Research On The Performance Of Fabric Containing Phase Change Material

This paper aim at studying the performance of Outlast fiber blended knitted fabrics and finishing thermostat fabric incorporated with microcapsules.Firstly, the thermal regulating performance of Outlast acrylic blended yarns and Outlast viscose blended yarns with different blend ratios was investigated using DSC test. The results showed that the yarn did not necessarily have higher enthalpy when it contained higher ratio of Outlast fiber. The enthalpy of Outlast fiber wasn’t stable. In addition, the initial phase transition temperature of Outlast acrylic fiber blended yarns at the cooling stage varied greatly. It suggested that the fabric manufactures have to test the thermal regulating performance of the thermal regulating yarns when they do the purchase and the yarn manufactures have to test the thermal regulating performance of the thermal regulating fibers when they do the purchase.Secondly, the tensile properties of Outlast fiber blended yarns are tested by using Instron tensile tester. The results showed that the values of breaking strength of80%Outlast acrylic/20%modal blended yarn and50%Outlast acrylic/40%Tencle/10%cotton blended yarn were higher than that of regular acrylic yarn. The breaking strength of the blended yarns of Outlast viscose and cotton was related to the content of Outlast viscose. When the content of Outlast viscose was at the range of0～50%, the breaking strength of the blended yarn decreased with the increase of the content of Outlast viscose.Thirdly, Outlast fiber blended yarns and other regular yarns were processed into two groups of plain knitted fabrics of different densities. The relationship between the fabric temperature and heating time of these fabrics was studied by using YG606E thermal insulation tester and OPTCTL T20CB15infrared thermometer. It was found that, for the plain knitted fabrics made from regular yarns, the temperature rising curves of the two fabrics made from the same yarn but with different density almost coincided. However, for the plain knitted fabrics made from outlast fiber blended yarns, there were differences between the temperature rising curves of the two fabrics made from the same yarn but with different density, the temperature rising rate decreased with the fabric density increase. By carring out Pearson correlation analysis, it was found that there was high positive correlation between the fabric enthalpy at the temperature rising stage and the fabric temperature rising rate.Fourthly, the appropriate application conditions of the thermal regulating clothing were analyzed. The matching relationship between the thermostat ranges of phase change materials and the environment conditions was discussed under the cold and hot environment conditions. Take the4Outlast fiber blended yarns as the example, the appropriate application conditions the corresponding clothing were discussed. It was found that, when worn next-to-skin, the fabrics respectively made from the4yarns could play thermal regulating function when wearing one layer clothes in cold enviroment; When worn next-to-skin and wearing two layers clothes (assuming the values of thermal resistance of the inner layer clothing and the out layer clothing were respectively0.3clo and0.8clo), only the fabric made from1#yarn could play thermal regulating function in [-10℃,5℃] cold enviroment.Fifthly, a proper concentration of adhesive was obtained by univariate analysis. By orthogonal experimental, optimal pad-cure parameters were determined as well.The results indicated that the weight gain of fabric was positively related with the concentration of adhesive. However, air permeability and water vapor permeability of the fabric treated with PU were found lower than pristine fabrics. The bending stiffness of fabric increased depending on the amount of PU adhesive added on the fabric. While pad-cure parameters as over rolling rate, baking temperature and baking time were settled by110%,120℃and5min, the thermal-treated fabric showed a significantly weight gain and better washing fastness.Sixthly, the effects of the concentration of microcapsules on weight gain, thermostat performance, air permeability and water vapor permeability were investigated. The results indicated that the enthalpy of fabric incorporated with MPCMs became higher as concentration of microcapsules increased. The actual enthalpy of treated fabric had a better correlation while fitted with the theoretical enthalpy. The heating rate of the fabrics slows down as the microcapsule phase change material increased. The weight gain of fabric incorporated with microcapsules increased depending on the amount of microcapsules added on the fabric. The air permeability was decreased as the concentration of microcapsules increased. However, the water vapor permeability was increased with more microcapsules treated. After20times washing test, the enthalpy of the fabric during heating and cooling stages was reduced to66.9%and62.1%of the unwashed fabric’s.