Introduction

Active sports produce heat, which would otherwise cause body core temperature to rise above 37oC. Body adopts an Evaporative Cooling technique to regulate the temperature by producing perspiration. Hence, perspiration is bodys natural way to regulate excess body heat produced under extreme climatic conditions, in places with high humidity, during activities such as sports and exercise.

Textiles as a barrier to comfort!

The textiles commonly worn, act as a barrier between the external environment and the human body. The behaviour of moisture in various fibres is different owing to their physical and chemical properties making it uncomfortable to the wearer - unless the moisture is carried away by a natural drying process or aided by the apparel.

Polyester is being increasingly used in apparel, especially due to its strength, durability, dye-ability and fastness etc. Unfortunately, owing to its inherent properties, it cannot absorb and transport moisture from body sweat. In some structures such as Polyester knits, the water absorption can be increased to help quick absorption of sweat released as perspiration. However, such modifications either by fabric construction, fibre and or chemical treatment make the fabric absorbent thereby retaining moisture inside the fabric for long period of time. Such retention will then result into post exercise chill as the retained moisture starts absorbing the body heat to evaporate from fabric.

Current Technologies

Presently the concept of moisture management is limited to moisture absorption. The absorption property of a textile fabric can be evaluated by the following 3 methods:-

1. Wicking: A capillary action in warp and weft direction.
2. Drop test: The time taken by a drop of water to get totally absorbed by the fabric and stop spreading.
3. Area: The total surface area covered by known amount of water in a specific time period.

Currently various products are available commercially which include hydrophilic cationics, anionic blends and silicone oil emulsions which assures quick absorption.

Limitations:

While the current technologies try to improve the absorption properties, there are questions on durability of the performance, the requirement of process conditions and silicone films, which tend to break during use and washing.


So what is Comfort all about?

To be able to create comfort in apparel and more particularly in intimate wear or sportswear, the textile substrate has to be programmed to quickly attract moisture and release moisture even more quickly, leading to swift drying. This releases valuable area of the apparel for the next round of absorption.

The Moisture Management concept is now gaining a new 3rd direction!

Permalose AQUA: The all new 3-directional technology

Permalose AQUA is a new generation solution for moisture management.

It combines the dual effect of quick absorption and quick drying.
Permalose AQUA  a path breaking innovation from Croda  Textiles can help create such modification on Polyester and Polyester-rich blends.

Quick Wicking: Time (min) required to achieve a 15 cm height by capillary action.

Quick Wicking: Area of moisture transportation.

The spread standards (such as 80 sq cm in 5 min popularly used by sportswear brands) are not only met, but exceeded with use of Permalose AQUA.

A higher spread shows both quicker absorption and also aids quicker drying as is shown below.

Quick Drying: Time required for releasing the moisture.

The most popular way of evaluating a quick drying performance is the time taken for a substrate to dry away 0.2 grams of moisture per gram of substrate (should be within 30 min).

Additional benefits:

Dual Effect: Apparel can be made even more comfortable by combining the effect of absorption quick drying with Permalose AQUA on the inside and an effect of water and oil repellence with Permalose GA-RD on the outside.

Anti � Cling: Polyester is known to generate static charges on friction with itself and with other surfaces.

This creates a great discomfort in intimate apparel worn for long time in dry climate  often called Cling effect.

Permalose� AQUA ensures quick dissipation of static charges resulting in lessening of skin irritation, thus providing an Anti-ling effect.

Utilities: For users of drying machines, a faster drying garment also saves power and time.

Dust: Due to lower static generation, attraction of dust and lint reduces thus making the garment look fresher. Recommended for white substrates.

Summary Product Overview
Three-dimensional viz. warp wise, weft wise and atmospheric transportation of moisture designed for Polyester & Polyester-rich fabrics or garment.
Ensures removal of moisture or sweat at much higher speed and keeps the body dry with no after-sweat chill effect.
Imparts non-cling performance to 100% Polyester for better wearer comfort.
Cures at lower temperatures. Can be applied by padding or by exhaust.
Can be combined with Permalose GA-RD to achieve dual sided finish of absorption and repellence on either sides of the fabric


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