Materials | Interview with the Title Story Author and Research Team Leader—Dr. Eng. Pamela Miśkiewicz

Dr. Eng. Pamela Miśkiewicz is one of the authors of the Title Story Article entitled “Evaluation of the Thermal Insulation Properties of Composites with ZrO₂/Al Coatings Intended for the Construction of Protective Gloves”, published in Materials (ISSN: 1996-1944).

Authors’ Introduction:

Dr. Eng. Pamela Miśkiewicz works at the Lodz University of Technology, Institute of Architecture of Textiles (Lodz, Poland). In 2022, she completed her Ph.D. in materials engineering. She specializes in the design and production of textile composites with potential applications in thermal protective clothing (especially gloves) used in metallurgy, welding, or firefighting. She is the leader of the team conducting research presented in the Title Story Article. She specializes in designing and developing textile composites used in hot work environments and testing protective properties. She has experience in testing textile color and thermal insulation properties. She teaches students in the fields of clothing technology and construction, textile packaging, and clothing production. In addition, she is a supervisor of diploma theses focusing on the design and production of various clothing assortments using innovative sewing machines (automatics, semi-automatics controlled mechanically and electronically, and specialist machines).

DSc. Adam K. Puszkarz works at the Lodz University of Technology, Textile Institute (Lodz, Poland). In 2011, he completed his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Lodz (Lodz, Poland), and in 2019, he obtained his habilitation in materials engineering at the Lodz University of Technology. He specializes in modeling heat transport phenomena occurring in clothing textiles using the finite volume method assisted by thermography, as well as in the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the structure of solids using high-resolution X-ray microtomography (micro-CT). He has experience in examining the microstructure of textiles, foams, composites, bones, teeth, implants, scaffolds, wood, and plants. He teaches students in the fields of physics, materials engineering, and CAD design.

Dr. Eng. Marcin Makówka is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Poland. He completed his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Lodz in 2014, in the scientific discipline of materials engineering and specialization in surface engineering. His work and professional interests are related to vacuum systems designing, thin film engineering, vacuum and plasma deposition technologies, but also studies of low-temperature plasma properties, morphology, chemical and phase composition of bulk materials, coatings and powders using visible light microscopy techniques, electron microscopy SEM and EDS analysis and X-ray diffraction XRD. He has completed an internship at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences as part of a collaborative effort to modify the properties of selected surfaces for vacuum and lunar regolith dust environments. He teaches at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Chemistry of the Lodz University of Technology in the fields of materials science, materials testing methods, and vacuum and plasma techniques.

Based on the positive evaluations by the reviewers and academic editors for Dr. Eng. Miśkiewicz’s group article, we have selected their article as the Title Story for display on the Materials website.

“Evaluation of the Thermal Insulation Properties of Composites with ZrO₂/Al Coatings Intended for the Construction of Protective Gloves”
by Pamela Miśkiewicz, Adam K. Puszkarz and Marcin Makówka
Materials 2025, 18(2), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18020242

The following is an interview with Dr. Eng. Pamela Miśkiewicz:

Congratulations on your published paper. Could you please briefly introduce the main research content of the published paper?

Thank you very much for your interest in our research and for inviting us to an interview for your journal. I would also like to thank my colleagues from the team: DSc. Adam Puszkarz and Dr. Eng. Marcin Makówka for their professional and fruitful cooperation, without which this article would not have been possible.

The main objective of the research presented in the article was to produce new textile composites with potential use in thermal protective gloves intended for steelworkers. The construction of gloves, similarly to thermal protective clothing, is characterized by a layered structure, where each layer plays a special role in ensuring the user's safety against external threats and providing them with thermal comfort. When selecting a material for special steelworkers’ clothing, it is necessary to take into account such parameters as mechanical or chemical resistance; however, the most obvious in the case of work in conditions of elevated temperature and fire environment are thermal resistance and thermal insulation. Each layer of clothing intended for steelworkers should demonstrate resistance to high temperatures and hot factors. It should be realized that in the case of gloves, these requirements are higher compared to the rest of the protective clothing.

In order to meet the above requirements, all components from which the composites presented in the article were made were characterized by resistance to high temperatures and at the same time retained their functional properties affecting the safety and ergonomics of the user in a typical work environment.

The composite consisted of four layers made of different types of materials (basalt fiber fabric, HT silicone sealant, polyester foil, ceramic-metallic coating). The manufacturing process itself requires several manufacturing techniques and modifications to the individual components of the composite so that they can fully cooperate in the form of the finished product. A large part of the work was, therefore, devoted to finding and testing technological solutions to enable its manufacture, and the research question thus solved is presented in this thesis.

Due to the conditions of the working environment, which is a source of heat on all sides and would consistently increase the temperature of both the glove itself and the hand placed in it, the key issue was to give the right properties to the outermost layers of the composite, counteracting both heat transfer, inhibition of heat flow and heat reflection. The well-known techniques used in surface engineering to impart such varied properties to the surfaces of materials are vapor phase coating deposition, physical deposition, and chemical deposition. In our work, I have used the method of reactive magnetron sputtering, which, due to its technological flexibility, the possibility of producing materials of virtually any chemical composition, is a very popular technique for surface modification. Based on our research, we have selected a hybrid solution in the form of a coating composed of two layers: ZrO₂ and Al, where the outer, metallic one of Al acts as a radiation reflector, while ZrO₂ is a material that significantly reduces heat diffusion and consequently lowers the temperature of the inner layers of the composite. Both were deposited on a polyester foil, which is a kind of flexible ‘coating carrier’. The use of thin PVD coatings of materials such as ZrO₂ made it possible to achieve their high relative mechanical flexibility, which cannot be achieved by using ZrO₂ as a bulk material. The key factor in this case is to obtain the right stoichiometry of oxygen to zirconium, to obtain a stable structure and an adequate thickness, sufficient to effectively inhibit heat flow, but on the other hand to allow good adhesion to the substrate, flexibility of the coating, with reduced stress levels in the coating and reduced susceptibility to cracking and delamination from the substrate. These parameters were controlled by, among other things, examining the cross-section and structure of the proposed solution using the SEM-EDX technique. On the basis of the results obtained, the process parameters were adjusted to obtain the best possible solution.

The structure of the composites produced was examined using high-resolution X-ray microtomography (micro-CT), the task of which was to examine the effect of morphology on the thermal insulation properties of the composites. The porosity of each layer of the composites was calculated, as well as the thickness and uniformity of the ZrO₂/Al coating deposited on the polyester foil. The finished composites were first examined for resistance to contact heat, radiant heat, and flame heat, according to applicable safety standards. Based on these tests, the composites were classified in terms of their intended use in steelwork gloves.

Was there a specific experience or event in your research career that led you to focus on your current field of research?

When I was a student of textile engineering at the Lodz University of Technology, I was particularly interested in protective clothing, i.e., clothing that, due to its unique purpose, had to meet higher requirements than civilian clothing. Therefore, it had to be characterized by special properties, which were associated with the use of special materials, raw materials, and original construction solutions in its production. In the case of thermal protective clothing, used by firefighters, steelworkers, and welders, its most important role is, of course, the safety of its users, as well as ensuring an appropriate thermal balance between their body and the environment in which they work. In addition, a significant problem of protective clothing is providing its user with ergonomic support. The raw materials used and the construction of protective clothing should not limit the efficiency and precision of the work performed (e.g., due to too much weight or improper fit to the body). Therefore, current research on the production of protective clothing focuses on finding a combination of these two important factors: safety and ergonomics. In my research work, I decided to focus on gloves, which are part of the protective clothing responsible for protecting the hands, i.e., our natural most precise work tools that humans have at their disposal, which, due to their purpose, are the object of the most common injuries of all parts of the human body.

Could you describe the difficulties and breakthrough innovations encountered in your current research?

Research on composites that are to act as an insulating barrier in protective clothing against the harmful effects of a hot work environment, enable proper thermal balance between the user and this environment, and not negatively affect the ergonomics of the work they perform, is a challenge. As I mentioned earlier, these composites usually have a layered structure. Therefore, not only the selection of appropriate raw materials but also the appropriate spatial configuration of individual layers performing different functions and their mutual permanent connection is crucial. The subject of my research is textile composites based on fabrics made of fibers resistant to high temperatures and mechanical impacts (basalt, aramid, para-aramid, meta-aramid). As the basic raw material of the main thermal insulation layer, I used various types of silicones and aerogels, which, due to their porous structure, constitute an effective barrier to the contact heat flux.

This led to the conclusion that it was necessary to achieve synergism between all the components of such a product and to obtain stable properties of the whole composite. Furthermore, it was necessary to develop a process for combining all the components of such a composite into one durable product that fulfills very specific functions, with the ability to be used in a very demanding working environment. It follows that its manufacturing process can be very complex, and from a practical approach, it is required to simplify it as much as possible, with the possibility of implementing it in industry. This required a lot of work, a lot of trials, looking for the right solutions, the right manufacturing techniques, and optimizing them, but in the end, this was achieved. A technological process was created, based on both surface modification using deposition techniques, appropriate preparation of materials and their surfaces prior to integration, but also adhesive bonding of materials with completely different structures, types of bonds, and therefore problematic in terms of adhesion to each other. Each of the zones, layers of our development, has a different function, being, for example, the base of the composite, durable, and stable at high temperatures (basalt fabric). Another element is the polyester foil, which is a carrier for coatings that act as a reflector for electromagnetic radiation, primarily in the IR range, as well as a barrier for heat transfer from the environment. The proposed solution is described in more detail in patent P.440908: “Composite based on basalt fabric intended in particular for the palm part of a protective glove and method of producing this composite”.

To produce composites, I also used the unique technology of chemical deposition of Parylene C coatings (CVD). This technology proved to be particularly useful in forming composites in which the thermal insulation layer was made of aerogels. The deposited Parylene C not only ensured a permanent connection of the aerogel layer with the adjacent composite layers but also caused better mutual connection of the aerogel microgranules and thus improved the mechanical durability of this composite layer.

Over time, my research was extended to include the modeling of thermal properties of composites based on heat transport simulations performed on three-dimensional models of real composites using the finite volume method. This method allowed me not only to predict the thermal insulation properties of the produced composite based on knowledge of its structure but also to examine the effectiveness of each of its layers in the process of inhibiting heat transfer. The process of designing models reflecting the structure of real composites was possible thanks to the use of high-resolution X-ray tomography. This technique, based on the contrast of X-ray absorption by individual components of composites differing in density, enables quantitative and qualitative analysis of the materials tested on a microscale. Microtomography allowed me to learn and visualize the spatial geometry of the composites produced and to examine their porosity, an important material parameter that determines their thermal insulation properties. In summary, the possibility of using new materials, modern technologies, and analytical methods is a very significant contribution to my research on composites.

What is your experience publishing with Materials?

All three members of our team—the authors of the article that is the subject of this interview—have published a total of 19 papers in the journal Materials. We greatly appreciate the efficiency of the editorial team, which ensures a fast and very transparent publication process from the moment of submission of the article to its online publication. Open Access offered by the journal makes the article published in Materials available to everyone. A useful factor is the article view counter, which informs about the popularity of published research among the readers of the journal. We assure you that the article discussed in this interview will certainly not be the last one that we submit to Materials.