Alexium’s Global Products Manager, Jonas Larue, presented “Phase Change Materials in Textiles: An Evaluation of Quantitative Methods” at the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) International Conference in early March. Larue’s presentation provided an evaluation of different methods for analyzing PCMs on textiles and assessing their utility for product design and quality control.
The AATC states that it provides test method development, quality control materials, education, and professional networking for a global audience. The Association is internationally recognized for its standard methods of testing fibres and fabrics to measure and evaluate such performance characteristics as colorfastness, appearance, soil release, dimensional change, and water resistance. New and updated test methods are published annually in the AATCC Technical Manual.
Members of AATC are employees of textile, apparel, and home goods manufacturers; dye and chemical manufacturers; testing laboratories; consumer and retail organizations; state and federal government agencies; and colleges and universities. It has thousands of individual and corporate members in more than 60 countries worldwide.
In November last year, AATC members voted to form a new research committee (AATCC RA112) to develop test methods for quantitative assessment of thermal regulation properties of textiles. Jonas Larue has become the founding chair of that committee.
AATCC research committees meet twice per year to develop test methods as well as for other matters. When deciding whether to approve a new test method, considerations such as simplicity, reproducibility, applicability, cost and time required to perform a test are all important. After a method is approved by a research committee and the Technical Committee on Research, it is published in the AATCC Technical Manual. The content of many AATCC methods form the basis of equivalent ISO methods.
Larue and the RA112 committee will be meeting on April 24. The agenda will include discussion of existing quantification methods and concepts for future methods of thermal regulation testing, with the aim of identifying the measurement types and techniques with the most potential.
I would expect that Larue’s professional peers within the AATC are capable of establishing whether Alexium’s thermal regulation testing protocol is technically and commercially valid. I also think that Alexium would not be taking this route if they weren't confident in the validity/benefits of their testing methodology.
(20min delay)