Abstract
The function of cleanroom clothing is to protect the product from contamination by people, and to dissipate electrostatic discharge. People in the cleanroom work environment often complain about the discomforts associated with the wearing of cleanroom clothing. This study investigates the effect of wearing cleanroom clothing on physiological and subjective responses. Two experiments have been designed. The first experiment is to investigate the effect of air permeability and water vapor permeability of cleanroom clothing on subject’s physiological and subjective responses. Ten subjects participated in this study. The results indicate that skin temperature, micro-climate temperature and relative humidity were lower while wearing cleanroom clothing with high air permeability and high water vapor permeability. As the task time increased, the micro-climate temperature also increased but the micro-climate relative humidity decreased at first and then increased. In addition, the physiological responses showed significant positive correlations with the subjective perception of clothing comfort. The second experiment is to investigate the influence of the double-layer clothing in semiconductor manufacturing cleanroom environment. Twenty subjects participated this study. Each subject completed four treatment combinations with four different inner clothings (e.g. 100% cotton, 70% cotton + 30% polyester, 65% polyester + 35% cotton, 100% polyester). The results indicate that wearing 100% polyester inner clothing caused a significant increase in inner micro-climate relative humidity (p < 0.01). Wearing 100% cotton inner clothing caused a significant increase in both inner micro-climate relative humidity (p < 0.01), and inner clothing’s moisture absorption. Further, wearing the blending fiber inner clothing caused lower relative humidity in the inner and outer clothing micro-climate (p < 0.05). Moreover, wearing 65% polyester + 35% cotton inner clothing had higher subjective comfort than that of wearing 70% cotton + 30% polyester. In summary, the findings of this study provide useful information for cleanroom clothing design and selection, and the moisture absorption and water vapor transportation characteristics of the inner clothing are the major factors affecting the comfort of wearing double-layer clothing.