Ever Evolving Waterproofing Technology
it creates a lot of stress and tension between
the fabric and coating.
Experimenting with different fabrics, he
discovered that his coated fabric did not
hold air at all. Although not suited for hot
air balloons, the encapsulated fabric he was
testing did not allow water to penetrate at
all but did remained air permeable. One
of the differences between “encapsulated”
permeable waterproofing and laminated
waterproof technology lies in the definition
of “breathable.” The laboratory test
conducted on laminated fabrics claiming
breathability is the MVTR (Moisture Vapor
Transfer Rate) demonstration showing how
many milligrams of water in vapor state*will
diffuse through 1 square meter of laminated
fabric over a 24-hour period. The makers
of the encapsulated technology claim that
this test does not reflect natural conditions
at all, as humans do not sweat water vapor
even at extreme bodily temperatures. We are
too cold to make that possible. And, even
if we were warm enough, the vapor would
not stay in vapor state over 24 hours without
condensing into liquid that would reside
inside the water proof fabric. Although
acknowledging that laminated fabrics may
not leak, the manufacturers claim they do
not breathe, either.
Encapsulated fabrics, in contrast, do
not claim to achieve the same degree of
waterproof as demonstrated by the 1500
mm water column test. By closing the
natural gaps and cavities within the fabric,
rain water cannot penetrate into or pass
through the fabric. This is achieved with
silicon polymer that does not react with the
fabric fibers, so it is not melted, glued or
laminated to the finished fabric. The idea of
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encapsulating the fiber bundles of fabrics is
that the specific silicone polymers ultimately
form an ultra thin barrier layer within the
fabric making it highly water resistant and
totally windproof, yet the treated fabric
retains the natural breathing qualities,
comfort and softness of the original fabric.
Waterproofing is measured on the
Bandusmann rain tester by the
manufacturers of encapsulated fabrics. A
cup is covered by the treated fabric with the
surface tilted 10 degrees from the horizontal
position (as the shoulder slopes.) A crossbar
constantly runs under the fabric during
the test to simulate body friction with rain
falling on the fabric from a height of 1.8
meters, to ensure a maximum velocity of
rainfall. Water repellency, absorbency and
pass through are measured. The fabric is
considered waterproof if it measures zero
rain penetration through the fabric and
absorbency does not exceed 20% on natural
cotton and 10% on man–made fabrics. In
comparison, laminates also have a zero
pass through but will absorb a lot of water
as the fabric itself is unprotected, which
means a laminated waterproof/breathable
garment can be wet outside and inside from
condensed perspiration.
The Ion Mask – Plasma Technology
A scientifically based company in the
UK has approached waterproofing from
a completely new perspective. Not only is
their patented plasma technology different
because of its unique properties at the
molecular level, but the process has been
found to work on textiles, leather, metals and
ceramics as well. Furthermore, nanocoating
ion-masking treatment can be applied to the