Innovators in Textile Fibers
Unifi, Inc. (NYSE: UFI) is a global textile solutions provider and one of the world’s leading innovators in manufacturing synthetic and recycled performance fibers.
REPREVE® is one of Unifi’s proprietary technologies and the global leader in branded recycled performance fibers. Unifi has transformed more than 20 billion plastic bottles into recycled fiber for new apparel, footwear, home goods and other consumer products.
Thermal Effusivity Solution
When Unifi contacted C-Therm, they were looking for a solution to measure the thermal effusivity of their proprietary textile materials.
To satisfy this need, they chose a Tx Thermal Conductivity instrument for a few reasons:
- They wanted to know the thermal touch properties (warm / cool) that a consumer would experience in everyday usage.
- To test the Quality Assurance of their materials before delivering to the buyer.
- Research and develop new innovative textiles.
Using C-Therm Tx Effusivity Instrument
To measure the thermal touch properties of textiles, the thermal effusivity must be considered.
Thermal effusivity describes the ability for a material to store or dissipate heat from another object. When it comes to textiles, that other object quite often human skin. Therefore, knowing the “warm feel” or “cool touch” of a material depends highly on the thermal effusivity.
Here’s how Katherine Barrows, Unifi’s GIT Prototype & Technology Manager describes using the Tx instrument:
Once you get a basic overview of the program, the instrument and software are relatively intuitive. The manual is also a very helpful tool when simple questions come up while I’m using it.
Katherine Barrows – Unifi’s GIT Prototype & Technology Manager
Testing Thermal Effusivity
Since the introduction of an ASTM Standard to measure thermal effusivity, many other brands in the textile and clothing industry have begun measuring thermal effusivity as a key quality assurance metric.
For any group interested in measuring the thermal effusivity of materials, I would absolutely recommend C-Therm to them. The machine can be set up to analyze many different types of materials, which makes it a very versatile tool.
Katherine Barrows – Unifi’s GIT Prototype & Technology Manager
Implementing the Tx instrument into a commercial process is simple with the support of C-Therm’s world class customer support.
I would describe my experience as overwhelmingly positive. Both Patrick and Lindsay, who are my primary points of contact, have been incredibly responsive any time I’ve run into issues or just had general questions. They also have gone out of their way multiple times to check-in and make sure that things are running smoothly and informing me of any new information they learn that they think relates to the work I perform within my company.
Katherine Barrows – Unifi’s GIT Prototype & Technology Manager
Learn how thermal effusivity can improve the touch experience for your customers.