Improving heat-retaining property of cotton fabrics through surface coatings

Regulating thermal conductivity of fabrics through surface coating is of practical importance. This work shows that a thin layer of polymer containing thermal insulating fillers can considerably increase the thermal insulating property of the fabric. Three commonly used thermal insulating materials, aluminum oxide (Al2O3), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), and fumed silica, were used as filler. When they were dispersed separately in a polymer solution and applied to cotton fabric, the fabric showed decrease in thermal conductivity by 19.1-44.5% (based on pure cotton fabric). Marsh cooling method was used for the measurement of thermal insulation feature. The heating/cooling behavior of the fabrics was characterized by infrared thermography. The effects of the coatings on air permeability, surface wettability, color appearance, and flexural rigidity were also studied. The highest reduction in air permeability was 87.4% for the fumed silica-containing coating. Aluminum oxide coating increased the hydrophilicity of the cotton fabric while fumed silica coatings made the fabric surface hydrophobic. All coatings diluted the color of the fabric and changed it to paler one. Flexural rigidity of the fabric was increased in the order of ZrO2 > Al2O3 > fumed silica.