Sensors simulate the response of human skin in the thermal environment and therefore play a crucial role in the prediction of the skin burn injury for the evaluation of the thermal protective clothing. In this study, a skin simulant is developed by Macor® material to mimic the surface thermal properties of human skin. The developed skin simulant is then used in the test method for radiant protective performance evaluation. A copper sensor is also used as a comparison in the tests. The results showed that the skin simulant better simulated the surface temperature rises of the human skin whereas the temperature responses of the copper sensor were in a linear behavior. The copper sensor fails to simulate the heat resistance process of the human skin, especially for the cooling phase. For the heat exposure phase, the heat flux at the skin surface is higher than that at the copper sensor surface. For the cooling phase, the skin simulant quickly recovered to a thermal equilibrium state, whereas, the copper sensor continues to release heat until the end of the test. Since the copper sensor underestimated the endothermic process and overestimated the exothermic process, it underestimated the potential skin burn risk.

传感器模拟人的皮肤在热环境中的响应，因此在评估热防护服对皮肤灼伤的预测中起着至关重要的作用。在这项研究中，Macor®材料开发了一种皮肤模拟物，以模仿人类皮肤的表面热特性。然后将开发的皮肤模拟物用于测试方法中，以评估辐射防护性能。铜传感器也用作测试中的比较。结果表明，皮肤模拟物可以更好地模拟人皮肤的表面温度升高，而铜传感器的温度响应呈线性行为。铜传感器无法模拟人体皮肤的耐热过程，尤其是在冷却阶段。对于热暴露阶段，皮肤表面的热通量高于铜传感器表面的热通量。在冷却阶段，皮肤模拟物迅速恢复到热平衡状态，而铜传感器继续释放热量，直到测试结束。由于铜传感器低估了吸热过程而高估了放热过程，因此低估了潜在的皮肤灼伤风险。