Cool garment leathers for hot environment

Abstract

Traditionally garment leathers are used in cold environment to protect the humans from chill weather. This is because leather garments have low heat storage capacity and high thermal insulation properties. Here, we report a method to prepare cool garments that can be wearable in hot environment using a phase change material, N-octadecane, microcapsule. Microcapsules containing N-octadecane were prepared through in situ polymerization and applied on the leather surface through conventional finishing techniques. Synthesized spherical microcapsules had melamine–formaldehyde polymer shell with 226 nm average diameter and 142 J g−1 heat storage capacity as characterized through differential scanning calorimetry, particle size analysis, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. When the leathers were treated with 20 mass% microcapsules, they exhibited a heat storage capacity of 59.8 J g−1 and thermal resistance of 0.014 K m2 W−1 without any significant change in the physical properties. Hence, the treated leathers are suitable for application in hot environment for cooling the body.