Flame Retardant Clothing

Has anyone seen this before? Wrangler makes flame retardant clothing. They call it their Wrangler Flame Retardant FR collection. They make ?FR? jeans, shirts, fleeces and jackets. They look like fairly normal clothes (except the price).

I know some people like to wear Nomex and I am no safety expert but this might be an option for those folks.

If you go to wrangler dot com and search FR you can find the clothing. Maybe there are more vendors that produce ?normal? looking flame retardant clothing I am not sure. Their web site gives some ASTM and OSHA references but I would have to do some research to understand this.

Glad to hear you are ready for first flight Dean

Most of the flame retardant clothing I've ever worn is hot, heavy, doesn't breath, and is scratchy. I wonder if they've solved any of these issues?

I work on drilling rigs in the oil and gas industry. Fire retardant clothing, "FRC's", are required on just about any operation in the oilfield including my drilling rig. Although they used to be very primitive and uncomfortable, FRC's have come a long ways in the last few years. Our western wear stores in the Midland-Odessa area carry a huge line of FRC's. I wear the wrangler relaxed fit FRC jeans and a FRC long sleave shirt or t-shirt at work. They are just about as comfortable as regular clothes and everyone working around me has gotten used to wearing them. Be aware, a pair of jeans are about 50.00, and the shirts are from 50 to 100.

anyone compare the specs?????

I read the label on the local work warehouse FRC stuff, and it has a little graph that shows that it has far superior protection to Nomex in several categories.
What I found odd was that the lightweight shirt & jeans had the same rating as the obviously 5 times thicker lined coveralls.....
....what gives?

also appears that these are designed to protect the wearer from a short 'flash fire' of intense heat, not a long, slow burn like you would more likely get in a race car or aircraft crash/fuel fire event.

So if there are any 'experts' out there, let's hear from you please!!!

( otherwise, I'm going to go with a wild guess that airforce pilots and crews are wearing Nomex for a good reason.)

Spentex Flight Suit

A long time friend of mine started selling SPENTEX products to the oil patch. He sent me one of their flight suits to evaluate. So far it is comfortable, lightweight and cool. Better than the one piece Nomex flight suit we are used to in my humble opinion. That and $5 will get you a cup of coffee

Here is a link to more information on this clothing in addition to the flight suit.

http://www.ssiconsultinginc.com/services/spentex-fire-resistant-clothing/

flyboy1963 said:

also appears that these are designed to protect the wearer from a short 'flash fire' of intense heat, not a long, slow burn like you would more likely get in a race car or aircraft crash/fuel fire event.

So if there are any 'experts' out there, let's hear from you please!!!

( otherwise, I'm going to go with a wild guess that airforce pilots and crews are wearing Nomex for a good reason.)

Click to expand...

I'm no expert but IIRC the standard mil spec nomex flight suit provides 6-10 seconds of "flash fire" protection. We've played with (read, "tested") their fire resistant properties by holding a lighter to various parts and they char relatively quickly. The main benefit is that they don't melt to the skin like polyester/synthetic clothing (same goes for cotton, wool, and silk, the only authorized undergarments for us). Don't count on any clothing to insulate you from a long slow burn...just plan/hope to get out.

FR Clothing

I think my point was if you are wearing jeans why not spend an extra $20 and wear FR jeans. The same with the shirt.

I would still like to hear from an "expert". Dan H., did you do any testing with clothing?

I need to find a source for the FR specifications, for testing a new clothing product for the FR label. Can anyone point me to the right place?

Additional Info for SPENTEX

airguy said:

I need to find a source for the FR specifications, for testing a new clothing product for the FR label. Can anyone point me to the right place?

Click to expand...

Greg, I am going to email you some propaganda on Spentex.

Dale Antiflame

The subject of fire-resistant clothing came up in the aerobatic community a few years back and there was an article in Sport Aerobatics about it.

The conclusion was that Nomex was adequate for fire resistance, but that with smaller GA aircraft -- especially aerobatic models with fuselage-mounted fuel tanks -- the larger issue was the possibility of being covered with liquid fuel. Any front-end collision with push the engine into the firewall, and right behind that is the main fuel tank. And just behind that is... the pilot.

If you think about a Pitts or Extra making an off-airport forced landing, it's not difficult to imagine the aircraft nosing over. At that point, the canopy cannot be opened because the ground would block it. If the fuel tank had ruptured, it's likely the pilot would be covered in avgas. Add one spark and you're a human candle with no way out. Bad stuff.

Even if you don't have a fuel tank in the cockpit, avgas is never far away. I mean, the wingspan of an RV-6 is what, 22 feet? Fuel is on either side and gets routed to a spot direct in front of you. It's still quite possible an accident could lead to the cockpit being doused with fuel.

Anyway, testing found that while Nomex did provide some fire protection, it was not designed to repel liquids. Nomex actually absorbed liquid fuel.

The article's author found a substance called Dale Antiflame which repels sprayed fuel. Basically it's a breathable cotton fabric which is treated with a heat-cured dialkylphosphonamide flame retardant.

I wrote an extensive article about it here:

http://www.rapp.org/archives/2006/03/fire/

--Ron

ronrapp said:

The article's author found a substance called Dale Antiflame which repels sprayed fuel. Basically it's a breathable cotton fabric which is treated with a heat-cured dialkylphosphonamide flame retardant.

--Ron

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Not bashing your work Ron, but I think this is a solution in search of a problem. If you've got liquid fuel in the cockpit, it doesn't matter whether your flight suit can repel it or not. If it ignites with you in the cockpit it does not matter whether or not your flight suit is wet with fuel, you'll cook your lungs on the first breath and it's game over.

You might be right, Greg. Here's hoping we never have the opportunity to find out!

If you really want an FR suit for real protection, look into racing suits. Anything less will not provide the thermal protection required beyond a flash fire.
http://www.saferacer.com/auto-racing-suits/?cat=53

When I did testing on FR cotton, Nomex, PBI/Kevlar single layer suits in 1988, the thermal protection under direct impingement of liquids was nil. Multilayer suits performed very well.

I have not worn the newest materials, but PBI/Kevlar was the coolest back then, since it has a higher moisture regain (the thing that makes cotton comfortable.)