{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T02:37:03Z","timestamp":1771036623436,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,14]],"date-time":"2023-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1694649600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia (FCT)","award":["LA\/P\/0045\/2020 (ALiCE)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0045\/2020 (ALiCE)"]}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia (FCT)","award":["UIDB\/00532\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00532\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia (FCT)","award":["UIDP\/00532\/2020 (CEFT)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDP\/00532\/2020 (CEFT)"]}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia (FCT)","award":["PCIF\/SSO\/0106\/2018"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PCIF\/SSO\/0106\/2018"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Considering the high level of heat and flame exposure firefighters encounter while performing their work activities, personal protective equipment (PPE) is of the utmost importance to enhance their safety. Phase change materials (PCMs) are known as advanced materials able to absorb high amounts of thermal energy, with the potential to increase the thermal performance of protective clothing. In this work, a PCM-vest was developed for the first time, and its thermal performance was evaluated. A three-stage approach was followed: (1) at a small scale in the laboratory, the effect of different encapsulated PCMs on a multilayer assembly performance was evaluated; (2) in the laboratory, the essential requirements of heat and flame tests were assessed; and (3) in a simulated urban fire, the thermal performance of three different PCM-vests (different textiles and designs) was studied. As the main conclusions, the PCMs significantly affected the heating rate of the multilayer assembly, particularly when a PCM with higher latent heat was used. In some cases, the heat transfer index (HTI) doubled by comparison with the sample without PCMs. As a drawback and as expected, the cooling time was increased. The PCM-vest sample ensured the requirements of the heat and flame tests. Through this study, the positive impact of using PCMs to enhance the heat protection of conventional PPE can be highlighted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app131810318","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,15]],"date-time":"2023-09-15T02:54:13Z","timestamp":1694746453000},"page":"10318","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Smart Firefighters PPE: Impact of Phase Change Materials"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5303-8772","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gilda","family":"Santos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CITEVE\u2014Technological Center for Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2295-1352","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Soraia F.","family":"Neves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEFT\u2014Transport Phenomena Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Margarida","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEFT\u2014Transport Phenomena Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1830-0525","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o M.","family":"Miranda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEFT\u2014Transport Phenomena Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8113-7142","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o B. L. M.","family":"Campos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEFT\u2014Transport Phenomena Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5377-5606","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Ribeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CeNTI\u2014Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Adriana","family":"Moreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CeNTI\u2014Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Patr\u00edcia","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CeNTI\u2014Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Francisca","family":"Miranda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CeNTI\u2014Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Rita","family":"Marques","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CITEVE\u2014Technological Center for Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal, 4760-034 Vila Nova de Famalic\u00e3o, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1177\/1466138106073142","article-title":"Becoming a firefighter","volume":"7","author":"Desmond","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ethnography"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"384","DOI":"10.1080\/10803548.2020.1794370","article-title":"Physiological tests on firefighters whilst using protective clothing","volume":"27","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. 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Protective Clothing against Heat and Flame\u2014Determination of Heat Transmission on Exposure to Flame (Standard No. ISO 9151:2016)."}],"container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/13\/18\/10318\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T20:51:12Z","timestamp":1760129472000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/13\/18\/10318"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,14]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9]]}},"alternative-id":["app131810318"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/app131810318","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-3417"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-3417","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,14]]}}}