Have you ever found yourself wishing that getting a degree could involve lighting things on fire or spraying classmates with chemicals?
For the students working in N.C. State’s Textile Production and Comfort Center, that wish isn’t far from reality.
Popular Science named Burlington Chair of Textile Technology Rodger Barker’s lab one of the “Top 10 Most Awesome College Labs” for 2013. In his lab, Barker studies how extreme conditions affect materials by using mannequins enclosed in protective chambers to test the fabrics in simulated extreme environments.
The lab is equipped with three different mannequins that are used to test fabrics for different uses. To test fabrics in conditions similar to those of a burning building, the lab uses PyroMan. According to Ashley Bradham, a graduate student in fiber and polymer science, it has thermal heat sensors that record the body’s reaction to heat and flame while wearing a protective garment.
“PyroMan is obviously the biggest attention grabber within the facilities,” said Kyle Watson, one of Barker’s students and a graduate student in textile engineering.
Currently in development, another mannequin named RadMan records the radiant heat of simulated forest fires.
“RadMan will be more for the protection of firemen,” Barker said.
An unnamed third mannequin is used to test the performance and comfort of clothing. According to Watson, the comfort section of the lab features a sweating mannequin and a physiological mannequin that are used to mimic human responses to different clothing in specific environments.
“For comfort, we also have life-sized mannequin that sweats and is heated like the human body. In this case, we test the comfort of everything from military gear, athletic clothing, medical garments, firefighter ensembles, etc.” Bradham said
“Sometimes that’s the biggest challenge, you know? Making things comfortable,” Barker said.
While working with mannequins in chambers is a big part of the work done in Barker’s lab, students are often allowed to participate in even more hands-on experiences. Barker shared that in 2012, a group of students volunteered to get sprayed with oil of wintergreen, a harmless gas used to simulate more harmful gases used in chemical warfare, to ensure the reliability of safety suits in a chemical-weapons attack.
“An interesting part about that experience was that the gas they use has a very distinct wintergreen smell, so anyone who exits the chamber comes out smelling like a tube of toothpaste,” said Emily McGuinness, a junior in textile engineering.
“The only job students can’t do is replace PyroMan in the burn chamber,” research assistant professor Bryan Ormond told Popular Science.
In the article discussing the lab, Popular Science challenged students to seek a career that excites them in the sciences. “Thinking about a science degree? Consider a lab where research meets white-knuckled adventure,” the authors wrote.
Bradham and Watson did just that and are able to say they worked on some “awesome” projects because of it.
“For my Ph.D., I am working on a real-time sensor that can detect the chemical warfare agent simulant methyl salicylate [oil of wintergreen] under a chemical ensemble,” Bradham said.
Watson has personally worked with RadMan and is currently researching a thesis that involves “improving bench-level thermal protection testing methods for wild-land firefighter garments.”
Barker said he enjoys all the time he spends in the lab and the people he works with most of all.
“It’s so interesting, and I enjoy working with our students and the faculty who have researched the lab,” Barker said. “My favorite part is all of it because it’s so diverse. It all is just great.”
