Passive and active protective clothing against laser radiation

In order to provide machine operators using, e.g., industrial laser processing machines or hand-held laser devices with adequate protection against accidental laser irradiation of the skin, passive and active solutions based on high-tech technical textiles have been investigated. These solutions can be used for personal protective clothing (PPC) or curtains. The passive solutions are constructed as multilayer systems with high passive protection levels with respect to near-infrared laser radiation. The incorporation of sensors into the multilayer structure is able to increase the protection level significantly by providing the ability to deactivate the laser source upon irradiation above a threshold and subsequent signaling. In order to classify the new laser PPC, a test procedure and a corresponding testing set-up have been developed, which could be the basis for an intended standardization process.