Sweater that mimics polar bear fur may keep you warm in extreme cold

A fibre that is alleged to imitate polar bear fur may sooner or later characteristic in the subsequent era of house fits, army uniforms and clothes for extreme cold environments.

Under the course of its creators at Zhejiang University, China, the factitious fibre has already been made right into a sweater that is claimed to be as warm as down feather, which is among the many best-known pure insulators, however is barely a fraction of its thickness.

Writing in a paper, the workforce makes claims concerning the sweater’s power and stretchability, however not everyone seems to be satisfied that ample knowledge has been introduced to again these up.

Hao Bai, a workforce member, says polar bear fur is made up of a extremely porous core with a dense shell. “The porous structure traps a large amount of air to insulate heat transfer and the dense shell provides the mechanical strength of the hair,” he says.

The synthetic textile, however, consists of an “aero gel” – a cloth with low density, excessive porosity and a big air content material (above 90 per cent by quantity) – encased in a rubberised exterior.

As properly as being warm, the researchers examined the fibre’s practicality by exposing it to 10,000 cycles of stretching, reporting no lack of construction. It has stretchability of as much as 1600 per cent and is powerful sufficient that a single fibre can carry a 500 gram mass, they are saying.

The sweater that was knitted with this fibre is barely “around one-fifth as thick as down for the same warmth and has excellent washability and dyeability”, they write in the paper. “Such textiles feature excellent thermal insulation and multifunction and have great potential in areas such as military uniforms and space suits in extremely cold environments.”

Lisa Lake on the University of Technology Sydney in Australia says folks have lengthy been fascinated by how polar bear fur retains the animals warm in such extreme cold temperatures, and these researchers appear to have discovered a approach to mimic these properties utilizing artificial supplies.

But Christopher Hurren at Deakin University, additionally in Australia, is uncertain of the claims primarily based on the restricted knowledge that has been introduced.

As properly, many animals have hole fur just like polar bears, together with beavers, camels and Australia’s brush-tailed possum, he says. One of the largest advantages of polar bear fur comes not from its construction, however from the transparency of its fibres, which reduces the radiation of warmth.

“It’s a lovely notion, but is it really mimicking polar bear fur?” says Hurren. “Probably not.”