SBIR-STTR Award

One of the most outstanding fabrics for the protection of personnel with respect to exposure to direct flame and yet has the feel of a soft textile is composed of oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber (OPF). However OPF fabrics have lacked sufficient abrasion resistance for use in protective clothing. The navy clothing and textile research center (Z. Kupferman and M. Roy) has demonstrated the OPF fabrics can offer protection in flame excursions up to 5500 deg F. American hyperform proposes to maximize the abrasion resistance of OPF fabrics by the intimate blending of 10 to 20% of various abrasion and fire resistant fibers in the off yarns which will be woven into 2x2 twill and jersey knot test pieces for evaluation. The evaluation will determine what percentages of PBI, aramide, or FR wool fibers are needed to achieve satisfactory abrasion resistance and maximize the amount of OPF in the yarn and subsequent fabrics. The best combination fabric of blended OPF yarns will be woven or knitted in sufficient quantities to make about four prototypes each of a T-shirt, shirt, coveralls, antiflash mask, and gloves. These items will be submitted to navy clothing and textile research center for evaluation. Their comments will be incorporated for larger runs of quantities of fabric and apparel for field testing in phase ii.

A series of fabrics based on blended opf yarns have been developed which demonstrate superior inherent fire protection over currently used fabrics for standard navy protective clothing. These fabrics also have satisfactory abrasion resistance (60 to 110% of wool fabric) and enhanced chemical and staining resistance. Phase I of this program has shown that opf containing fabrics can be made with satisfactory abrasion resistance while retaining their superior fire resistance through selected choice of blended yarns of opf and other fibers. The fr performance on all fabrics gave an after flame on federal test no. 5903 from less than one second to zero with excellent hand and comfort at about the same price as nomex(r) fabrics. Phase II will develop three optimized fabrics based on the results from Phase I. These fabrics will be: 1) maximum fr with good abrasion and tear strength for outer firefighters protection; 2) maximum fr with good abrasion, dark color and good hand7 3) maximum fr knit for a support fabric for aluminized films; and 4) (optional) light weight knit with good comfort with maximum fr for underwear. Various yarns and weave combinations will be evaluated in the first nine months of the program followed by a decision to go for several field trials with the best fabric candidates. The completion of Phase II will result in preliminary specifications written for new navy requirement for several different garments in high risk fire areas.