The improved breathability of polyurethane coated cotton fabric via micro-cracking

Abstract

Polyurethane (PU) coating became popular in the last decades to achieve water resistance garment fabrics with enhanced visual properties. But reduced breathability of coated fabric is a setback for clothing industry. This paper represents a facile method of enhancing breathability (air and water vapor permeability) of PU coated fabrics which may be so-called micro-cracking in relevant solvent bath differed in solvent bath, concentration, and duration time. The samples were subjected to air permeability, water vapor permeability, water resistance, and tensile strength measurements and the results were also statistically analyzed. The study showed that the proposed process increased water vapor and air permeability of coated but the permeability values were still significantly lower than that of uncoated sample. This result is also verified through water resistance measurements and; tensile strength of the samples were affected at minimum after micro-cracking.