US university develops cooling textile
06/09/2016
The material allows the body to discharge heat in two ways. According to testing carried out by the researchers, it could make the wearer feel 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than cotton clothing.
Like regular fabrics, it cools the wearer by allowing perspiration to evaporate. But Standford’s material also allows the heat generated by the body to pass through it as infrared radiation.
To develop the textile, the researchers blended nanotechnology, photonics and chemistry to give polyethylene. This was many of the characteristics desirable for clothing material.
They found a variety of polyethylene that opaque to visible light and still lets infrared radiation through. This was then modified to enable vapour molecules to evaporate through nanopores, allowing it to breathe like a natural fibre. The researchers created a three-ply version of the fabric, which consists of two sheets of treated polyethylene separated by a cotton mesh for strength and thickness.
The researchers are continuing their development of the material by adding more colours, textures and cloth-like characteristics.
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