Thermal conduction effects in human skin

To determine the maximum permissible temperature any material may attain without causing pain or burn on contact with bare skin, over 2000 observations were made of pain threshold during contact with materials at elevated temperatures. Six materials were used representing the full range of thermal properties from good conductors to good insulators. Time to pain threshold was converted to time to threshold blister on the basis of the relationship between pain and burn established earlier for radiant and for convective heating. Calculated times to blister were used to predict the material temperatures causative of "touch-burn". Experimentally produced threshold blisters at the predicted temperature-times verified the predictions. Graphs and equations were generated for determining safe temperatures for any material in contact with bare skin for 1-5 s solely from a knowledge of its thermal properties. Conversely, the thermal inertia (k rho c) of the optimal material for a specific use and skin contact can be predicted from a knowledge of the maximum material temperature and length of contact time anticipated.