Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the water-repellent properties of newly-developed combat uniforms using a rainfall tower system. Two types of water-repellent- combat uniforms with an identical level of water repellency through textile tests (WR_M and WR_T) were compared with an untreated-combat uniform (Control). A static manikin was used to evaluate water-repellent properties in a standing position and eight male subjects participated to test walking effects under artificial rainfall. The results showed that it took to saturate the upper body was longer for WR_T than WR_M and Control in the standing position for both normal and heavy rain conditions (P < 0.05). The lower body in WR_T was rarely wet in the standing position after 60 min, whereas the lower body was partially wet while walking within 30 min. Changes in clothing weight after the rainfall test were 729 ± 21, 256 ± 36 and 137 ± 25 g per trial for Control, WR_M, and WR_T, respectively (P < 0.001). Subjects expressed better tactile, less colder, less heavier, and less humid sensations and less uncomfortable feeling for WR_T than Control or WR_M (P < 0.05), while WR_M was better only for tactile sensation and heaviness than Control (P < 0.05). Ten-time-washes had not impaired the water-repellent properties of WR_M or WR_T. These results indicated that the rainfall tower test is valid to verify water-repellent property of clothing ensemble and suggest a possibility of classifying the water repellency of clothing ensemble into sub-levels of an excellent and a fair class. Further studies on wider range of experimental conditions to validate the current results are required.
Highlights
While basic physical properties, such as tensile strength, abrasion resistance, flexibility, thickness, stiffness, launderability, camouflaging, colour fastness, or air permeability, are tested as requirements of ordinary combat uniforms, water repellency is not yet required for Korean combat uniforms (KDS 8305-3012, 2018)
We evaluated the water-repellent performance of newly-developed combat uniforms using both a static manikin and human subjects in the rainfall tower system
Static manikin test Wetting time There was a significant difference in the wetting time for the upper body among the three uniform conditions and WR_T showed longer time of wetting than that in Control condition. (P < 0.001, Table 2)
Summary
While basic physical properties, such as tensile strength, abrasion resistance, flexibility, thickness, stiffness, launderability, camouflaging, colour fastness, or air permeability, are tested as requirements of ordinary combat uniforms, water repellency is not yet required for Korean combat uniforms (KDS 8305-3012, 2018). Water-repellent fabrics have been used for sportswear, personal protective equipment, firefighters’ clothing, outdoor work wear, car covers, and medical bedding. Lowering the surface tension of base textiles by means of a fluorine-rich or fluorinated coating is one way to repel water. The use of shorter C-6 fluorinated coating is considered as environmentally safe and the US Army has evaluated commercially available C-6 fabrics (such as, “EverShield”) in order to examine appropriate application to their military uniforms (Gibson 2005)
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