Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

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Materials & Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Developing smart fabric systems with shape memory layer for improved
thermal protection and thermal comfort
Lijun Wang a,1, Mengjiao Pan a,1, Yehu Lu a,b,c,⇑, Wenfang Song d, Suyan Liu e, Jia Lv b,⇑
a
College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China
b
Fujian Province University Engineering Research Center of Textile and Clothing, Fuzhou 350108, China
c
Nantong Textile and Silk Industrial Technology Research Institute, Nantong 226300, China
d
School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
e
Key Laboratory of Fire & Emergency Rescue of MEM, Shanghai 200438, China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

A novel temperature-responsive
smart fabric system was developed
using shape memory alloy filament.

Smart fabric system extended
protection time, especially for that
with moisture and 2 cm filament
interval.

Smart fabric system with shape
memory fabric close to the outer shell
provided prolonged protection time.

Smart fabric system showed higher
thermal resistance and lower
evaporative resistance than control.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, three types of shape memory fabrics (SMFs) were fabricated by weaving shape memory fil-
Received 1 September 2021 aments from the weft direction at intervals of 2, 3 and 4 cm. Accordingly, four-layered smart fabric sys-
Revised 30 June 2022 tems (SFSs) were developed by incorporating a SMF layer into traditional thermal protective fabrics.
Accepted 3 July 2022
Effects of the filament interval, position and moisture content of SMFs on thermal protection were inves-
Available online 13 July 2022
tigated. Additionally, thermal insulation and evaporative resistance of the SFSs were examined. Results
demonstrated that the application of SMF in a four-layered fabric system could significantly suppress
Keywords:
the temperature increase and prolong the time to reach 12 °C and 24 °C temperature rise. Using a SMF
Shape memory alloy
Thermal protective clothing
with 2 cm filament interval provided better thermal protection. SFS with a SMF close to the outer shell
Shape memory fabric provided a prolonged time to reach 24 °C temperature rise. Moisture within a SMF increased the heat dis-
Smart textile sipation rate, and the air gap enhanced the positive effect of moisture on protective performance. The SFS
showed higher thermal resistance and lower evaporative resistance compared to the traditional five-
layered fabric system as a control, especially for SMF with 2 cm filament intervals. This study helps
develop smart thermal protective clothing to improve thermal protection and comfort.
Ó 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Thermal protective clothing (TPC) is widely used to protect

⇑ Corresponding authors at: College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow
University, Suzhou 215021, China (Y. Lu).
workers from extreme heat environments with various hazards,
E-mail addresses: yhlu@suda.edu.cn (Y. Lu), lyujia@mju.edu.cn (J. Lv). including flame, radiant heat, hot gas, molten metals, hot liquid
1
These authors contributed equally to this work. splash and pressurized steam [1]. Improving the thermal protec-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2022.110922
0264-1275/Ó 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

tive performance of TPCs is of great importance to ensure the Therefore, the main aim of this study is to develop a new shape
safety of workers. Generally, the thermal protective performance memory fabric (SMF) made from NiTi alloys and aramid fibers and
of TPCs was effectively achieved by employing strategies such as construct a temperature-responsive smart fabric system (SFS) for
using new flame retardant materials, increasing the thickness TPC. Three types of SMFs were fabricated by weaving the prepared
and layers of the clothing fabrics, and changing clothing structure shape memory filaments into the weft of the fabric at regular inter-
[2,3]. However, many studies have revealed that there often exists vals of 2, 3 and 4 cm. The thermal protective performance of the
a contradiction between the thermal protection and thermal com- fabric systems with three SMFs was tested and compared. The
fort of TPCs using the abovementioned strategies [4,5]. Increasing effects of SMF positions on the SFS and moisture contents of SMFs
the thickness and layers of TPC could provide good thermal protec- were also studied. In addition, the thermal insulation and evapora-
tion for the human body in extreme environments. However, it tive resistance of SMFs and traditional TPCs with three-layer ther-
would reduce the thermal comfort of wearers in moderate- mal liners were compared. This research contributes to developing
temperature environments and decrease the flexibility and work a novel TPC with improved thermal protection and thermal com-
efficiency of the wearers [6]. Therefore, it is important to develop fort for the human body in extreme hazards.
novel TPCs to improve both thermal protection and thermal com-
fort for the human body in extreme- and moderate-temperature
2. Experimental
environments, respectively.
In recent years, incorporating smart materials into TPCs has
2.1. Preparation of NiTi shape memory alloy filaments (SMM)
gained increasing attention [7–11]. Phase change materials (PCMs)
can absorb and store heat through phase changes and are widely
2.1.1. Annealing and shape memory training of NiTi SMM
incorporated into firefighters’ protective clothing. Although using
The raw alloys (NiTi-02) were purchased from Dongguan Tege
PCM packs in TPC could provide both thermal protection and ther-
Iron and Steel Co. LTD, China. To ensure that skin temperature
mal comfort for the wears, PCM packs were likely to leak when
remains below the body pain threshold, i.e., 44 °C [21], the SMM
subjected to fire burning and mechanical shock in actual firefight-
should transform the shape when the temperature of the SMF layer
ing scenarios [8]. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) can spontaneously
is still higher than 44 °C. The austenite transformation temperature
change their shape when the external temperature reaches their
is mainly determined by the annealing temperature when the
phase transition temperatures. They return to their original state
composition of the NiTi alloy is fixed. To achieve the two-way
when the external temperature drops below their phase transition
shape memory effect with a high austenite transformation temper-
temperatures [9]. SMAs incorporated into TPC could create an air
ature [20] and obtain the maximum shape memory recovery rate
gap between the fabric layers under the deformation of SMAs
[22], the annealing temperature of the alloys was set at 450 °C.
exposed to heat and thus were anticipated to improve the thermal
The process for annealing NiTi filaments is shown in Fig. 1a. A
protection performance of TPC. The underlying theory for the
mould was first constructed, which consisted of eight stainless steel
deformation is that mutual transformation exists between the
cylinders with an outer diameter of 25 mm. The stainless steel
austenite and martensite phases in SMAs under heat stimulus
cylinders were fixed on a plate in sequence, and the distance
[10]. A SMA has a particular shape at temperatures above its phase
between two adjacent cylinders was 2 mm. Then, the NiTi filaments
transition temperature (i.e., austenite phase) and transfers to
were twined around the pillars alternately, clamped at both ends by
another given shape when cooled down below its phase transition
two rows of fixtures, and annealed at a temperature of 450 °C for
phase (martensite phase), and vice versa [11].
30 min. The filament after annealing is displayed in Fig. 1b.
Currently, a series of studies have examined the effects of SMAs
Afterwards, the NiTi filaments were subjected to shape-
in improving the thermal protection of TPCs. Congalton [12] first
memory training following three steps:
proposed a fabric system by stitching a layer of NiTi SMA springs
between two fabric layers to achieve improved thermal protection
(1) Remove the deformed NiTi filaments from the mould, gently
of TPC at high environmental temperatures, and springs with a
straighten them by hand and fix them, then cool the fila-
phase transition temperature of 45 °C could effectively reduce
ments rapidly in water at a temperature of approximately
the internal temperature rise of the fabric system. Subsequently,
10 °C for 10 min;
to obtain the optimized thermal protection of TPC, the influences
(2) Twine the NiTi filaments around the pillars and heat them at
of SMA springs, that is, position [13,14], actuation temperature
75 °C (higher than the temperature of austenitic transforma-
[15], arrangement mode [16], size [14,17], thermomechanical
tion) for 10 min;
treatment [15], and layers [18], were examined for their effects
(3) Repeat the above two steps approximately 10–15 times to
on improving the thermal protective performance of TPC. Although
obtain a stable shape memory effect.
improved thermal protection was found, TPCs using SMA springs
suffer the drawbacks of high stiffness when deformed, inducing
The prepared NiTi filaments were in the waveform with an
aggravated wear comfort and poor washability. To overcome these
amplitude of 12.5 mm and wavelength of 50 mm.
drawbacks, Heller et al. [19] directly applied NiTi wires to fabricate
woven, weft-knitted and warp-knitted fabrics, and found that weft
knitted fabrics are more suitable for prototyping because they can 2.1.2. Verification of NiTi SMM transition temperatures
take advantage of both the heat-induced change in Young’s modu- DSC tests (DSC250, TA Instruments, USA) were conducted for the
lus of NiTi wires and the deflection-dominated local deformation of SMMs after annealing and training processes. Measurements were
weft knitted patterns. Thereafter, Lah et al. [20] designed a weft initiated at a temperature of 40 °C, and then the samples were
knitted fabric made from NiTi wires and sewed it into a pocket heated to 160 °C and recooled to 40 °C. The heating and cooling
made from two textile fabric layers. When exposed to environmen- of the samples were conducted at a constant rate of 10 °C/min.
tal temperatures of 75 °C, the pocket instantly changed its form
from a two-dimensional shape to a three-dimensional shape, cre- 2.2. Weaving of shape memory fabric (SMF)
ating an air gap in the pocket. Although research studies have pin-
pointed that shape memory fabrics are highly applicable in TPCs, The prepared NiTi SMMs and aramid yarns are used to fabricate
there is a lack of studies investigating their actual effectiveness shape memory fabrics (SMFs), and their detailed information is
in improving the thermal protective performance of TPCs. presented in Table 1.
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L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

Table 1
Detailed information on the NiTi SMMs and aramid yarns.

Properties NiTi Filament Aramid yarns

Diameter (mm) 0.4 0.5
Composition Ni 55%/Ti 45% 100% para-aramid fibers

Fig. 1. The mould (a) for annealing and training the NiTi filaments and the annealed
filament (b).

The SMF was made using an automatic rapier loom (SGA598,

Jiangyin Tongyuan Textile Machinery CO., LTD, China), as shown
in Fig. 3a. During weaving, SMA filaments were inserted into the
weft of the fabric at regular intervals. A total of three types of SMFs
were made with the distances between two adjacent filaments, i.e.,
2 cm (S2) (Fig. 2a), 3 cm (S3) (Fig. 2b) and 4 cm (S4) (Fig. 2c). In
addition, an aramid fabric (A) made from 100% aramid fibers was
also prepared for comparison (Fig. 2d). When the SMF was heated
to its austenite transition temperature, the fabric was contracted Fig. 2. Woven fabrics by aramid fibers and SMAs: (a) S2; (b) S3; (c) S4; (d) A.
due to the deformation of NiTi filaments. While the SMF in an acti-
vated state was cooled to the martensite transition temperature,
the fabric returned to a flat state with SMA filaments recovered,
as shown in Fig. 3.

2.3. Construction of the smart fabric systems (SFS)

A smart fabric system (SFS) for thermal protection was con-

structed by inserting a SMF layer into the traditional three-layer
fabric system, i.e., outer shell (O), moisture barrier (M) and thermal
liner layer (T1). Specifically, three SFSs were constructed with
three different SMFs (i.e., S2, S3 and S4) in position between the
moisture barrier and thermal liner (Fig. 4a), and two systems were
constructed with two types of SMFs (S2 and S3) in position Fig. 3. The SMF at different temperatures: (a) T < Mf and (b) T  Af.
between the outer shell and moisture barrier (Fig. 4b). For compar-
ison, a traditional fabric system was made with an outer shell layer
(O), a moisture barrier layer (M) and a thicker thermal liner layer ing procedures. The thermal liner was placed on a digital electronic
(T2) (Fig. 4c). The specifications of each fabric layer are displayed scale, and then distilled water was sprinkled evenly on its inner
in Table 2. In total, six fabric systems were numbered and listed surface using a sprayer until the water was 50% or 100% mass of
in Table 3. the dry liner. Thereafter, the thermal liner was placed in an airtight
container and allowed to stand for 10 min to fully absorb the mois-
ture. Finally, a thermal liner with the desired moisture content was
2.4. Materials testing
prepared, and a fabric system combined with other fabric layers
was constructed. The test was conducted within 2 min after prepa-
2.4.1. Sample preparation
ration to minimize moisture evaporation.
Before testing, the smart fabric samples were cut into
15 cm  15 cm. To avoid the relative movement between any adja-
cent layers, the fabric layers were bonded together by researchers 2.4.2. Testing procedure
at the four corners of the fabric samples. The materials were pre-
conditioned for at least 24 h in a standard climatic chamber with (1) Thermal protective performance test
an air temperature of 20 ± 2 °C and relative humidity of 65 ± 4%. A thermal protective performance tester (Mode 701-D-163-1,
In the test for the effect of moisture content on the thermal pro- Precision Products LLC, USA) was used to examine the thermal pro-
tective performance of the fabric system, the thermal liner was tective performance of the smart fabric systems using a low radia-
prewetted before the test, and three moisture conditions were tion exposure mode [17]. Radiant heat was generated by nine
examined. The samples under 0% moisture condition were precon- translucent quartz infrared lamps placed horizontally beneath
ditioned at the standard processing mentioned above. The other the tested sample, and the outer shell surface was positioned fac-
two wet conditions for samples were achieved through the follow- ing thermal exposure [23]. The inner surface temperatures of the
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L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

Fig. 4. Construction of the fabric system: (a) SMF in position I, (b) SMF in position II and (c) traditional fabric system.

Table 2
Characteristics of the fabric layers in smart fabric systems.

Abbreviation Layer Component Structural Features Mass (g/m2) Thickness (mm)

O Outer shell 98% meta-aramid/2% para-aramid Twill 186.7 0.41
M Moisture barrier 100% meta-aramid/PTFE film Water thorn felt with PTFE 106.3 0.69
A Aramid fabric 100% para-aramid Plain 234.2 1.03
SMF Shape memory fabric 95% para-aramid/5%NiTi alloy Plain 239.1–268.2 0.96–1.04
T1 Thermal liner 100% meta-aramid Needle punched nonwoven with 200.0 0.72
meta-aramid woven face cloth
T2 Thermal liner 100% meta-aramid Needle punched nonwoven 288.0 2.06
with meta-aramid woven face cloth

Table 3 perature sensors detect the temperature of the plate. The heating
Configuration of testing fabric system. power is recorded throughout the measurement. For the evapora-
No. Structure (from outer layer to inner layer) tive resistance measurement, distilled water is fed to the heated
C1 O + M + A + T1 plate with sweating pores from a dosing unit. A piece of waterproof
C2 O + M + S2 + T1 but permeable membrane is placed on the plate. The test specimen
C3 O + M + S3 + T1 is directly placed above the membrane. The test procedure was
C4 O + M + S4 + T1 according to ISO 11092:2014.
C5 O + M + T2
C6 O + A + M + T1
C7 O + S2 + M + T1 2.4.3. Evaluation index
C8 O + S3 + M + T1 According to the ISO 6942:2002 standard, the thermal protec-
C9 O + M + T1 + T1 + T2 tive performance of smart fabric systems can be evaluated based
on the temperature histories and the time to reach temperature
rises of 12 °C (ht12) and 24 °C (ht24). The temperature at 300 s
fabric system were detected by three type-T thermocouples with a (T300), the temperature difference between the initial temperature
wire diameter of 0.274 mm (Omega Engineering, Norwalk, CT, and the temperature at 77 s exposure (DT77), and the difference
USA; accuracy: ±0.5 °C) placed on the inner surface of the thermal between the initial and maximum temperatures (DTmax) were
liner, and the temperature signals were recorded by a data acqui- examined. In addition, the rates of temperature rise from 0 s to tmax
sition system (National Instruments, NI 9213, Austin, TX, USA) (Vr) and the rates of heat dissipation (Vd) were also calculated
[24]. To measure the overall temperatures of the sample evenly, based on Equations (1) and (2), respectively.
the three thermocouples were set by researchers at the points of
quadrisection of the diagonal of the sample, i.e., one was in the DT max
Vr ¼ ð1Þ
middle, and the other two were 5 cm away from the middle [17]. tmax
The temperature data were sampled at a frequency of 0.5 s. The
average temperature was then calculated based on the tempera- T max  T 300
Vd ¼ ð2Þ
tures measured by the three sensors. 300  t max
The heat exposure duration was 77 s, allowing the inner surface where Tmax (°C) and tmax (s) represent the maximum temperature
of the thermal liner of all samples to reach the temperature rise of and the time to reach it, respectively.
12 °C and prevent serious damage to fabric systems. The inner sur- The thermal resistance (Rct) was calculated from Equation (3):
face temperature was recorded throughout the heat exposure, and
after the exposure to observe the heat dissipation performance of ðT m  T a Þ  A
Rct ¼  Rct0 ð3Þ
the fabric systems, the total recording duration was 300 s. The H  DH c
radiant heat flux was maintained at 0.40 ± 0.015 cal/cm2s (i.e., where Tm is the temperature of the measuring unit. Ta is the air
16.4 ± 0.6 kW/m2). temperature in the test enclosure, A is the area of the measuring
unit, H is the heating power supplied to the measuring unit, DHc
(2) Thermal insulation and evaporative resistance test is the correction term for heating power for the measurement of
thermal resistance Rct, and Rct0 is the apparatus constant, i.e., the
A typical sweating guarded hot plate (iSGHP-10.5, Thermetrics, thermal insulation of the bare plate.
Seattle, WA, USA) was used to simulate both heat and moisture The evaporative resistance (Ret) was calculated from Equation
transfer from the ‘‘skin” surface through fabrics to the ambient (4):
environment. The sweating guarded hot plate consists of three
main units, i.e., a measuring unit, a temperature controlling unit ðpm  pa Þ  A
Ret ¼  Ret0 ð4Þ
and a water supply unit [25,26]. The test specimen is placed on H  DH e
the heated plate, normally heated to a constant temperature to
where pm is the saturation water–vapor partial pressure at the sur-
represent the normal human skin temperature (e.g., 35.0 °C). Tem-
face of the measuring unit at temperature Tm, pa is the water–vapor
4
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

partial pressure of the air in the test enclosure at temperature Ta,

DHe is the correction term for heating power for the measurement
of water–vapor resistance Ret, and Ret0 is the apparatus constant,
i.e., the evaporative resistance of bare plate with membrane.

2.5. Statistical analysis

All results are expressed as the means ± standard deviation. Sta-

tistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0 software (SPSS Inc.,
Chicago, IL, USA). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used
to distinguish the differences between the dependent variables.
Post hoc tests using the least significance difference (LSD), Dun-
can’s test and t test were also conducted. The symbol ‘*’ presented
in the figures indicates that a significant difference was observed at
the level of p < 0.05.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 5. DSC curves of SMMs after thermomechanical cycling.
3.1. Shape memory effect of SMM

The transition temperatures of SMMs were determined through

the tangent method from the DSC curves, as shown in Fig. 5. The
transition from a martensite phase to an austenite phase started
at a temperature of 45.1 °C (As) and reached its peak at 54.9 °C.
The transition to an austenite state was completed at 58.1 °C
(Af). The sample in an austenite state was then cooled and trans-
formed into a martensite state at temperatures between 39.9 °C
(Ms) and 34.5 °C (Mf). This transformation reached its maximum
at a temperature of 36.5 °C. It transformed into a so-called R-
phase at temperatures between 30 °C and 10 °C. After analyzing
the annealed filaments on a dynamic scanning calorimetry device,
the filaments with the desired transition temperatures were
selected for further study.

3.2. Thermal protective performance of the smart fabric system (SFS)

Fig. 6 shows that the inner surface temperatures of C1-C5

exhibited rapid temperature increases when exposed to heat, then
showed continuous increases until the maximum temperature was Fig. 6. The inner surface temperature histories of C1-C5.

reached, and subsequently decreased gradually until the end of the

test. After 25 s of exposure, the temperatures of C1 and C5 were Table 4
significantly higher than those of C2-C4 (p < 0.05), and a significant Significant symbols used in Fig. 6, Fig. 9 and Fig. 11.
difference was also detected between C3 and C4 (p < 0.05). There
Symbol Meaning
was no temperature difference between C1 and C5 during 90 s-
140 s (p > 0.05) (Table 4). The temperature rise rate (Vr) was signif- &/&&/&&&/ Significant difference between C1 and C2, C1 and C3, C1 and
&&&& C4, C1 and C5, respectively (p < 0.05).
icantly lower in C2 (0.22 °C/s) than in the other SFSs (0.28–0.50 °C/
#/##/### Significant difference between C5 and C2, C5 and C3, C5 and
s) (p < 0.05). The Vr values of C3 and C4 (0.28–0.30 °C/s) were sig- C4, respectively (p < 0.05).
nificantly lower than those of C1 and C5 (0.47–0.50 °C/s) (p < 0.05), ^/^^/^^^ Significant difference between C2 and C3, C2 and C4, C3 and
and no difference was found between C3 and C4 (p > 0.05) or C4, respectively (p < 0.05).
<//< Significant difference between C6 and C7, C6 and C8, C7 and
between C1 and C5 (p > 0.05). The heat dissipation rates (Vd) were
C8 (p < 0.05).
significantly higher in C1 and C5 (0.26–0.27 °C/s) than in the others +/++/+++ Significant difference between C1 and C6, C2 and C7, C3 and
(p < 0.05), followed by C3 and C4 (0.17–0.18 °C/s), and C2 was the C8 (p < 0.05).
lowest (0.13 °C/s) (p < 0.05). >//> Significant difference between 0% and 50%, 0% and 100%, 50%
Fig. 7 compares the time duration to reach a temperature rise of and 100% (p < 0.05).

12 °C (ht12) and 24 °C (ht24) in C1-C5. ht12 was significantly

higher in C2, C3 and C4 than in C1 (p < 0.05). Moreover, ht12
was the highest in C2 (52.1 s) and the lowest in C5 (22.6 s) among
the SFSs (p < 0.05). For ht24, C2 also displayed the highest value
(97.3 s), and C5 demonstrated the lowest value (42.8 s) among
the samples (p < 0.05). In addition, C3 and C4 showed remarkably
higher ht24 values (21.1–31.9 s) than C1 and C5 (p < 0.05).
The DT77, DTmax and T300 values for the five fabric systems are
presented in Table 5. The values of the three indices were the high-
est in C1 and C5 (p < 0.05), followed by C3 and C4, and C2 showed
the lowest values (p < 0.05). No significant difference in these val-
ues between C3 and C4 was detected.
The results indicated that incorporating the smart fabric into
the thermal protective fabric system could significantly reduce
the internal temperature rise of the fabric system before the max-
imum temperature was reached. The explanation was that the SMF
deformed during heat exposure and created an extra air gap
between the moisture barrier and thermal liner layers, as shown

5
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

lower in the SFS with S2 than in those with S3 and S4. A possible
explanation is that SFS may store more energy during heat expo-
sure due to its higher air gap thickness, which releases heat after
exposure, causing a lower heat dissipation rate of the fabric
system.

3.3. The effect of SMF position on thermal protection

As shown in Fig. 9, the time-course changes of the inner surface

Fig. 7. Comparisons of ht12 and ht24 of C1-C5.
Table 5
DT77, DTmax and T300 of C1-C5.
Scenario DT77/°C (SD) DTmax/°C (SD) T300/°C (SD)
C1 39.7 (0.8)a 51.3 (0.4)a 42.7
C2 19.4 (0.7)c 24.2 (1.5)c 35.2
C3 26.5 (1.2)b 33.8 (1.6)b 38.0
C4 24.8 (1.4)b 31.7 (2.1)b 37.2
C5 42.3 (2.7)a 51.7 (2.8)a 40.4
Note: a, b, c, d – Testing samples with the same superscript letter do not differ
significantly from each other (p > 0.05); otherwise, a significant difference was
determined between samples using Duncan post hoc tests (p < 0.05). SD – standard
deviation.
in Fig. 8. The entrapped air might decrease conductive and radia-
tive heat but probably induce convective heat transfer to the ther-
mal liner in the fabric system with an SMF (C2-C4). The radiative
heat transfer dominated during radiation exposure. It is thus not
surprising to find that using an SMF in a thermal protective fabric
system also increased ht12 (32.9–86.1%) and ht24 (42.8–97.4%)
and reduced the temperature increase during 77 s of heat exposure
(DT77) (33.2–51.0%). In addition, SFSs with SMMs showed remark-
ably higher ht12 (64.6–130.5%) and ht24 (64.6%-127.4%) and obvi-
ously lower DT77 (37.3–54.1%), DTmax (34.7–53.3%) and T300 (6.0–
12.9%) values than those of C5. This result may also be attributed
to the SMMs being stimulated by a thermal source to create more
air gaps in the four-layer SFSs. The Vd values were significantly
lower in the SFSs than in the fabric systems without SMM. A pos-
sible explanation is that the air gap created by the SMM is still pre-
sent in the SFS after heat exposure, as it takes time for the SMM to
return to its original state when it cools to lower than 40 °C. Hence,
SFS may store more heat and possibly release heat after heat expo-
sure, thus delaying the heat dissipation rate of the fabric systems.
Considering the three types of SMFs, that is, the SMMs incorpo-
rated into SMFs with intervals between two adjacent filaments of 2
(S2), 3 (S3) and 4 cm (S4), SFS with S2 showed significantly higher
ht12 (32.2–40%) and ht24 (30.2–38.1%) and lower DT77 (21.9–
26.8%), DTmax (23.8–28.5%) and T300 (5.4–7.4%) than those with
S3 and S4. This result can be explained by the fact that the air
gap thickness created by SMMs was more uniform in S2 than in
S3 and S4 during heat exposure. It is speculated that in S3 and
S4, the air gap thickness may be much smaller in regions between
adjacent filaments than those close to the filaments due to the
more considerable distance between two filaments. Thus, this pos-
sibly leads to the better thermal protective performance of SFS
with S2. No significant difference in ht12, ht24, DT77, DTmax and
T300 was found between SFSs S3 and S4, indicating that further
increasing the interval between filaments has no impact on the
thermal protective performance of SFSs. The Vd was significantly
temperatures in C1-C3 and C6-C8 are presented. For C6-C8, the
temperatures were significantly different after 15 s of exposure.
A larger Vr was observed in C6 (0.47 °C/s) than in C7 (0.20 °C/s)
and C8 (0.28 °C/s) (p < 0.05), and C7 showed the lowest Vr. The
Vd of C6 was significantly different from that of C7 and C8
(p < 0.05). Considering the effect of SMF positions, the tempera-
tures of C2 and C7 or C3 and C8 were significantly different during
the duration of 0–35 s (p < 0.05), and C3 and C8 also showed a dif-
ference after 100 s (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference in
Vr and Vd was found between C2 and C7 or C3 and C8 (p > 0.05).
When SMFs were placed close to the outer shell, C7 and C8
showed remarkably larger ht12 values than C6 (p < 0.05), as shown
(0.5)b
in Fig. 10. It is interesting to find that the temperature rise of C7
(0.9)d
(1.0)c was lower than 24 °C (thus omitted in Fig. 9), significantly lower
(0.8)c than that of C6 and C8. Considering the effect of SMF positions, it
(0.7)a was observed that no significant difference was found in ht12
between C2 and C7 or C3 and C8 (p > 0.05). In contrast, the
unreached ht24 in C7 was significantly higher than that in C2.
No significant difference was found between C1 and C6 or C3
and C8 in ht24 values (p > 0.05).
Table 6 presents the DT77, DTmax and T300 values of C6-C8. Sig-
nificantly lower DT77, DTmax and T300 values were found in C7 and
C8 than in C6 (p < 0.05). No differences in the DT77, DTmax and T300
values were found between C7 and C8 (p > 0.05). Considering the
effect of SMF positions, a significant difference was only detected
between C8 and C3 in terms of T300 (p < 0.05).
The results indicate that for SFS with SMF placed near the outer
shell layer, SFS with S2 also demonstrated better thermal protec-
tive performance than that with S3, evidenced by its significantly
higher ht12 and ht24 and lower DT77, DTmax, and T300, consistent
with the testing results of SFS with SMF placed adjacent to the
thermal liner.
Regarding the effect of SMF positions, the ht24 value of C7 was
not reached during 300 s, probably because SMMs located near the
heating source (SFS with SMF adjacent to the outer shell) deformed
earlier due to the higher temperature rise near the outer layer. The
other indices between C2 and C7 were insignificantly different,
indicating that the SFS with S2 in positions I and II provided a sim-
ilar thermal protective performance. In addition, so did the conclu-
sion for SFS with S3, because the differences between C3 and C8 in
other indices were insignificant except for T300.
A premature stable air gap prevented C7 from reaching the tem-
perature that rose to 24 °C and decreased the DT77, DTmax and T300
of C7 and C8 at position II compared to position I. The higher
energy storage in the internal fabric at position I had the potential
to release more heat after exposure. Therefore, the rate of heat dis-
sipation at position I was slightly higher than that at position II. It
can be concluded that locating SMFs adjacent to the outer shell
layer could exhibit slightly better thermal protective performance.
Thus, it should be more suitable for application in thermal protec-
tive clothing.
3.4. The effect of moisture content on thermal protection
Fig. 11 presents the time-course changes of the inner surface
temperatures in C1-C3 and C5 under 0%, 50% and 100% moisture
conditions. Under a 50% moisture content, the Vr values of C1
6
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

Fig. 8. The transformation of the smart fabric system during the period of 0 s to 25 s: (a) 0 s, (b) 5 s, (c) 10 s, (d) 15 s, (e) 20 s, and (f) 25 s.

Table 6
DT77, DTmax and T300 of C1-C3 and C6-C8.

Scenario DT77/°C (SD) DTmax/°C (SD) T300/°C (SD)

a a
C6 39.8 (5.8) 51.1 (5.7) 42.5 (0.9)a
C1 39.7 (0.8)a 51.3 (0.4)a 42.7 (0.5)a
C7 18.9 (0.2)c 22.9 (0.8)c 34.2 (0.5)d
C2 19.4 (0.7)c 24.2 (1.5)c 35.2 (0.9)cd
C8 26.2 (0.8)b 30.8 (2.9)b 36.0 (0.6)c
C3 26.5 (1.2)b 33.8 (1.6)b 38.0 (1.0)b

Note: a, b, c, d – Testing samples with the same superscript letter do not differ
significantly from each other (p > 0.05); otherwise, a significant difference was
determined between samples using Duncan post hoc tests (p < 0.05). SD – standard
deviation.

Fig. 9. The inner surface temperature histories of C1-C3 and C6-C8.
Fig. 10. Comparisons of ht12 and ht24 of C1-C3 and C6-C8.
and C5 were similar and the fastest (0.49 °C/s), followed by C3
(0.28 °C/s), and C2 was the slowest (0.24 °C/s). The trend of Vd
was the same as Vr. The Vd values of C1 (0.20 °C/s) and C5
(0.18 °C/s) were significantly different from those of C2 (0.11 °C/
s) and C3 (0.12 °C/s), respectively (p < 0.05). Under 100% moisture
content, the Vr and Vd of the four samples had the same trends as
50%. C1 (Vr = 0.48 °C/s, Vd = 0.20 °C/s) and C5 (Vr = 0.47 °C/s, Vd = 0.
18 °C/s) were the fastest, followed by C3 (Vr = 0.27 °C/s, Vd = 0.1
1 °C/s), and C2 (Vr = 0.23 °C/s, Vd = 0.11 °C/s) were the slowest,
and the trends of differences among samples were also consistent.
There was no significant difference in Vr among the four fabric sys-
tems under the three different moisture conditions, except that the
Vr of C3 was the fastest under the dry condition (0.30 °C/s), and the
others all showed the sequence of 50% > 0% > 100%. However, the
dry samples had the maximum Vd, except for C2, which all showed
significant differences from the wet samples (p < 0.05). No signifi-
cant difference was found between the Vd of fabric systems under
50% and 100% moisture conditions. Moreover, the time for the dry
fabric systems to reach Tmax was approximately 25 s later than that
of the wet systems, and the difference was significant (p < 0.05).
A graphical representation of ht12 and ht24 for fabric systems
under different moisture conditions is presented in Fig. 12. For
ht12, there was a significant difference among the four fabric sys-
tems under 50% moisture content (p < 0.05), but when the mois-
ture content increased to 100%, the significant difference
disappeared. The ht12 values of the fabric systems under three
moisture conditions all showed a sequence of 100% > 0% > 50%.
There was a significant difference among the three moisture condi-
tions for C1 (p < 0.05), and this difference also existed between the
50% and 100% moisture contents for C3 (p < 0.05). For ht24, the
temperature of C2 did not rise by 24 °C under wet conditions,
whereas the others had significant differences from each other
under the two wet conditions (p < 0.05). For SFSs, the ht24 values
of dry fabric systems were the lowest, and ht24 increased with
increasing moisture content. However, for C1 and C5 without a
SMF, the fabric systems with a 50% moisture content both showed
the lowest ht24 values.

7
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al.
Fig. 11. The inner surface temperature histories of C1-C3 and C5 under different
moisture contents.
Fig. 12. Comparisons of ht12(a) and ht24(b) of C1-C3 and C5 under different
moisture contents.
Under the same moisture conditions, Table 7 compares the
DT77, DTmax and T300 values of C1-C3 and C5. The three indicators
showed no significant difference between the 50% and 100% mois-
ture contents. Under 50% moisture content, the three indicators of
SFSs (C2 and C3) all had no significant difference but were signifi-
cantly different from those of C1 and C5 without SMF (p < 0.05).
The differences under 100% moisture content were consistent with
those under 50% moisture content. Moreover, under dry condi-
tions, the DT77 values of C3 and C5 were significantly higher than
8
Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922
those under wet conditions (p < 0.05). The DTmax values of the dry
fabric systems were significantly higher than those of the wet sys-
tems (p < 0.05), except for C2. The temperatures at 300 s of the four
fabric systems under dry conditions were significantly higher than
those under the two wet conditions (p < 0.05).
Under a 50% moisture content, the thermal protective perfor-
mances of C2 and C3 were significantly better than those of C1
and C5. Among them, C2 provided the best performance with the
highest ht12 (113–117%), no ht24, the lowest DT77 (49–52%) and
DTmax (44–49%), followed by C3 with relatively higher ht12 (45–
48%) and ht24 (99–108%), lower DT77 (39–43%) and DTmax (37–
41%). Under 100% moisture content, the difference among the four
fabric systems was consistent with 50%, and C2 performed the best,
followed by C3, C1 and C5 those without SMF, which performed
the worst. C2 showed the highest ht12 (69–92%) and no ht24,
the lowest DT77 (48–50%) and DTmax (43–48%). C3 showed higher
ht12 (42–62%) and ht24 (82–102%), lower T77 (40–43%) and DTmax
(37–43%) than C1 and C5. These results demonstrated that SFSs
with SMF also provided good thermal protective performance
under wet conditions and were used to simulate sweating in the
human body. Compared with samples under dry conditions, the
increase rate of ht12 (74–131%) for C2 was slower than that under
50% moisture content but faster than 100%. In addition, the reduc-
tion rates of T77 (51–54%) and DTmax (52.8–53.2%) for C2 were both
faster than those under the two wet conditions. However, those for
C3 (33–37% and 34–35%, respectively) were both slower than the
wet ones. This result indicated that SFSs had better protective per-
formance when moisture existed, and the positive effect for C3
under wet conditions was greater than that under dry conditions.
By comparing the effect of three different moisture conditions
on the protective performance, it is found that C1 and C5 those
without SMF exhibited the minimum ht12 and ht24 values under
50% moisture content, and they were better than the dry ones
but worse than the 100% wet ones in terms of DT77, DTmax and
T300. Under radiant heat exposure, a lower moisture content had
a negative effect on the thermal protective performance at the ini-
tial stage of exposure. However, a 100% moisture content could
improve the protective performance of the fabric, which was in line
with the studies of Zhang et al. [24] and Barker et al. [23]. The ht12
of SFSs with 50% moisture content was lower than that of the dry
SFSs, but their ht24 value continued to be higher with lower DT77,
DTmax and T300. This result indicates that the existence of an air gap
enhanced the positive effect of moisture on the protective perfor-
mance, which was consistent with the results of previous studies
[27]. However, it also depended on the distance between the air
gap and the heat source. When the air gap is far away from the heat
source, the addition of moisture weakens the positive influence of
the air gap size [3]. According to the temperature change graph,
moisture shortened the time for the fabric system to reach the
highest temperature and increased the heat dissipation rate. The
result might be related to the larger thermal conductivity of the
wet fabric. After heat radiation exposure, the evaporation of mois-
ture removed a large amount of heat from the fabric’s surface;
hence, it began to dissipate heat after reaching the highest temper-
ature in advance and maintained a high heat dissipation rate.
3.5. Thermal insulation and evaporative resistance of SFS
The thermal resistances of C1-C4 and C9 are displayed in Fig. 13.
The SMFs in C2-C4 were activated, and those in C20 -C40 were flat.
C9 was a fabric system with three-layer thermal liners, including
two-layer T1 and one-layer T2, and showed thermal resistance
close to those of SFSs. After that, the thermal comfort could be fur-
ther compared among the above fabric systems under similar ther-
mal insulation conditions. Remarkably lower Rct was observed in
C1 (0.124 m2K/W) than in other samples (p < 0.05), followed by
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al. Materials & Design 221 (2022) 110922

Table 7
DT77, DTmax and T300 of C1-C3 and C5 under different moisture contents.

Scenario DT77/°C (SD) DTmax/°C (SD) T300/°C (SD)

0% 50% 100% 0% 50% 100% 0% 50% 100%
C1 39.7 41.7 39.6 51.3 42.3 42.4 42.7 31.4 31.5
(0.8)a (3.2)a (2.1)a (0.4)a (3.1)a (2.3)b (0.5)a (1.3)a (2.6)a
C2 19.4 19.9 19.7 24.2 21.8 22.1 35.2 26.0 27.6
(0.7)c (2.6)b (1.3)b (1.5)c (2.7)b (2.0)c (0.9)c (2.2)b (2.5)b
C3 26.5 23.8 22.6 33.8 24.8 24.2 38.0 25.8 27.2
(1.2)b (1.6)b (0.4)b (1.6)b (1.6)b (0.7)c (1.0)b (1.4)b (1.2)b
C5 42.3 38.8 37.8 51.7 39.2 38.5 40.4 32.8 31.7
(2.7)a (0.15)a (2.0)a (2.8)a (0.1)a (2.6)a (0.7)a (1.2)a (0.3)a

Note: a, b, c – Testing samples with the same superscript letter do not differ significantly from each other (p > 0.05); otherwise, a significant difference was determined
between samples using Duncan post hoc tests (p < 0.05). SD – standard deviation.

Fig. 13. Comparisons of thermal resistance of C1-C4 and C9.

Fig. 14. Comparisons of evaporative resistance of C1-C4 and C9.

the average of C20 -C40 (0.188 m2K/W). A possible explanation is

that the SMFs were activated in C2-C4 when tested on the sweat-
ing guarded hot plate, and the increase in the air gap thickness sig-
nificantly decreased the conductive and radiative heat transfer. The
SMFs in C20 -C40 were not as flat as the aramid fabric, but their
thicknesses were far lower than those of activated shapes. There-
fore, the air gap thicknesses in C20 -C40 were between those in C1
and C2-C4, causing middle Rct. Similar Rct values were found
between C2 and C3 (0.236, 0.237 m2K/W), which were signifi-
cantly higher than those in C4 and C9 (0.219 m2K/W) (p < 0.05).
The reason is that the large interval between two adjacent fila-
ments of SMMs in C4 caused the nonuniform air gap thickness,
leading to inferior thermal resistance, consistent with the thermal
protection results. No significant difference in Rct was detected
between C4 and C9 (p > 0.05).
The evaporative resistances of those fabric systems were also
compared, as shown in Fig. 14. The Ret value in C1 was significantly
lower than those in C2-C4 (p < 0.01), probably because the larger
air gap thickness in C2-C4 reduced moisture dissipation and conse-
quently led to relatively larger evaporative resistance. However,
when the SFSs became flat at the normal state, the Ret values in
C20 -C40 were lower than those in C2-C4. Interstingly, the Ret of SFSs
significantly increased with the increasing interval between two
adjacent filaments (i.e., C2 < C3 < C4). The possible reason was that
the air gap thickness created by shape memory filaments was more
uniform in S2 than in both S3 and S4, and in S3 than in S4, which
was beneficial for the escape of moisture from the sides of the air
gap due to the configuration of the test device.
The Ret of C1 was significantly lower than that of C20 -C40 , prob-
ably because the SMFs were slightly wrinkled due to the existence
of SMMs, resulting in C20 -C40 being thicker than C1 when SMFs
were inserted between the moisture barrier and thermal liner.
9
Hence, the moisture was harder to dissipate, and the Ret of C20 -
C40 was larger. However, the indices of C1 performed much worse
than those of C2-C4 (as displayed in 3.2.), indicating that although
C1 had a lower Ret, it could not provide the necessary thermal pro-
tection. In addition, C9 was constructed with a similar Rct value
compared to SFSs at the activated state, but it still displayed a sig-
nificantly lower Rct than C2 and C3 (p < 0.05), as shown in Fig. 13. It
is also interesting that the Ret of C2 was significantly lower than
that of C9 (p < 0.05), demonstrating that the properly designed
SFS could provide both thermal protection and thermal comfort
properties.
4. Conclusions
In this study, new shape memory fabrics (SMFs) were fabricated
using prepared NiTi filaments and aramid yarns with intervals
between two adjacent filaments of 2, 3 and 4 cm. Thermal protec-
tive performance testing results demonstrate that using SMF in the
four-layer fabric system instead of a normal aramid layer could sig-
nificantly suppress the temperature rise and prolong the time to
temperature rise of 12 °C and 24 °C. Using a SMF with two adjacent
filaments with an interval of 2 cm provided better thermal protec-
tive performance than those of 3 cm and 4 cm. The SMF located
close to the outer shell of the fabric system provided a slightly pro-
longed ht24 compared to inserting the SMF near the thermal liner.
Moisture within an SMF shortened the time for the fabric system to
reach the maximum temperature and increased the heat dissipa-
tion rate, and the air gap enhanced the positive effect of moisture
on the protective performance. The smart fabric system (SFS)
showed higher thermal resistance at the activated state and lower
evaporative resistance at the normal state compared to the fabric
L. Wang, M. Pan, Y. Lu et al.
system with three-layer thermal liners, which could possibly pro-
vide both preferable thermal protection when encountering ther-
mal hazardous environments and good thermal comfort during
regular activities. Notably, C2 always had a higher thermal resis-
tance and lower evaporative resistance than the control. In sum-
mary, SFS (C2) using a wet SMF with two adjacent filaments of
2 cm interval and located near the outer shell layer was expected
to have the optimum thermal protective performance and thermal
comfort.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by the Open Project Pro-
gram of Fujian Province University Engineering Research Center
of Textile and Clothing, Minjiang University, China (Grant No.
MJFZ18104), Nantong Science and Technology Project
(JC2021004), Natural Science Research Project for Colleges and
Universities in Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 21KJA540004), Suzhou
Science and Technology Project (Grant No. SS202147), and Open
Project from Key Laboratory of Fire & Emergency Rescue of MEM
(Grant No. 2020XFZB02).
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2022.110922.
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