from the sunlight-has-no-infrared,-right? dept.
A new polyethylene-based textile can be woven into clothing to keep people cooler:
Stanford engineers have developed a low-cost, plastic-based textile that, if woven into clothing, could cool your body far more efficiently than is possible with the natural or synthetic fabrics in clothes we wear today. Describing their work [open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf5471] [DX] in Science, the researchers suggest that this new family of fabrics could become the basis for garments that keep people cool in hot climates without air conditioning.
[...] This new material works by allowing the body to discharge heat in two ways that would make the wearer feel nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than if they wore cotton clothing. The material cools by letting perspiration evaporate through the material, something ordinary fabrics already do. But the Stanford material provides a second, revolutionary cooling mechanism: allowing heat that the body emits as infrared radiation to pass through the plastic textile. [...] "Forty to 60 percent of our body heat is dissipated as infrared radiation when we are sitting in an office," said Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering who specializes in photonics, which is the study of visible and invisible light. "But until now there has been little or no research on designing the thermal radiation characteristics of textiles."
To develop their cooling textile, the Stanford researchers blended nanotechnology, photonics and chemistry to give polyethylene – the clear, clingy plastic we use as kitchen wrap – a number of characteristics desirable in clothing material: It allows thermal radiation, air and water vapor to pass right through, and it is opaque to visible light. The easiest attribute was allowing infrared radiation to pass through the material, because this is a characteristic of ordinary polyethylene food wrap. Of course, kitchen plastic is impervious to water and is see-through as well, rendering it useless as clothing.
Wait, being impervious to water and see-through renders it useless as clothing?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:08AM
Didn't Star Trek furnish bedrooms with metallic cloth everywhere for sheets and pillowcases? What effect does woven metallic clothing have besides staining space babes green?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:16AM
Aluminium thread in socks helps keep your feet warmer...
http://mobile.easylifegroup.com/product/nasa-thermal-socks-pair/35090 [easylifegroup.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:24AM
Well then replicating woven metallic blankets for Bajoran refugees makes perfect sense.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday September 03 2016, @10:02AM
Especially if you combine it with some iron oxide [wikipedia.org].
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:37PM
Probably does, but I'm not sure being exposed to neurotoxin on a regular basis is a worthwhile cost.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday September 03 2016, @11:21AM
The set of Star Trek was furnished by gay men. Gay men love their metallic fabrics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @11:52AM
Oh yeah I got an urge to watch the ep where Riker is repeatedy raped by aliens while he's sleeping. The aliens sample other crew but they can't get enough of Riker every night. Who could blame them for wanting him so badly.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:09AM
The unanswered question I have is whether it feels nice against skin. Many synthetic clothing materials are simply less comfortable. While I'd love cooler clothing, it's not enough of an improvement if it feels like plastic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:13AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @11:37AM
How about a three-way comparison including a standard golf shirt? I just wore one yesterday, was outside all day and it worked great.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 03 2016, @04:45PM
Actually, my unanswered question is where was this professor in the 80s?
This is not a exactly new concept, and you can hardly find any cotton in modern sports clothing these days.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday September 03 2016, @06:14PM
Actually, my unanswered question is where was this professor in the 80s?
This is not a exactly new concept, and you can hardly find any cotton in modern sports clothing these days.
Except there's no actual peer-reviewed research that has proven such synthetic materials are actually better at cooling. In fact, letting sweat evaporate off bare skin is generally as effective, if not more effective, at temperature regulation than these special sports apparel that are heavily marketed at premium prices.
The reason why cotton is less common isn't because the new materials are better at temperature regulation, but rather because they are better at wicking away moisture -- thus keeping your skin drier. Cotton is "breathable" too, but cotton fabrics tend to keep more wetness in contact with your skin (and often don't "dry" as quickly as synthetic materials), potentially leading to chafing, rashes, etc. And actually, if the clothing is not tight-fitting, the wicking effect can be counterproductive for temperature regulation, since your body is cooled through evaporation of sweat -- putting an air barrier between your skin and the clothing where the moisture will actually evaporate can reduce the effectiveness of evaporative cooling for your body itself.
Hence, if this new material from the article actually can be scientifically proven to create a cooling effect (rather than merely a wicking effect), it IS a potentially a significant development for sports apparel.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:23AM
Is It BPA-free?
Is it carcinogenic?
What happens when you wear it through a scanner at an airport?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:27AM
If you don't want to travel naked for our freedoms, you're a terrorist.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:45AM
polyethylene = (C2H4)n
BPA = (CH3)2C(C6H4OH)2
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday September 03 2016, @08:29PM
Other than the X-ray scattering seeming to spell out "Death to America", it's fine.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:26AM
Its called "Linsey-woolsey", blend of cotton and wool. American Civil War tech, I believe.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:28AM
Abomination! The Bible says thou shalt not wear garments woven of two different kinds of yarn! God hates poly-blend flags!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:34AM
God hates fat! [smbc-comics.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @01:33PM
Polyethylene Leisure Suits.
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Saturday September 03 2016, @01:36PM
God hates.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:40PM
The gear that US military personnel were wearing during Vietnam is shockingly cool when you consider how thick and tough it is. I wore some hiking one time and I was very surprised how cool it kept me even though it's quite thick.
Sometimes it's amazing what useful stuff they're selling at the local surplus shops.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:46PM
I think Polyester [wikipedia.org]-cotton blends may be prior art.
Like the shirt I am literally wearing right now. Can't read the proportions on the tag, but it is also easier to clean the plain cotton.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @10:06AM
How naked do you appear to near-infrared cameras? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpWBIt2gjzY [youtube.com]
Anyway might be cooler if the clothing can absorb the heat and radiate it at different wavelengths:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/11/new-way-cool [sciencemag.org]
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v515/n7528/full/nature13883.html [nature.com]
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/532826/material-cools-buildings-by-sending-heat-into-space/ [technologyreview.com]
But I'm sure it's going to be very difficult to get a material suitable for clothes that does that.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:05PM
My training in firefighting emphasized the fact that natural fibers get hot, and smolder. All synthetic fiber clothes* tended to melt into your skin. This makes a huge difference to a person trapped behind a wall of flames. In wool or cotton or hemp clothing, you can make a dash for safety, and you may get your ass singed a little. The guy beside you wearing synthetics will suffer a major melt down, and it's impossible to pick the melted blob out of his skin.
I haven't fought a fire in a long time now, but when I buy clothing, I still buy natural fibers.
Here we are, with a bunch of people interested in the thermal properties of their clothing - and they've made no mention of fire safety? Hmmmm - seems a bit narrow sighted.
* Firefighters today wear synthetic fibers, but all of their protective gear is heavy, as well as hot, not to mention expensive.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday September 03 2016, @09:08PM
I know the article says that the synthetic fabric keep you cooler, but I don't think they were talking about wearing them in the middle of a fire. Worst case, you can always strip before making the dash.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 04 2016, @03:03AM
Ahhhh, but - every year, we have people killed in fires. The majority of them die due to smoke inhalation - or so the authorities would have us believe. What of the others?
Education, in our country, sucks in many ways. But, I count out education system a failure because it fails to teach people how to survive in unexpected situations.
Fire? No one expects to wake up in the middle of the night, with their bedroom engulfed in flames. Seriously, no one plans for it. People fail to do the right thing, again and again and again. Hide in a closet? That is a child's first response, it seems, and it happens again and again. Children should be taught how to survive a fire beginning at the earliest possible age - like preschool.
The fact that natural fiber clothing makes a fire far more survivable than any synthetic should be common knowledge by the time kids start junior high school. It's not the 1920's anymore. My cotton clothing is wash and wear, we don't need to iron our clothing anymore. There are simply no good reasons to encourage people to dress in garments that are themselves fire hazards.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:08PM
I was getting excited for a second, but then I kept reading and found it was only 4 American degrees.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:48PM
I think you mean Polish Degrees, but, we're more than happy to accept credit for the obviously superior scale.