Dupont inaugurates new Thermo-Man burn test unit

Dupont inaugurates new Thermo-Man burn test unit - at their European Technical Center and takes end-users on a unique Dupont journey

Dupont inaugurated last friday the new Thermo-Man burn test unit at its European Technical Center (ETC) in Meyrin, in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The event also included an explorative journey through the Dupont European Technical Center, where Dupont engineers and technicians work with key partners to test and develop new safety garments to the most stringent global standards. During 2018, the Center enjoyed more than 1000 visits from end-users and value chain partners.

Guests were witness the latest smart and innovative Personal Protective Equipment made with Nomex and Kevlar, as well as Tyvek and Tychem coveralls and the new Tychem Chemical gloves, to be showcased in the Innovation Center. In addition to senior staff from Dupont, the inauguration day also saw the attendance of a wide range of end users from fire fighters to experts in utilities and the oil and gas sector, to specialists from the manufacturing and processing industries. Also a selection of garment manufacturers and landmark end-users such as  BASF, Evonik, and the Paris Fire Brigade, took part.

“This event will mark a significant investment in our personal protective equipment business,” said Andrzej Palka, EMEA Marketing Manager of Dupont Personal Protection. “Dupont has made an investment of approximately $2 million in the development of this new Thermo-Man burn-test unit, which will enable Dupont and our partners to test their heat-resistant clothing and other personal protective equipment, helping them to quickly bring out new and innovative products to meet market demands.

“Our ambitions for the PPE sector also extend beyond this investment, as we are bringing all our well-known market-leading brands including Nomex, Tyvek, Tychem and Kevlar into one business,” added Andrzej Palka. “In addition, we are making significant investments at our manufacturing facilities in Europe. In Luxembourg we are building a new line for the production of our innovative Tyvek membrane technology, in Spain we continue to invest in Nomex filament development and in Northern Ireland we have significant investments into digitization to make our site a smart factory.

Developed by Dupont, in conjunction with the US Air Force, this new Thermo-Man is the world’s most advanced life-size thermal burn injury evaluation system. Designed to help the optimization of garment design for heat and flame protection, the system uses a test mannequin that employs skin model software to predict burn injuries. The system simulates a ‘worst-case scenario’ and has even become an industry standard: namely ISO13506 , which specifies the overall requirements, equipment and calculation methods to provide results that can be used for evaluating the performance of complete garments or protective-clothing ensembles exposed to short-duration flame engulfment.