Extreme Cold Testing of High Performance Fabric Materials: Gelbo Flex, Tensile Strength, and UV Exposure Test Results

• Main Authors: Weale, Jason C, Lever, James H
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Textiles; *FABRICS; CLIMATE; EXPOSURE(GENERAL); LOW TEMPERATURE; STORAGE; TENSILE STRENGTH; TEST AND EVALUATION; TRANSPORTATION; WASTES; COLD FABRIC STRENGTH; EPOLAR; FABRIC CONTAINER STRENGTH; GELBO FLEX; HIGH PERFORMANCE FABRIC; POLAR FABRICS; POLAR WASTE RANSPORT; USAP; Antarctic; Antarc*; United States Antarctic Program
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA607492; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA607492

The National Science Foundation s United States Antarctic Program (NSF-USAP) is constantly striving to introduce materials, methods, and equipment that will increase efficiency and reduce costs of their logistics and operations activities. Storage and transportation of bulk waste is a resource-intensive task for the USAP; and the introduction of high performance fabric containment and transport products, because they are cheaper, take up less volume when empty, and are lighter than the existing waste bins, could improve waste operations. We adapted standard test methods to represent Antarctic conditions to allow us to evaluate the behavior of high performance fabrics for the USAP. We conducted cold temperature strength and flexibility tests on two commercially available off-the-shelf products. The fabrics were designed for the containment and transport of bulk-waste products in more temperate climates and required evaluation and testing to determine whether or not they might work for the USAP. The results from Gelbo flex tests (ASTM F392/F392M-11) on samples of both fabrics immediately removed one product from consideration. The successful product underwent tensile tests (ASTM D751) and UV exposure tests and was subsequently recommended for consideration. This report presents the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test methods (as adapted for extreme Antarctic conditions), the test results, the material behavior, and our recommendations. The original document contains color images.