BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Traditionally, hot metal industries such as aluminium smelters provide employees with protective clothing to prevent hot metal splash burn. Such clothing has been made to date from a number of fabrics. These include wool, cotton and cotton which has been treated to be fire resistant. However, all of these suffer to some extent from disadvantages.

Wool fabrics provide excellent protection against hot metal splash but have disadvantages in terms of user comfort and ability to launder. This has led to wool being declared unsuitable by unionised employees in the United States.

In contrast, untreated cotton is comfortable to wear and easy to launder but provides little protection against hot metal splash. Untreated cotton is also flammable. The risk of garment ignition has therefore led to most hot metal work sites banning the use of garments made from this fabric.

Treated cotton, especially cotton treated with fire retardant, does offer some advantages over wool and untreated cotton. It provides reasonable protection against hot metal splash. However, the treatment used renders the fabric unable to absorb moisture which does not assist with cooling and therefore user comfort.

Further, the fire retardant with which the cotton is treated washes out with constant laundering which gives the garment made from the fabric a limited life.

This can be problematic, especially given the common situation where protective clothing is provided by garment rental companies.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a fabric which goes some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages or which at least provides the public with a useful choice.

Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention provides a fabric which is inherently fire retardant, hot metal splash resistant and heat transmissible, said fabric containing both a first yarn which is a first natural fibre which is inherently fire resistant or a blend of a first natural fibre and a fire resistant synthetic material and a second yarn which is a blend of a second natural fibre and a fire resistant synthetic material.

Typically the fabric comprises between about 30% and about 70% of the first yarn and between about 70% and about 30% of the second yarn. Most preferably the first yarn comprises an approximately 50: 50 blend of a first natural fibre and a fire resistant synthetic material.

Where the first yarn is a blend of a natural fibre and a fire resistant synthetic material, typically the yarn comprises between about 30% and about 70% of the first natural fibre and about 70% and about 30% of the fire resistant synthetic material. Most preferably the fabric comprises an approximately 50: 50 blend of the first yarn and the second yarn.

Preferably, the synthetic material in both the first and second yarns is viscose.

Most preferably, the synthetic material in both the first and second yarns is fire resistant viscose (FR viscose). The synthetic material in the first and second yarns may however be the same or different.

Conveniently, the natural fibre of the first yarn is wool whereas the natural fibre of the second yarn is cotton.

It is also preferred that the wool component of the first yarn be pre-treated for washability. A preferred pre-treatment is treatment with chlorine hercosett resin.

The first yarn can be wool only. However, the preferred first yarn for use in the fabric of the invention is a blend of FR viscose and wool pre-treated for washability, and most preferably a 50: 50 blend of FR viscose and wool.

Preferably the second yarn is an intimate blend of cotton and viscose, and most preferably an approximately 50: 50 intimate blend of cotton and FR viscose.

Preferably the fabric is woven such that one face of the fabric is woven solely or predominantly from the first yarn and the other face is woven solely or predominantly from the second yarn.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a garment made, in whole or in part, from fabric as defined above.

While the invention is broadly as defined above, those persons skilled in the art will appreciate that it is not limited thereto but also includes embodiments of which the following description provides examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED FORMS The principal focus of the invention is a fabric having specific properties which make the fabric suitable for use in protective garments for the hot metal industry. These properties are as follows: -inherent flame retardant properties which do not wash out on laundering.

-heat transmissibility to prevent the wearer from overheating.

-ability to absorb moisture (particularly perspiration) for evaporative cooling of the wearer.

It is also desirable that the fabric be able to withstand regular laundering (particularly in recognition of the fact that most protective garments are provided by garment rental companies) and be comfortable to wear.

The fabric of the invention is a woven fabric consisting of a weave of two yarns. This will normally be an intimate weave where both yarns are woven into a single fabric.

Alternatively, the fabric may be of a multi-layer construction comprising separate layers each being woven from the separate yarns.

The first yarn is either solely a first natural fibre or is a blend of a fire resistant synthetic material, preferably viscose, most preferably FR viscose, and a first natural fibre. Preferably, the first natural fibre is treated wool. It has been found convenient by the applicants that the blend be about 50% FR viscose and about 50% treated wool.

The yarn is an intimate blend which is conventionally ring spun on a worsted system.

The wool component of the first yarn is desirably pre-treated for launderability before the yarn is produced. Any conventional treatment can be employed which pre-conditions wool to be washed, with a treatment using polysiloxane polymers or a resin (such as chlorine hercosett resin) being but two examples.

The second yarn is an intimate blend of a fire resistant synthetic material (which may be the same synthetic material as in the first yarn) and a second natural fibre (ie. not wool). Most preferably, the second natural fibre is cotton.

The yarn is conventionally spun on a cotton system.

The first and second yarns can be woven into the fabric using any conventional approach. It is however presently preferred that the fabric is woven to specifications deemed appropriate for hot metal end use, ie twill heavily set to produce a dense fabric (as light as possible), woven on Dornier computerised looms. Fabric weight is

to end users needs recognising however that a small increase in fabric weight can double or triple protection for the wearer.

The presently preferred fabric is made from a first yarn which is a 50: 50 blend of FR viscose and chlorine hercosett treated wool, and a second yarn which is a 50: 50 intimate blend of FR viscose and cotton.

While not essential, it is preferred that the fabric be woven in a manner (eg. 2 x 1 twill or Venetian weave) which results in the faces of the fabric having different compositions. In particular, it is preferred that the fabric be woven such that one face is solely (or at least predominately) formed from the first yarn (ie. wool or wool/FR viscose) whereas the other face is solely or predominantly formed from the second yarn (especially the cotton/FR viscose blend).

This is preferred as it allows the face containing the most wool to be presented on the outside of the garment (and to thereby provide greatest protection) whereas the other face (containing the most cotton) to be against the wearer's skin for comfort and to absorb moisture.

The resultant fabric can then be used in preparing garments. The fabric can be the sole fabric used in the garment or can be combined with other fabrics if convenient.

The garments can be any of those employed as protective clothing in the hot metal industry, including shirts, trousers, overalls, jackets and coats.

EXPERIMENTAL Experiment 1 Assessment of Resistance of Materials to Molten Metal Splash A. Aluminium The test procedure of BS EN 373 (1993) was followed for molten aluminium. Details were:

-Aluminium heated to 8200C (to give a pour temperature of 780oC 20oC) -Fabric specimen angle to horizontal: 60 lo -Pour height: 225 5 mm.

One trouser weight fabric specimen (wool/viscose on one face; cotton/viscose back) was tested, with PVC simulated skin being positioned behind the specimen to assess potential skin damage.

The results were as follows: Initial Weight of Amount Poured Metal Adhered Damage to Skin Aluminium (g) (g) to Fabric 351.2 344. 6 No No Discussion This shows that the fabric of the invention is protective against molten metal splash at high levels (approaching 350 g aluminium). This can be compared with other commercially available fabrics which at the equivalent weight of fabric has a failure point at 250 g aluminium (FR 8).

FR 8 is a fabric marketed by Westex, Inc. (Chicago, Illinois, USA) as molten aluminium resistant.

B. Cryolite Testing of the fabric of the invention was repeated for cryolite splash using BS EN 373 (1993) alongside FR 8 fabric, both new and after commercial use (and washing).

Details were: -Cryolite heated to 10SOoC -Fabric specimen angle to horizontal 75 lo.

-Pour height 225 5 mm.

Again, PVC simulated skin was positioned behind each fabric specimen which were trouser weight.

The results were as follows: Fabric Initial Weight Amount Metal Adhered Damage to Skin of Cryolite Poured (g) to Fabric VCW 100 96.5 No No FR 8 (new) 105.4 103.3 Yes Yes FR 8 (washed) 103.8 101.2 Yes Yes-fabric ignited, entire specimen burned VCW is the viscose/cotton/wool fabric of the invention.

Discussion These results clearly demonstrate the advantages of the fabric of the invention in protecting against hot metal splash (cryolite). VCW fabric is fully protective, whereas FR 8 was not.

Expriment 2 This experiment measured the VCW fabric in terms of flammability. (Federal Aviation Regulation 25.853b: Flame Resistance of Cloth: Vertical).

Unwashed VCW fabric Specimen Number After flame time (secs) Burn length (inches) Warp 1 1 73 2 1 78 3 1 75 Specimen Number After flame time (secs) Burn length (inches) Average: 1 75 Weft 1 2 75 2 1 78 3 2 83 Average: 1.7 79

Pass levels are a burn length of less than 150 mm and an after flame time of less than 5 seconds (FTMS 191A). Clearly, the VCW fabric of the invention met these standards.

Discussion These results show that the fabric of the invention is inherently resistant to flame.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION Thus, in accordance with the present invention there is provided a fabric which is specifically designed for use in the hot metal industries. The fabric is inherently flame resistant and will not ignite. It is also heat transmissible rather than a heat barrier, and able to absorb perspiration. This adds greatly to the user comfort and therefore the acceptability of the garment.

The fabric is also durable in the sense that it can withstand multiple washes (up to 100 launderings) while still retaining its beneficial properties. This is particularly important in countries such as the United States where it is common for protective garments for use in the hot metal industries to be rented to companies, rather than owned by the companies or workers themselves.

Other advantages and applications of the present fabric will be apparent to those persons skilled in the art. It will also be appreciated that the above description is provided by way of illustration only and is not intended to be limiting.