How to be inspired?
In nature, camel hump is an almost perfect protective barrier unique to camels, which can prevent camels from being affected by the extreme thermal environment during the day in the desert for a long time.
The thermal insulation of the fat inside the hump can inhibit the external heat input. At the same time, the sweat glands distributed around the hump can prevent the camel from further overheating by regulating the direction of sweat flow. Thanks to this, the integrated function of the internal fat and sweat glands naturally formed in the hump enables the camel to live in the hot desert area for a long time.
"We think that since camels can survive in the desert with great temperature difference, their fur must have particularity." How to combine the existing textile weaving technology to solve the problem that personal thermal protection and thermal and wet comfort management are incompatible? With unremitting efforts, Academician Xu Weilin's team found the answer when studying animal fibers.
This discovery delighted the team. Through hot rolling treatment and ultrasonic welding, the research team integrated the array thermal insulation unit and the special-shaped core suction channel, and designed a layered fabric with hump-like structure.
What are the advantages of HHF?
Compared with the commercial protective fabric, the HHF's hierarchical structure design endows the protective clothing with ultra-low thermal conductivity in the outside direction, realizing ultra-high thermal protection performance in extreme fire environment. At the same time, the unidirectional moisture conduction function given by the coupled profiled wicking channel in the layered fabric can achieve the thermal and moisture comfort required by the human body. The simulated skin test results show that the bottom temperature and relative humidity of the bionic fire protection fabric under extreme conditions (80 ℃) are 20.6 ℃ and 13.6% lower than those of the traditional fire protection clothing, respectively.
In order to verify the practicability of this material, the researchers have carried out the actual protection and sweat control performance tests on HHF. They wrapped HHF around the dummy's arm and verified its protective performance with a butane spray gun (flame temperature 1500 ℃). "We are very happy to find that the fabric after burning still remains its original color and state." Zhang Qian said that the actual human sweat control results show that under the same conditions, the skin humidity of the lower layer of HHF is far lower than the traditional commercial protective fabric. These results highlight the great application potential of HHF in personal protection in extreme fire.
"In fact, since this material can insulate heat, it can also keep warm naturally. In addition to being applied to fire protection clothing, it can also be used to improve the thermal and wet comfort of individuals for mountaineers and ice and snow sports." It is understood that the team has been engaged in the research of light and heat regulation of structured and functional textiles for a long time. This work is one of the latest developments in the research of hierarchical structure functional textiles by the team recently, It provides a new idea to further expand the application of multi-layer structure of functional textiles in special fields.
source:https://www.tnc.com.cn/info/c-001001-d-3729623.html