Investigation of the Thermal Protective Performance of Shape Memory Fabric System: Effect of Moisture and Position of Shape Memory Alloy

A prototype of temperature-responsive protective fabric assembly with shape memory alloy (SMA) spring was developed. The effect of moisture on the thermal protective performance of fabric was investigated under radiant heat exposure and hot surface contact. The thermal liner of fabric system was pretreated with moisture amount of 25%, 50%, and 100%. Meanwhile, the thermal protection of fabric assembly with SMA springs in different positions between the fabric layers was explored. The results showed that moisture above 25% had a positive influence on thermal protective performance of both traditional and SMA fabric assembly under two hazardous environments. The effect of moisture in SMA fabric assembly was more remarkable than that in fabric without spring. And the SMA spring located between thermal liner and moisture barrier provided better thermal protective performance. The research findings will be beneficial for manufacturing high-performance temperature-responsive fabric.