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In the Kingdom of Fire, those with the ability to bend the burning element to their will have the unique secondary ability of being able to withstand extremely high temperatures and are able to set foot in Magma Ridge, a large stretch of barren land home to 1600 degree heat, without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, not everyone in the Kingdom inherited such abilitites, and those who're interested in taking up volcanology (a common hobby/profession in the Kingdom) need to wear a special heatproof suit in order to survive Magma Ridge's white hot atmosphere.

Alas, as someone with little knowledge of metals and they're varying levels of electrical and thermal resist, I am unsure as to what such a suit would be made out of, which is why I could sure use some help. Of course, to avoid making this question too open in terms of answers, here is a list of conditions I would like such a suit to meet

  1. The materials used in real-life heatproof suits worn by actual volcanologists have yet to be discovered in my world, so something akin to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuQrUwFn6bU unfortunately isn't what I'm looking for
  2. I'd ideally like the suit to be made out of some kind of metal that not only has a high melting point, but is also very good at insulating (or very bad at conducting) heat. I've yet to find a metal that achieves both of these things at once
  3. Assuming the best material for such a suit is in fact metal, I'd like to also make sure that my characters can move around and fight (with weapons such as swords and spears) whilst wearing it
  4. The helm of the suit where the characters look out of is blocked off by some kind of visor-like shield akin to the plastic part of a racing helmet. Assuming I want to avoid steam buildup and melting, what would THIS part of the suit be made out of?
  5. The joints located around real life suits of armor that allow the wearer to bend and move their arms, knees, feet, waist, head, etc. around, what should THESE be made of? It defiantly wouldn't be metal since that can't be bent, but like the rest of the suit, is still has to be able to insulate high amounts of heat
  6. Since I'm asking for a heatproof suit of armor, I'd be 100% fine with it still being able to catch on fire assuming it was exposed to flames hotter than lava
  7. Unlike this question Making Suitable Clothing For Fire Mages I am not asking for clothes that can withstand really hot flames, I am asking for a suit of armor that allows the user to get closer to volcanic areas without dying from convection, just like a real life fire proximity suit
  8. What are some of the other things I need to consider when designing such a suit? Is oxygen depletion going to be a particularly big problem to worry about? Is there a limit for how long and how close such a suit can stand near molten lava before something bad happens? Will such a suit be able to deal with the poisonous gases emitted from the lava? How good is the suit, defensively?

Basically, I'm looking for a scientifically plausible version of BotW's Flamebreaker Armor. If such a suit is impossible to design though, by all means, don't be afraid to let me know (or alternately, give me the closest thing there is to such a design).

Crystal King
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  • Even if you have a justification for a metal that can withstand such extreme temperatures, I don't think it can work for a personal suit. Metals are inherently rigid and non-flexible. Like medieval knight armors, there need to be parts that are made of a flexible materials to allow limbs to move. Perhaps you could consider something along the lines of a vehicle instead? – Deathspike Apr 18 '21 at 11:06
  • @Deathspike - I don't suppose you could build those flexible materials out of something non-flammable (I know which part of the armor you're talking about, but I don't know the technical name for it). Also don't worry, the suit isn't personal at all, it's strictly for work purposes only. A vehicle also isn't really possible in my world since technology hasn't been invented yet and no one knows how to harness lightning into electricity. – Crystal King Apr 18 '21 at 11:19
  • As I understand the rules, the point of "duplicates" is not to do with similarity or differences in the questions, it's to do with the answers to the "duplicate" question covering all the points you've asked about - what about the answers doesn't answer your question is the issue? I'm not voting to "leave closed" until you've had a chance to review the other answers and see if they address your question as written, and edit if not. It would be a good idea to add the edit to the body of your question rather than as an addendum. – Escaped dental patient. Apr 18 '21 at 14:26
  • @ARogueAnt. - Ah, I see. That makes sense. I'll edit the question and turn the big wall of text at the end of it into a part of the question. In the meantime though, I had a chance to thoroughly look over the answers to the other question and... no. None of those answers helped me in answering this question of mine (some of them actually kinda confused me due to the way they were written). – Crystal King Apr 18 '21 at 15:06
  • Great, I look forward to the revision. – Escaped dental patient. Apr 18 '21 at 15:12
  • @ARogueAnt. - Hey, its been over an hour now and I've yet to receive any feedback on the revisions I've made to my question. Were they not good enough to get the question open for answers again? – Crystal King Apr 18 '21 at 17:08
  • In my timezone it's about ten minutes past six on a Sunday evening, try waiting 'til its not the weekend and members in all time-zones have had a chance to review the question, be patient. Hold in mind that we are all volunteers here, and private lives have demands on everyone. – Escaped dental patient. Apr 18 '21 at 17:13
  • @ARogueAnt. - That's fair. Sorry for the hassle. Take as long as you need to review the question and continue to enjoy the remainder of your weekend :) – Crystal King Apr 18 '21 at 17:31
  • Minor question - is this 1600 degrees Fahrenheit? Celsius? – IronEagle Apr 18 '21 at 20:03
  • In medieval armor, the wealthy knights would wear chainmail underneath plate armor. Chainmail is essentially many metal rings woven together, and that's flexible. It allows for movement. But the gaps between the plates and between the metal rings allows for air to flow. Now imagine that material is super-heat-proof-metal. If the outside is 1600 degrees something, the wearer still is cooked alive because of the gaps. I don't see any way to insulate someone in such extreme temperatures without using a fantasy-like explanation: because, you know, magic and stuff... – Deathspike Apr 19 '21 at 07:59
  • Full modern heathproof-suits with air tanks are the closest I can think of, but they're not available in your world yet. So... I hope someone else has better ideas! :-) – Deathspike Apr 19 '21 at 08:00
  • @IronEagle - Celsius. Sorry for the late response btw – Crystal King Apr 19 '21 at 17:20
  • @Deathspike - What if they wore highly flame retardant clothing (I'm thinking either wool or fleece) beneath the armor and the armor itself had no holes in it? Would that work (I'd be content to add medieval air tanks to my world if that's the only way to make this idea possible)? – Crystal King Apr 19 '21 at 17:27
  • Wool was my line of thought as well. The problem with using even the most insulative material is that you are still going to have heat flowing in, with no way to get rid of it. A wet layer of wool would go a long way towards providing a comfortable atmosphere, although if you run out of cooling fluid you're in trouble. For a clear visor you could possibly use some kind of horn or such could work, if it was actively cooled. The main problem with having it be 1600 C is that that everything is glowing orange at that temperature. 1600 F is much closer to possible, but still quite difficult. – IronEagle Apr 20 '21 at 00:16
  • @IronEagle - So if I change the temperature of Magma Ridge from 1600 C to 1600 F, this becomes possible? – Crystal King Apr 20 '21 at 15:45
  • I meant more that it was closer to possible. Wool will ignite at around 1100 F. The biggest difference between volcanologists on Earth and those on your world is the temperature of the atmosphere. On Earth, the suits can mostly just reflect the radiant heat from the lava, but you are surrounded by just warmer air. If you are surrounded by 1600 degree air, that is a totally different environment. The silver reflective suits wouldn't even work - you would still need active cooling. – IronEagle Apr 20 '21 at 16:43
  • @IronEagle - Ah ok. I see what I did wrong here. I meant a metaphorical atmosphere, not the actual atmosphere. My world actual takes place in an alternate version of earth that basically answers the question "What if human had semi-plausible superpowers and didn't completely fuck up the earth's ecosystem?", but the entire atmosphere isn't as hot as Magma Ridge (which is just one of many environments in my world). The heat of the environment comes from the lava flows and the fire breathing animals that inhabit it, the heat just spreads out far enough that it warms up the air a lot – Crystal King Apr 20 '21 at 17:00

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