Although there are many types of outdoor sports, professional outdoor sports clothing such as assault suits are mainly for alpine sports such as mountaineering and skiing. In addition to the physical abilities and skills of the participants, outdoor sports also require outdoor clothing that can adapt to harsh weather and complex geographic environments to ensure the personal safety of the athletes. Although there is no essential difference between outdoor sportswear and home clothing, due to the two characteristics of outdoor and sports, the requirements for clothing are relatively strict and demanding: outdoor sports generate a lot of heat and evaporate sweat, which requires good heat dissipation and ventilation performance. ;It is inevitable to encounter wind, rain, snow and fog in the wild, clothing must have a certain degree of waterproof performance; outdoor sports hope to reduce the load as much as possible, and the clothing should be as light as possible; the wild wind is strong, the mountains are cold, and the windproof and warm performance requirements are high; outdoor washing conditions are limited, and the clothing is antibacterial High requirements for deodorization and stain resistance; for field work, rock climbing and forestry, clothing requires good stretch resistance and tear resistance... These performance requirements are very demanding from the perspective of textile technology, and even many indicators Are conflicting. No single natural or chemical fiber can meet these requirements. It can only achieve these functions as much as possible through the composite of multiple fibers and multi-channel chemical finishing.

1、Warmth retention

Although the warmth retention is closely related to the thickness of the fabric, outdoor sports do not allow clothing to be too heavy, so it must be warm and light to meet the special requirements of outdoor sports clothing. The most common method is to add special ceramic powder containing chromium oxide, magnesium oxide, zirconium oxide, etc. to the synthetic fiber spinning solution such as polyester, especially nano-level fine ceramic powder, which can absorb visible light such as sunlight and convert it into Thermal energy can also reflect the far infrared rays emitted by the human body, so it has excellent heat preservation and heat storage performance. Of course, the far-infrared ceramic powder, binder and crosslinking agent can also be formulated into finishing agents, and the woven fabric can be coated, and then dried and baked to make the nano ceramic powder adhere to the surface of the fabric and the yarn between. This finishing agent emits far-infrared rays with a wavelength of 8 to 14 μm, and also has health-care functions such as antibacterial, deodorant, and blood circulation promotion.

In addition, according to the principle of bionics and referring to the structure of polar bear hair, the polyester fiber is made into a porous and hollow shape, so that the fiber contains a large amount of airless air, and the outside is made into a spiral crimp shape to maintain fluffy, which can ensure the lightness of the texture. Play a good thermal insulation effect. Of course, making clothes and even fabrics into double or even three layers to increase the number of air-impervious layers is also one of the most traditional measures to keep warm.

2. Waterproof and moisture permeability

Sports will emit a lot of sweat, and it is inevitable to encounter wind and rain outdoors. This in itself is a contradiction: it is necessary to prevent rain and snow from getting wet, but also to discharge the sweat from the body in time. Fortunately, the human body emits single-molecule water vapor, while rain and snow are liquid droplets in an aggregated state, and their sizes are very different. In addition, liquid water has a characteristic called surface tension, which is the characteristic of gathering its own volume. The water we see on the lotus leaf is a granular water drop instead of a flat water stain. This is Because there is a layer of waxy hairy tissue on the surface of the lotus leaf, water droplets cannot spread and penetrate on this layer of waxy hair due to surface tension. If you dissolve a drop of detergent or washing powder into the water droplets, since the detergent can greatly reduce the surface tension of the liquid, the water droplets will immediately disintegrate and spread on the lotus leaf. Waterproof and moisture-permeable clothing uses the surface tension characteristics of water to coat the fabric with a layer of PTFE (the same chemical composition as the "King of Corrosion Resistant Fiber" PTFE, but the physical structure is different) to enhance the surface tension of the fabric. The chemical coating makes the water droplets as tight as possible without spreading and infiltrating the surface of the fabric, and thus cannot penetrate the pores in the fabric. At the same time, the coating is porous, and the water vapor in the monomolecular state can be smoothly transmitted to the surface of the fabric through the capillary channels between the fibers.

After a large amount of exercise, if you stop to rest in the wild, it is possible that water droplets will form on the inner layer of the clothes because the outside temperature is low and the sweat cannot escape in time, which makes people feel very uncomfortable. This is the so-called " Condensation" phenomenon. There is a special moisture permeability finishing process called "low condensation", which uses polyurethane (PU) and hydrophilic nano-ceramic powder to coat the fabric, which can be absorbed when the body evaporates a lot of sweat. There is more sweat vapor, so as to avoid the phenomenon that the water vapor inside the clothes exceeds the saturated vapor pressure and turns into water droplets.

In addition to thinking about ways from fibers and coatings, the fabric structure can also absorb moisture as much as possible. For example, the use of a double-layer structure, the inner layer of the body is made of hydrophobic fibers, and the outer layer is made of hydrophilic fibers, so that sweat can rely on capillary action to transfer from the skin to the inner fibers, and the outer layer is hydrophilic. The binding force between the fiber and the water molecule is stronger than that of the inner hydrophobic fiber, and the water molecules are transferred from the inner layer to the outer layer of the fabric again, and finally radiated into the atmosphere.

3. Antibacterial and deodorant

Due to the characteristics of exercise, sweat and sebaceous glands are secreted in large quantities. In outdoor conditions, it is impossible to change clothes frequently. Under suitable temperature and humidity environment, microorganisms will multiply, causing undecent odors and itching sensations. Therefore, regular outdoor sportswear is chemically finished with antibacterial and deodorant. The finishing method is generally to fix the bactericidal organic quaternary amine type, imidazoline type surfactant or heavy metal ions such as silver and copper on the fiber through resin and cross-linking agent to make it have a certain washability. Of course, an important principle for choosing a fungicide must be non-toxic or low-toxic, otherwise it will be the last resort. In recent years, Japan has made a lot of explorations in the research of natural antibacterial finishing agents. For example, the use of aloe, mugwort, eucalyptus, rose and other aromatic oil extracts with bactericidal effects, which are coated in porous organic microcapsules or porous The ceramic powder adheres to the fabric and is cross-linked and fixed by resin, and slowly releases the bactericide through mechanical action such as friction and backlog to achieve the purpose of durable antibacterial finishing. This type of natural antibacterial agent is not only non-toxic and harmless, but also has a certain health function, which should be the development direction of antibacterial finishing. However, due to the limited means of fixing the antibacterial agent, the washing resistance of the antibacterial agent is not good enough, and the antibacterial performance decreases a little every time it is washed, and generally disappears completely after dozens of times.

4. Anti-fouling and easy to decontaminate

Outdoor sports often walk through the muddy and humid mountains and forests. It is inevitable that the clothes will be dirty. This requires the appearance of the clothes to be as easy as possible not to be stained by stains, and once they are stained, they must be easy to wash and remove. Changing the surface properties of the fiber greatly increases the surface tension of the fabric, making it difficult for oil stains and other stains to penetrate into the fabric. Slight stains can be removed by wiping with a damp cloth, and heavier stains are also easy to clean. The anti-fouling finishing can not only prevent oil pollution, but also has the performance of waterproof and moisture-permeable. It is generally called "three-proof finishing" (water repellent, oil repellent, and anti-fouling), which is a more practical and effective advanced chemical finishing method. It is often used on the outer layer of clothing and the fabric finishing of backpacks, shoes and tents.

5. Anti-static and anti-radiation finishing

Mountain climbing is the core content of outdoor sports. In addition to the original dense forest, the high and high altitude areas above 3000 meters above sea level are generally dry due to low air pressure and easy moisture volatilization. Outdoor clothing is basically made of chemical fiber fabrics, so static electricity The problem is more prominent. The hazards of static electricity are generally manifested as clothes fuzzing and pilling, easy to be contaminated with dust and dirt, electric shock and sticky feeling close to the skin, and so on. If you carry sophisticated electronic instruments such as electronic compasses, altitude meters, GPS navigators, etc., they may be interfered by static electricity in your clothes and cause errors, which may bring serious consequences.

Any object rubbing against each other may generate static electricity, but only dry insulating objects can accumulate static electricity and cause harm. Therefore, the best antistatic fabric is of course woven from natural fibers, but as mentioned earlier, pure natural fibers are difficult to meet the special requirements of outdoor sports, and even natural fibers will suffer from a lack of water molecules in a very dry environment. And generate static electricity. There are two main ways of antistatic finishing of fabrics: one is to simply weave metal wires into the fabric to make a conductive fabric (also electromagnetic wave shielding fabric and anti-radiation fabric), and conduct static electricity generated by friction to the outside world in time. . But this kind of fabric is not suitable for sportswear, mainly because of its poor softness and insufficient comfort. Another method is to use block polyether, polyacrylate and other hygroscopic antistatic agents to coat the surface of the fabric with a chemical film that can absorb water molecules to form a continuous conductive water film on the surface of the fabric. Dissipate static electricity by conduction.

Due to the relatively thinner atmosphere in high-altitude areas, the blocking and filtering effect of ultraviolet rays is greatly reduced, and the intensity of ultraviolet rays is much higher than that in low-altitude areas. Ultraviolet rays can effectively promote the production of vitamins and have a bactericidal effect, but excessively strong radiation can cause damage to human skin. The penetrating power of ultraviolet rays is very strong, and general fiber fabrics cannot completely shield its radiation. Resins are used to combine ultraviolet shielding agents such as nano-scale inorganic titanium dioxide (TiO2) and nano-zinc oxide (ZnO) and organic ultraviolet absorbers such as salicylic acid, cyanoacrylate, benzophenone, and benzotriazole. The method of cross-linking is fixed on the fabric, which can play a certain role in radiation protection.

It can be said that outdoor sportswear represents the latest cutting-edge technology in the development of today’s textile science. This is also an important reason why a seemingly inconspicuous mountaineering suit and trousers often cost hundreds of thousands or even thousands of dollars (of course, it is not ruled out Factors such as brand value and functional style). Although the price is indeed not low, a set of professional outdoor sportswear that integrates windproof, breathable, moisture-proof, warmth, and radiation-proof performance, for a climber, may sometimes have the same meaning as life! However, Due to the diversity, complexity and unpredictability of outdoor sports, there may be many completely different requirements for the function of clothing due to different environments and sports methods. Therefore, in terms of current science and technology, the overall outdoor sports clothing Performance is still difficult to achieve perfection in every aspect.