An objective of the undertaken research was checking the applicability of aluminized basalt fabrics for the production of clothing for foundry workers. The results of flammability, the resistance to contact, convective and radiation heat, as well as the resistance to big molten metal splashes confirmed the thesis of applicability of the packages with the use of aluminized basalt fabric content for the assumed purpose; therefore, such protective clothing was produced. Thermal comfort of foundry workers is very important and related to many factors, i.e., the structure of the protective clothing package, the number of layers, their thickness, the distance between the body and appropriate underwear. In the paper, a comparison of the results of thermal insulation measurement of two kinds of protective clothing is presented: the traditional one made of aluminized glass fabrics and the new one made of aluminized basalt fabrics. Measurements of clothing thermal insulation were conducted using a thermal manikin dressed in the protective clothing and three kinds of underwear products covering the upper and lower part of the manikin.

This paper presents an introduction to the modelling of virtual garment design process in 3D… Our global project of virtual clothing design, along with the conception of a virtual adaptive mannequin, is devoted to creating and modelling garments in 3D. Starting from ideas of mass customization, e-commerce and the need of numerical innovations in the garment industry, this article presents a model of virtual garment and methodology enabling virtual clothing to be conceived directly on an adaptive mannequin morphotype in 3D. A short description of the overall garment model under constraints is presented. To explain the overall methodology, the basic pattern of trousers is given. The global model of garment creation in 3D is composed of three parts - a human body model, an ease model and a garment model. The most essential part is the ease model, which is necessary for the proposed process of garment modelling. After describing each garment modelling element influencing this process, a detailed presentation of the ease model in relation to the garment model is proposed. The combination of the previously mentioned models may be considered as 2 interconnected sub-models. The first sub-model is linked with the front pattern position on the body and the second with the back pattern position on the trousers with appropriate ease values. In order to execute the identification procedure of the correct ease values and consequently their right positions on the human body, an algorithm of identification is proposed. The two sub-models are strongly connected as in the feedback effect caused by the interactions of the trouser front and back patterns. The aforementioned connection phenomenon appears during modelling and it depends on the structure of the proposed ease model. The relatively significant number of parameters requires the use of the identification technique. Finally, the superposition of virtual and real patterns was done in order to visualise the results.

Basalt fibers and fabrics made of these are characterized by excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Therefore, basalt fabrics, due to a good resistance to high temperatures, are frequently applied in the personal protection equipment (PPE). In order to improve their thermal properties and, above all, the contact heat resistance, the process of physical vapor deposition was proposed. The process of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) involves producing a coating on a specific substrate as a result of physical deposition of molecules, ions or atoms of the selected chemical compounds. The method selected for the test is the magnetron sputtering. It involves depositing a uniform film of chromium on the surface of the basalt fabric. In order to improve the thermal properties – especially the contact heat resistance, two values of thickness of the chromium layer deposited on the basalt fabric surface were adopted for the test. Covering 1 μm and 5 μm with the chromium layer did not fulfil the expectations and the research will be continued.