Analysis of steam formation and migration in firefighters' protective clothing using X-ray radiography.

X-ray radiography was used to quantify evaporation and moisture transfer in a multilayer firefighter protective clothing system with defined wetted layers exposed to low thermal radiation. Evaporation was faster and took place at higher temperatures if the moisture was located in the outer layers of the clothing system. Moisture that evaporated in the outer layers of the clothing system was found to move inwards and condense in the inner layers and on the cap of the measurement cell. Results found in this study correlated well with the findings of our former study based on simple temperature distribution measurements to determine moisture transfer in protective clothing layers at low level thermal radiation.