Applying of highly Ultraviolet reflective materials on cotton- nylon 66 fabric for camouflage of military targets in snowy areas

In this study, an appropriate coating was prepared by increasing ultraviolet reflectance of cotton-nylon 66 fabric for camouflage of military targets in the snowy areas. For this purpose, first several highly UV reflective compounds such as BaSO4, SiO2 and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were applied on the fabric by using citric acid and sodium hypophosphite (SHP) and then grafted by heat treatment. The effects of the effective parameters including type and amount of compounds, amount of citric acid and SHP and temperature of heat treatment were investigated. Reflectance behavior and surface morphology of the fabric were studied by UV-Vis reflectance spectroscope and SEM, respectively. Results indicated that UV and visible reflectance increases up to 85% with applying of BaSO4 particles on the fabric. Thus a suitable fabric coating has been achieved for camouflage in the snowy areas. Excellent rubbing and washing durability of grafted BaSO4 particles on the fabric demonstrated that these particles have been attached on the fibers of the fabric with chemical bands, especially on the cotton fibers. Moreover, the used method in this study does not have any significant effect on the cotton and nylon 66 fibers structure. Parameters such as citric acid and SHP concentration and heat treatment temperature have an optimum amount and thus, using them more than this amount leads to decreasing UV and visible reflectance of applied fabric.