2023-12-21 21:00:00
Scientists have created a textile that is as “warm” as a traditional down jacket while being five times thinner.
Inspired by polar bear fur, researchers at Zhejiang University in China have managed to create a textile fiber with impressive insulating properties. Washable and dyeable, « it could be used, as a replacement for down and animal fur, in sportswear, spacesuits and military uniforms as a thin, light and robust thermal insulation textile »says Weiwei Gao, researcher at the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University, and first author of the study published Thursday in the magazine Science .
The scientists used an aerogel. This material, known since the 1930s and still marginally used in construction for its thermal insulation performance, was until then too fragile to be used in the manufacture of fabric. « Thanks to their high porosity, aerogels display very low thermal conductivity, which allows…
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