Welders' protective clothing with improved wearing comfort and an increased protective effect

Special protective clothing which provides protection particularly from hot metal drops and thus from burns must be worn during welding work. Until now, this clothing has been manufactured predominantly from cotton fabrics which are provided with flame-retardant properties using an additional finish such as metal salts. Great disadvantages are the high weight per unit area, a high fabric density and stiffness as well as the associated poor air permeability. The resulting unfavourable skin-sensory properties of the textiles may lead to skin irritations. This effect is intensified even further by the hydrophobic finish.

When working in confined spaces, the welders must kneel or lie on the floor or on metal plates (e.g. shipbuilding as well as pipeline, tunnel and boiler construction). Another deficiency of the clothing customary until now is the lack of pads for the knees, elbows or shoulders in order to reduce the pressure and to avoid any cold bridges. Moreover, the effect of this finish diminishes extremely due to soiling containing oil, to the strong UV loads during welding and, in particular, to the care (washing). This results in only short service lives of the clothing (i.e. a maximum of three to four care cycles). Frequently, the protective clothing can only be used just once.

The aim of the research project was to elaborate fundamental design principles for innovative welders' clothing which, with a higher protective effect, simultaneously exhibited a good physiological function with noticeably improved wearing comfort for the wearer. At the end of the project, the intention was to obtain concrete design guidelines which could be directly implemented by the textile and clothing manufacturers and made it possible to fabricate innovative welders' protective clothing for the 150,000 welders active in Germany. This clothing had the following advantages over the previous protective clothing:

• Improved protective function against hot metal drops and against local supercooling phenomena
• Good wearing comfort (air permeability and sweat transport)
• Longer service lives (aim: a minimum of ten care cycles)

This publicly promoted research project was carried out together with the Hohenstein Clothing Physiology Institute.