Multipurpose Protective Clothes for Emergency Responders

描述：防护服是应急人员最重要的个人防护装备之一，他们在高风险工作中面临着越来越多的职业威胁。然而，目前使用的防护服存在着明显的不足，包括缺乏多功能防护服，防护性能不尽如人意，以及防护和舒适性之间的权衡。该项目的长期目标是开发新型可穿戴的保暖、生物和化学防护服材料，以增强应急人员的舒适性。为了实现这一目标，目前使用的防热织物(Nomex、芳纶和PBI)将被选为基础材料，并将采用涂层技术，通过含有化学吸收剂的透气阻燃涂层将可重复使用和可重复充电的聚合物氧化剂涂层到基础织物上。拟议研究的具体目标是：(1)筛选可重复使用和充电的能够有效净化生物和化学战剂替代品的聚合物氧化剂；(2)通过含有化学吸收剂的透气阻燃涂层，建立选定的聚合物氧化剂在保暖织物上涂层的最佳配方和技术；(3)评估新织物的热防护、生物防护和化学防护功能、机械性能以及舒适性；以及(4)收集初步数据，以确定新方法的成本。这些特定的目标旨在展示这样一个概念，即可穿戴的多用途防护服可以开发出同时提供热、生物和化学保护活动的概念。这项R03研究将作为继续和扩大提高应急人员职业安全和健康项目的重要基础。

DESCRIPTION: Protective clothing is one of the most important personal protective equipment for emergency responders, who are facing increased occupational threats in their high risk jobs. However, currently used protective clothing has significant shortfalls, including the lack of multiple-purpose protective clothing, the unsatisfactory protective performance, and the tradeoff between protection and comfort. The long term goal of this project is to develop novel wearable thermal, biological, and chemical protective clothing materials with enhanced comfort performance for emergency responders. To reach this goal, currently used thermal protective fabrics (Nomex, Kevlar, and PBI) will be chosen as the base material, and a coating technology will be employed to coat reusable and rechargeable polymeric oxidizers onto the base fabrics through breathable flame-retardant coatings containing chemical absorbents. The specific aims of the proposed research are to: (1) screen reusable and rechargeable polymeric oxidizers that can effectively decontaminate surrogates of biological and chemical warfare agents; (2) establish the optimal formulations and technologies to coat the selected polymeric oxidizers onto thermal protective fabrics through breathable flame-retardant coatings containing chemical absorbents; (3) evaluate the thermal protective, biological protective and chemical protective functions, the mechanical properties, as well as the comfort performance of the new fabrics; and (4) collect preliminary data to determine the cost of the new approach. These specific aims are designed to demonstrate the concept that wearable multi-purpose protective clothing can be developed to provide thermal, biological, and chemical protective activities simultaneously. This R03 research will serve as an important base for the continuation and expansion of the project to improve the occupational safety and health of emergency responders.