This is a sponsored post by GrapheneUP
Population growth and improved living standards require solutions for textiles with new functions to meet changing needs. Wherever they are used, graphene-based smart textiles provide added value in terms of improved performance or comfort. GrapheneUP®, a leading graphene company with the largest production of few-layer graphene in Europe, has developed and introduced into the market new graphene-based products for textile industry: INKGUP® Fabric and PRINTGUP®.
INKGUP® Fabric is graphene-based coating formulation for textile industry produced with few-layer graphene GUP®, designed to provide superior finishing properties. This formulation has been certified antiviral (ISO 18184:2019) also for SARS-CoV-2, antistatic and with excellent abrasion resistance and thermal regulation properties.
Several properties of textiles are improved using the formulations developed with GrapheneUP®, in particular the thermal regulation, abrasion resistance, EMI shielding, UV protection, excellent electrical conductivity, antibacterial and antiviral properties.
Figure 1. Abrasion resistance measured with Martindale test - UNI EN ISO 12947-1/2 of a DENIM coated with INKGUP® Fabric
Figure 2. EMI shielding measurements of polyester textile coated with INKGUP® Fabric
PRINTGUP® is a graphene-based screen printing ink for textiles produced with few-layer graphene GUP®, designed to provide superior thermal regulation. Suitable for cotton, jersey, lycra and other natural and synthetic fabrics. PRINTGUP® has an extremely stable shape with exceptionally high moisture transport properties and excellent drying action. Graphene coating allows the rapid heat dispersion, wicking away of sweat and effective air circulation and there is no sensation of wetness: a graphene coating that offers superior thermoregulation of the body for maximum performance.
Heat is generally transferred via thermal conduction, thermal radiation and thermal convection. The clothing system serves as the barrier between environment and human body, in which the fibrous materials and fibrous structure dominate the heat transfer from body to environment. Graphene GUP®, with large lateral size, is an extremely effective heat conductor material with excellent absorption and emission of far infrared radiation, with an high absorption for wavelengths in the range 100-281 nm and high reflection over 281 nm and provides both heating and cooling through heat dissipation. GUP® can keep the basal body temperature stable, with no strong thermal fluctuations detected in the event of changes to the surrounding temperature or physical exertion.
PRINTGUP® it is applied on the outside layer of the textile and not inside as often reported by other companies. The reason, verified with several tests performed in the laboratories of the Czech Technical University in Prague , is due to the fact that in this way the high absorption rate of far infrared ray by graphene allows to extract the heat from the body. If the coating with graphene would be applied in the inner part of the textile there would be not real heat extraction and dissipation because the coating would only keep the heat inside the body. The purpose it is to extract the heat from the body and not to distribute it from one point to another. It is also important to notice that the graphene has to be applied in single area not connected each other, not with a continuous pattern, in this way the heat it is extracted and not only distributed, optimizing the thermal regulation of the body and reducing the sweat rate.
Figure 3. The graphene coating is applied on the areas that sweat more and where there is an higher temperature of the body.
Figure 4. Functionalized coating applied with the formulation PRINTGUP® on t-shirts for sportwear.
INKGUP® Fabric and PRINTGUP® are water-based products, certified ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX®. They are heavy metal free, APEO free, PVC, formaldehyde, phthalate free and complies with all most restrictive ecological regulations in textile market
GrapheneUP® actively partners with companies in the textile industry to develop enhanced graphene-based products for sportwear, automotive, workwear, footwear and medical and healthcare.