture transfer between the wearer and the environment. We use a large sweating hot plate for testing according to several different standards.

ASTM F 1868 Standard Test Method for Thermal and Evaporative Resistance of Clothing Materials Using a Sweating Hot Plate
ISO 11092 Textiles – Physiological effects – Measurement of thermal and water-vapour resistance under steady-state conditions (sweating guarded-hotplate test)

Video demo for Sweating Hot Plate

Sweating Manikin

The sweating manikin systems are used to evaluate whole garments systems (orcomponents of garment systems) for heat and moisture management related to garment insulation and breathability. By measuring these values on a human form, garments are able to be evaluated as they would be worn in the field according to different environment parameters. Effects of fit, garment construction and design (including air gaps) are taken into account. Hence the sweating manikin can perform much better estimation of the heat loss of the whole apparel ensemble in different environmental settings. In addition, the manikin can also simulate walking condition by an articulated walking frame.

ASTM F 1291 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Thermal Insulation of Clothing Using a Heated Manikin
ASTM F 2370 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Evaporative Resistance of Clothing Using a Sweating Manikin
ASTM F 2371 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Heat Removal Rate of Personal Cooling Systems Using a Sweating Heated Manikin
ASTM F 1720 – Standard Test Method for Measuring Thermal Insulation of Sleeping Bags Using a Heated Manikin
ASTM F 2732 – Standard Practice for Determining the Temperature Ratings for Cold Weather Protective Clothing
ISO 15831 – Clothing. Physiological Effects. Measurement of thermal insulation by means of a thermal manikin
EN 13537 – Requirements for Sleeping Bags

Video demo for Sweating Manikin (Male & Female)

Sweating Hand

The sweating hand is designed to evaluate heat and moisture management properties of glove systems. This equipment simulates heat and sweat production and transportation so that will be able to evaluate the influence of gloves on the thermal comfort of hands for a given environment. Simultaneous heat and moisture transport through the glove system, and variations in these properties over different areas of the hand can be quantified. There is no standard for sweating hand testing, sweating manikin test standards will be applied to set the environment parameters.

ASTM F 1291 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Thermal Insulation of Clothing Using a Heated Manikin
ASTM F 2370 – Standard Test Method for Measuring the Evaporative Resistance of Clothing Using a Sweating Manikin

Video demo for Sweating Hand

Video-based optical contact angle measuring instrument

The video-based optical contact angle measuring system OCA 15Pro is the affordable entry to the world of professional contact angle measurement and drop shape analysis. It can also measure bigger samples. The OCA 15Pro has a long x- and y-axis and high temperature furnaces are available too (developed by ourselves).

ISO 6295 – Determination of interfacial tension of oil against water
ISO 6889 – Surface active agents – determination of interfacial tension by drawing up liquid films
ASTM D971-99a – Standard test method for interfacial tension of oil against water by the ring method
ASTM D1417-03a– Standard method of testing rubber latices – synthetic
DIN EN 14210– Surface active substances; determination of interfacial tension of surface active solutions by frame and ring method

Video demo for Optical Contact Angle Measuring Instrument

Dynamic contact angle measuring instrument and tensiometer

The dynamic contact angle measuring instrument and tensiometer DCAT 11 is the standard instrument for the weight-based measurement of contact angle, surface and interfacial tension, critical micelle formation concentration, density, sedimentation and penetration rate, plus penetration resistance.

Video demo for Dynamic Contact Angle Measurement Instrument

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Air Permeability Test

An Atlas air permeability tester will be used to test the air permeability (breathability) of sample fabrics according to ASTM standard.

ASTM D737 Standard Test Method for Air Permeability of Textile Fabrics

Spectrophotometer Test

An Agilent Cary 300 UV-Vis spectrophotometer will be used to test UV radiation transmission through sample fabrics. Wavelength abortion and reflection can also be determined. Color analysis can be conducted to identify colors and various sets of color coordination data can be measured.

Tensile Test

An Instron universal tensile tester will be used to test the tensile strength, breaking strength, tearing strength, and seam strength for test samples such as garment parts, fabrics, and fibers according to ASTM standards.

ASTM C1557, D3822, D4964, D2261, D2653, D2731, D7269, D7744, D7812, D1294, D2256, D1445, D5034, D5035, D6775, D2261, D1683.

Abrasion Test

A Taber abrasion tester will be used to test abrasion resistance of sample fabrics according to ASTM standard.

ASTM D3884 Standard Guide for Abrasion Resistance of Textile Fabrics (Rotary Platform, Double-Head Method)

Random Tumble Test

An Atlas random tumble tester will be used to test the pilling resistance of the sample fabrics according to ASTM standard.

ASTM D3512 Standard Test Method for Pilling Resistance and Other Related Surface Changes of Textile Fabrics: Random Tumble Pilling Tester.

Flammability Test

A vertical flame tester will be used to test the flammability of the sample specimen under controlled environmental conditions. Flame time, char length or visible damage to the test specimen, and melting or dripping are measured and recorded.

ASTM D6413 Standard Test Method for Flame Resistance of Textiles (Vertical Test)

Color Fastness Test

Various colorfastness tests against washing (Launder-Ometer), light (Day light), rubbing (Crocking) will be tested according to AATCC or ISO standards.

Other tests can be performed upon request, please contact the lab for specifics and details.

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Contact information

Guowen Song
1078 or 2094 LeBaron
626 Morrill Rd.
Ames, IA 50011-2100
515-294-3012
icpclab@iastate.edu

Google Scholar Profile

ResearchGate Profile

Quick links

AFFOA:
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA)

Professional Organizations:
AATCC
ICEE
TBIS
Fiber Society
ESPC

Industry Manufactures:
Lakeland Industries, Inc.
Veridian Fire Protective Gear
Tencate

Government Agencies:
CDC
NFPA

Labs with Partnership:
Xinwei Wang
Yue Wu

Future Firefighters