The Textile Industry
Warm feel and cool touch are important terms within the textile industry when creating products with specific attributes. They help define the performance of a textile, for example in an activewear company looking to make cool, breathable clothing understanding the feel of the textile is crucial for development.
Thermal Effusivity is a term that describes the rate at which a material can absorb heat and directly relates to the feel of a textile in terms of cool touch/warm feel. This property allows industries to remove the guesswork when developing products and put a quantified value on this thermophysical property. A low thermal effusivity indicates a material with a warm feel and those with a high thermal effusivity have a cool feel.
Thermal performance of materials Is not only important to the active wear sector but is also useful for applications such as diapers, denim, protective clothing and automotive industries. Being able to quantify this is just one step in achieving a brand performance standards and starts to help build the picture about other performance areas such as comfort, wicking and breathability.
C-Therm: Quantifying Cool Touch + Warm Feel
At C-Therm they can directly measure thermal effusivity using the patented MTPS (Modified Transient Plane Source) Sensor allowing for the characterisation of thermal touch properties of textiles and other materials. It is also currently the only method able to do so and it also conforms to ASTM D7984.
To find out more about textile characterisation and how C-Therm can assist in this area check out this webinar, if you have any questions contact us here.