AITEX is a research, innovation and technical center fort the textile field. Is a

independent organitation established in 1985.

AITEX was founded for helping the professional people whose activity is directly or

indirectly pertaining to the textile.

The obejctive of AITEX is the advancement, technological development and

improvement of the competitiveness of the textile industry, the development of the

quality standards and the insertion of new technologies apply to the textile field.

AITEX, the Textile Technological Institute, has the following laboratories:

- PPE’S certification

- Comfort laboratory

- Physical laboratory

- Chemical laboratory

- Harmful substances

- Medical devices

- Geosynthetics

- Water Lab

- Fire Behaviour lab

- Medical lab

- Quality department

- Projects area

COMFORT LABORATORY For the search of the comfort, the thermal comfort is a basic variable and many are the studies that bring this variable over.

The principal aim of the Comfort laboratory of AITEX is to determine the variables related to the comfort and the well-being of the user, determining the perspiration and isolation of fabrics and made-up garments.

Nowadays, these variables take major importance in the comfort of the user and every time are there more tests that try to quantify them of an objective form. AITEX has the equipment and experience necessary for the accomplishment of tests and evaluation of fabrics destined for the confection of clothes against the cold, sports clothes, sleeping bags, articles for children, gloves, articles of high mountain, bedding articles, articles with ended PCM’s,etc.

From our Comfort laboratory we can carry out the tests:

- THERMAL INSULATION: adult manikin, children manikin and thermal hand.

- THERMAL RESISTANCE.

- WATER VAPOUR RESISTANCE.

- PERMEABILITY INDEX.

- WATER VAPOUR RESISTANCE FOR THE QUALITY CONTROLL.

- THERMAL REGULATION FACTOR FOR PCM’S.

- MOISTURE MANAGEMENT TESTS

- RAIN TOWER.

- THERMAL INSULATION WITH THE WIND TUNNEL.

- KAWABATA.

THERMAL RESISTANCE AND WATER VAPOUR RESISTANCE

Equipment: Guarded sweating hot plate.Skin Model

With these equipments we can know the breathability (Ret) and the insulation power (Rct) of a fabric. Relationship between both variables gives the permeability index, an important comfort variable of a fabric. The measuring unit is simulating the temperature of human skin to test the Rct and the sweating mechanism for the Ret measurement. The measuring unit is placed inside a climatic chamber which allows a high control of the ambient conditions.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK Equipment: Thermal manikin adult This test allows the measurement of the thermal insulation; this means the total effect of the clothes when they are wearing by the user. A thermal manikin that simulates the human body is heated inside a cold environment to study the necessary heat flux according the insulation capacity of the test specimen. According to the manikin position, it’s possible to measure the insulation of a garment with the standing manikin or bedding clothes with the laying manikin. Besides, with these results is possible to predict the temperature use rank of garments according the European standards EN 342 and EN 14058:2004 or EN 13537. Thermal manikin allows the measurement of sleeping bags ; with the thermal insulation value, we can label the sleeping bag with its extreme, limit and comfort temperature. This is the use rank of a sleeping bag.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK Equipment: Thermal children manikin Due to the dimensions of the manikin, it allows the study of the comfort in articles and bedding clothes for children . It is similar to the adult manikin with the particularity that this manikin takes incorporated a system of perspiration , which allows to measure the sweating and thermal isolation in articles and bedding clothes. This manikin possesses the corporal dimensions of a 7-year-old child of age. As the adult manikin, it possesses a system of motion that simulates the movement of the child.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK Equipment: Thermal hand

Equipment destined to measure the thermal isolation of gloves according to the

European standard EN 511, both for gloves of work and for gloves destined for the

sport.

By means of the thermal hand we determine the levels of protection opposite to

the cold convective, it is said, the thermal isolation that offers the glove opposite to

temperatures of up to -50ºC.

This equipment simulates the mechanism of perspiration of the hand for what it is

possible to determine also the perspiration of gloves destined for the work or for

cold in extreme environments.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK Equipment: Thermal camera This technique assesses the loss of heat and the isolation of the garments through a study of the surface temperature of a body dress. It is a complementary team to test the thermal manikin and the thermal hand, but it can be used independently in different applications.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK

Equipment: PCM’s Continuously new technologies are used at fabrics, and continuously new equipments are developed to measure the effect of the new technologies. This is the case of the PCM’s; material with high specific heat that works as thermoregulatory particles. We can measure the capacity of these particles to store and liberate energy with

the determination of the thermal regulation factor.

TEMPERATURE USE RANK

Equipment: Wind tunnel

Equipment developed for the study of the traffic of the wind about the objects. With

him we can determine the isolation that the articles have in real situations of

dampness, temperature and speed of the wind,and in extreme situations.

The isolation that the articles have we can determine it with the thermal manikins,

or even, due to the great capacity of the tunnel, with a person in static position as

realizing any type of action: bicycle, running, etc.

With the wind tunnel we can achieve speeds of the air of about 22 Km/h.

This equipment is used in the study of new articles destined for extreme and royal

environments.

MOISTURE MANAGEMENT Equipment: moisture management test

This equipment allows the study of the humidity transport that happens between

one face and the other of the fabric. This equipment guarantees that the user during

the course of a physical activity is dried and comfortable.

This equipment is based in the standard AATCC 195:2009 “Test method for the

determination of the moisture management properties of the fabric”.

The fabric to test is inserted between two concentricals humidity sensors, one in the

highest position and the other in the low position, and a determined volume of liquid

is fell on the fabric.

Variables that we can study are:

- Soaked time

- Absorption index

- Velocity of the spread

- Capacity of transport

KAWABATA EVALUATION SYSTEM (KES)

The Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) is a system of measure that it

allows to detect quantitavely and objectively the touch of a fabric from the

analysis of a set of mechanics properties. These mechanics properties are:

tensile, shear, bending, compression and surface.

These properties are measured in different testing modules:

KES-FB2: Bending KES-FB2: Bending

KES-FB3: Compression KES-FB4: Surface

A full set of results uniquely defines the characteristics of a fabric and gives

“The Hand” of the fabric with the Total Hand Value (THV).

Thermo Labo II (KES-F7) KES-F7 THERMO LABO II is complementary with KES, and it is designed for

coldness and warmth feeling evaluation. Warm-cool feeling means the

feeling which we get when the human skin touches shortly any object, in our

case textile fabric, leather or any polymer used in clothing, furniture or

carpets. Is it possible to measure the maximum level of the contact heat flow

qmáx (W/m2·K) as a measure of this transient thermal feeling which we get

in the moment that we touch some fabric.

The parameters that we get in THERMO LABO II are included in the THV for

fabrics with direct contact with the skin. However, these parameters can be

evaluated for all fabrics kinds.

RAIN TOWER Equipment: Rain tower

The purpose of the equipment is to simulate the influence of the rain on the

articles destined to cover the above mentioned risk, according to the standard EN

14360:2004 “Protection clothes against the rain. Testing method for the articles

ready to go. Impact from above”.

It allows the study of the watertightness of the complete article to verify the

characteristics of design under statics conditions.

The purpose of the test is to study the filtrations of the garment assessing the

surface wetted of the underwear that the manikin presents. The manikin

possesses in addition sensors of dampness in his entire surface that allow to

observe what zones and in what moment filtration has taken place.

The aim is to be able to assure that an article destined for the protection opposite

to the rain is completely watertight and not produces filtrations.

COMFORT CERTIFICATE Certificate sent by AITEX with the aim to quantify the comfort both in fabrics and in articles. It has the task of valuing and classifying of objective form the comfort of a product, already not only because there will present the best of the physiological characteristics for the user, but because in addition and in some cases, it will give us the best of the situations to use them. The certificate of comfort is obtained from the accomplishment of a series of tests that try to quantify the comfort of the article. According to the punctuation obtained in these series of tests the article qualifies in one of three categories of comfort. The categories of comfort are:

- Comfort 1: Good article - Comfort 2: Very good article - Comfort 3: Excellent article

The tests that will be realized for the determination of the comfort are:

- Permeability index, with the thermal resistance determination and the water vapour resistance.

- Kawabata. - Pilling.

These certificates are expedited to:

- Bedding clothes

- Mattress

- Underwear

- Outer clothing

- Children clothing

COMFORT CERTIFICATE

CONTACT

Plaza Emilio Sala, 1 E-03801 Alcoy (Alicante) SPAIN Tel. +34-965-54-22-00 Fax: +34-965-54-34-94 www.aitex.es www.textil.org

Raquel Muñoz González CHIEF OF LABORATORIES AREA

E-mail: rmunoz@aitex.es

Miriam Martinez Albert HEAD OF COMFORT LABORATORY E-mail: mimartinezal@aitex.es

Mª Carmen García Solbes COMFORT LA. TECHNICIAN E-mail: mgarcia@aitex.es