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Fashion and Textiles

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

Table 2 Subjective responses, sweat rate and clothing microclimate humidity for the firefighters

From: Influences of partial components in firefighters’ personal protective equipment on subjective perception

Parameter

Experimental condition N = 8

1. Control

2. Full PPE

3. No SCBA

4. No helmet

5. No gloves

6. No boots

7. No jacket/pants (NoJP)

8. No helmet/gloves/boots/SCBA (NoHGBS)

Thermal comfort in exercise

−0.50 ± 1.07*

−1.75 ± 1.16

−1.38 ± 1.06

−1.75 ± 1.16

−1.50 ± 1.07

−1.50 ± 1.31

−0.88 ± 0.64

−1.13 ± 0.99

Thirst sensation in recovery

1.0 ± 0.9

1.6 ± 0.7

1.1 ± 0.6

1.2 ± 0.6

1.2 ± 0.6

1.0 ± 0.6

0.8 ± 0.6*

0.9 ± 0.8*

 Total sweat rate (g)

282 ± 83***

743 ± 248

711 ± 301

696 ± 206

767 ± 308

600 ± 174

456 ± 131**

532 ± 139

Sweat rate_evaporated (g)

273 ± 76

377 ± 69

363 ± 109

403 ± 301

382 ± 192

329 ± 75

377 ± 124

355 ± 86

Sweat rate_absorbed (g)

10 ± 8***

366 ± 192

384 ± 197

293.4 ± 170

385 ± 145

270 ± 138

79 ± 48***

177 ± 70**

Evaporation rate (%)1)

96.9 ± 2.0***

52.5 ± 7.8

52.7 ± 6.2

55.0 ± 22.4

49.8 ± 9.7

56.4 ± 12.7

82.6 ± 9.0***

67.4 ± 6.6**

Absorption rate (%)2)

3.1 ± 2.0***

47.5 ± 7.8

47.3 ± 6.2

45.0 ± 22.4

50.2 ± 9.7

43.6 ± 12.7

17.4 ± 9.0***

32.6 ± 6.6**

Humidity in clothing at rest (%)

39.0 ± 5.8*

50.5 ± 11.0

38.5 ± 9.5*

38.2 ± 6.4*

43.6 ± 7.5

47.4 ± 4.3

37.7 ± 8.1**

41.2 ± 8.9*

Humidity in clothing in exercise (%)

80.6 ± 4.7***

95.4 ± 4.5

85.0 ± 7.6***

94.6 ± 4.0

94.1 ± 4.8

95.9 ± 2.2

87.0 ± 8.3**

94.0 ± 5.0

Humidity in clothing in recovery (%)

75.8 ± 9.2*

99.0 ± 0.1

97.8 ± 1.8

98.7 ± 0.5

99.0 ± 0.0

98.5 ± 1.3

84.5 ± 10.4***

98.2 ± 1.0

Time to 99%RH in clothing microclimate (min)

-

32

38

35

33

33

23

35

Number of person who reached 99%RH

0

8

5

7

8

7

1

4

Covered area (%)

0

100

100

95.1

95.1

93.2

20

83.4

Perceived wetted area in exercise (%)

18.3 ± 13.5***

71.2 ± 29.2

63.8 ± 30.5

69.7 ± 30.1

56.7 ± 34.4

47.7 ± 23.3*

29.7 ± 11.3***

60.0 ± 24.6

Perceived wetted area in recovery (%)

6.9 ± 12.6***

70.9 ± 31.6

65.0 ± 29.9

69.1 ± 32.4

50.6 ± 35.2

51.0 ± 25.6

13.4 ± 18.7***

57.6 ± 31.7

  1. (Thermal comfort: −2 (Uncomfortable), −1 (A little uncomfortable), 0 (Not both), Thirst sensation: 0 (No thirsty), 1 (A little thirsty), 2 (Thirsty); 1)Evaporation rate (%) = (Evaporated sweat rate (g)/Total sweat rate (g))*100, 2)Absorption rate (%) = (Absorbed sweat rate (g)/Total sweat rate (g))*100); *Significantly different to FullPPE (P <0.05), **Significantly different to FullPPE (P < 0.01), ***Significantly different to FullPPE (P < 0.001).
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