Interesting new fabric being developed

[oldwetherman]

This sounds too good to be true. I hope it's produced before I die of old age.https://phys.org/news/2019-02-scientists-fabric-automatically-cool-insulate.html

[Dogwood]

Neat. Mahalo. A thoughtful post.

[petedelisio]

So if it's an icy cold rain?

[HeartFire]

My thoughts? it's going to work as well as waterproof breathables - When you're hiking / running sweating up a storm, no amount of special clothing is going to make you feel better, the fabric will not be able to keep up with the amount of moisture / heat you're putting out. It may do this under controlled lab setting but not out in the backwoods.

[Feral Bill]

My thoughts? it's going to work as well as waterproof breathables - When you're hiking / running sweating up a storm, no amount of special clothing is going to make you feel better, the fabric will not be able to keep up with the amount of moisture / heat you're putting out. It may do this under controlled lab setting but not out in the backwoods.

Says the woman who knows an awful lot about outdoor clothing.

[HeartFire]

Polartec does have an interesting fabric, designed to keep you cooler - it is targeted toward runners and other intense outdoor activity - it has a combination of rayon and I think it was polyester. the rayon is on the outside of the garment, and the poly on the inside, so the poly wicks the water out to the rayon side which holds the water - so it stays wet, and while running the air flow will cool you off - I haven't tried it (it's super expensive fabric). But I think cotton will work just as well, and cotton doesn't become stiff like rayon does when wet. Another company, Dunn Mfg has designed a 'wicking ' fabric that they way will always keep you dry - I saw a sample, it was SO thick that it would be way too hot to wear and also felt nasty to the touch (think the old polypropylene fabric but 2 or 3 times as thick) (but the side they spilled water on was dry to the touch.)

[FrogLevel]

Does anyone know how well carbon nanotubes keep up after washing/wearing?

[4eyedbuzzard]

My thoughts? it's going to work as well as waterproof breathables - When you're hiking / running sweating up a storm, no amount of special clothing is going to make you feel better, the fabric will not be able to keep up with the amount of moisture / heat you're putting out. It may do this under controlled lab setting but not out in the backwoods.


Says the woman who knows an awful lot about outdoor clothing.

Yeah, perhaps an improvement of some degree over existing tech fabrics. But, sweating PLUS evaporation accounts for 80%+ of cooling the body. Which is why when it's humid out, even though you sweat profusely, you still can't cool off because the sweat can't evaporate - the ambient air is already pretty much saturated with water vapor. Nothing much fabric wise is going to help in the hot and humid east coast climate. Increasing air flow helps (ah, a nice breeze), as does dryer air conditions (like when a high pressure front moves in). But if the moisture (and trapped heat in it) can't be evaporated away, fabric isn't likely going to help much, it's just going to get soggy and hot.

[LazyLightning]

I'm agreeing with the likeliness of nothing is going to keep you cool when hiking in hot humid conditions. If my polyester shirt gets to wet I just take it off, wring it out and it actually feels nice and cool when I put it back on. repeat as necessary.

[NY HIKER 50]

Fake News?

Nothing will work for me since I'm a really sweaty guy. I soaked up all my synthetics in 22 degrees yesterday.