Cool new clothing fabric
Early humans chose skins, furs
and feathers to stay warm. Wool
and cotton fabrics followed. All
these materials keep us warm
by trapping a layer of air next
to our skin. They also reflect
infrared radiation, back towards
the body. This is the heat given
contains atom arrangements
that allow infrared radiation
to pass through. To make it
more suitable for clothing, Cui
and his team wanted to retain
polyethylene’s transparency to
heat but without the see-through
qualities. They discovered that
white in appearance. Plastic film
does not usually have wicking
properties but the scientists
punched additional larger holes,
about the size of a human hair,
in the material. This allows air
to permeate and perspiration
to evaporate. Then by adding
off by a person even when they
are perfectly still. To create a
fabric which actually cools the
skin has been a challenge. Now
scientists at Stanford University
have created a fabric that
will keep wearers cooler than
anything except wearing nothing
at all. The team, lead by Yi Cui,
have modified polyethylene (a
common plastic) which is used as
a cling film for food. Polyethylene
the material already exists nano-porous polyethylene. It’s
a type of polyethylene used in
the battery industry. The holes in
nano-porous polyethylene are 100
times smaller than that of human
hair. This means the holes are
a similar size to the wavelength
of visible light. The result is the
scattering of light, making the
plastic no longer transparent to
human eyes. The material is bright
a polydopamine coating, they
enhanced the fabrics wicking. The
final stage was to encapsulate a
layer of cotton mesh between two
layers of the plastic. In tests the
new material was 2.7º cooler than
cotton when worn. This small
figure is significant as lowering
a static persons temperature by
just a few degrees can save up to
45% of energy used to power a
building’s air conditioning system.
New appointments boost Itac and Delvemade Teams
Profile: Fuad Elbalamouni
As well as additional sales, growing manufacturers, like Itac and
Delvemade, make more purchases. This increased business ledger
activity needs careful and efficient processing. Fuad Elbalamouni,
helps to keep everything flowing in Itac’s accounts department. He
has a host of bookkeeping, accounting, administration and people
skills that enable him to support the business’s internal needs. He also
provides a direct contact for the company’s customers and suppliers
with sales and purchase enquiries. From behind his desk in reception,
Fuad’s smile is often the first to greet visitors to Itac. He is an avid
Manchester United fan, who enjoys swimming to keep fit and films at
the cinema to relax.