ASTM F2731
Stored Energy Test Standards
Firefighters are routinely exposed to radiant heat in the course of their activities, and in some cases, firefighters have reported burn injuries under clothing where there is no evidence of damage to the exterior or interior layers of the firefighter protective clothing. Low levels of transmitted radiant energy alone or a combination of the transmitted radiant energy and stored energy released through compression can be sufficient to cause these types of injuries. This test method was designed to measure both the transmitted and stored energy in firefighter protective clothing material systems under a specific set of laboratory exposure conditions.
This test method provides procedures for measuring the combination of transmitted and stored energy that occurs in firefighter protective clothing material systems as the result of exposure to prolonged, relatively low levels of radiant heat by applying a predetermined compressive load to a preheated specimen to simulate conductive heat transfer. Burn severity and time to burn predictions are calculated based on the collected data.
