utlast Technologies,the Boulder,Colorado, based pioneer andworldwide p - PDF document

utlast Technologies,the Boulder,Colorado, based pioneer andworldwide provider of phasechange fibers, fabrics and foams,in 1988, for NASA .The company is now moving into the nextgeneration of its ‘Adaptive Comfort’products by developing a process formaterial right into nylon and polyesteryarns. This marks a major step, and opensbroad opportunities, particularly withmanufactured fibers and blends.exciting part of what we are doing isresponding to the number one complaintof consumers. Whether they are traveling,going in or out of the office, commuting,or playing sports, they say their clothesthey become over-heated.Typically,mainstream apparel fabrics haven’t had thecapability to be able to store and moderatetemperature by buffering radiation fromthe sun, or just through the energy thatyou produce.”called Thermocules, has been usedcommercially since 1995.Using patentedtechnology, the Thermocules are concen-trated where they are most effective - atthe surface of the product.    Outlast Technologies has found a way toincorporate its patented ‘Thermocules’ into nylonand polyester fiber to give a broader range offabrics. Kathlyn Swantko reports. Thermoclues into acrylic fiber during fiberproduction.Recent developments of injecting theThermocules into polyester and nylon havenow opened new horizons. Poormanexplained, “We have been doing thissuccessfully with acrylic fiber utilizing adifferent process. But, our newdevelopment is a whole new process thatwe’re patenting for use on polyester andnylon fibers.It’s a different product thathas different attributes associated with it.”Next generation phase change According to Poorman, products utilizingthe new process of injecting theThermocules directly into polyester andnylon yarns is currently going through betatesting. Poorman noted, “During thisphase, we’re having people use thesefabrics in the field, so that we can gather allof the results of what exactly the valuequalities will be to the consumer.”Poorman said that these products willprovides a softer hand than the coatedThe procedure used in adding the Outlasttechnology to nylon or polyester fibers alsoprovides more durability.Poorman noted,“The coating process used in outerwearpieces and footwear doesn’t see nearly thetype of wet flexing that you would see in ashirting fabric or a Lycra pant or bike short.When going into these applications, werealized that we needed a process wherethe technical material is injected into astraw core, and the polyester or nylon bi-component fiber would be on the outside,so the technology is permanently placedinside of the fiber. This allows for greaterdurability. The garment can go throughextensive launderings without effectivelyreducing the capacity for the technicalmaterials to store energy.”Business as usual in knitting Poorman doesn’t anticipate many problemsin knitting or weaving these new technicalfibers. He stated, “Once we get to thecorrect denier and tensile strength, andsome of the other variables that arecommon to these yarns, I don’t believe thatwe’ll see many problems in the knitting orweaving processes. I think that a lot of the development hasto do with how we blend this product withother products to create the end result ,i.e. the soft hand, the stretch of theproduct, the UV protection, etc. There’s stilla lot of work to be done developmentally inperfecting these products for the variousmarkets.But at this point, from what wecan see, there hasn’t been any set-backs asfar as dyeability, yarn breaks, or things ofthat nature that would make the manufac-turing process difficult.”According to Poorman, the new productwill probably be available for retail selling inspring ‘04. Right now the plan is to makethe technology available to apparelmanufacturers to incorporate into theirproduct lines by March/April of 2003.Poorman said, “Our progress seems tohave accelerated over the last sixmonths.We’ve had some real break-throughs on the technology side. Now, it’sjust a question of making sure that we havethe right partners, and that we take all ofthe necessary steps to ensure that weproduce a quality product.”deliver a different functionality, in that theycan be used in garments that will be worncloser to the body than previousapplications. He explained, “The productswon’t have as high of an Adaptive Comfortrating as some of our coatings do. But, atthe same time, they are going to broadenour product line into more activewear andspring/summer related fabrics, like pique“The new development will be moreeffective in addressing these end-uses than    TRF sample temperature readings at 14°C setpointTRF sample temperature readings at 18°C setpoint Above: Electron micrograph of the phasechange fabric showing the spherical