GB2252399A

GB2252399A - Woven materials

Info

Publication number: GB2252399A
Application number: GB9014605A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Pochin Marius Wright; Paul Philip Griffiths
Original assignee: M Wright and Sons Ltd
Current assignee: M Wright and Sons Ltd
Priority date: 1990-06-30
Filing date: 1990-06-30
Publication date: 1992-08-05
Anticipated expiration: 2010-06-30
Also published as: GB2252399B; GB9014605D0

Abstract

Woven webbing material particularly suitable for military use comprises dark pigmented fibre as the weft of the material and green dyed fibre as the warp of the material. The overall appearance of the webbing is green and it has an infra red remission of less than 40% for a wavelength between 350 and 1200 nanometres. The pigment is preferably black and contains carbon. A method of making the webbing is also provided.

Description

WOVEN MATERIAL The present invention relates to woven material and more particularly to woven material suitable for military use.

Woven material is widely used for military purposes and particularly woven webbing material. Such webbings are particularly used on personnel load carrying equipment as reinforcement, carrying straps and the like.

Such webbing must be green and preferably olive green so that it is suitably camouflaged during the day time. The webbings commonly used by British forces are made from nylon which is suitably strong and hardwearing. The nylon is woven in its undyed state and then piece-dyed to a standard pattern.

A major problem has been found with the webbings currently used.

At night, although not always visible to the naked eye, they are highly visible when viewed through an infra red sight. Many solutions have been attempted, for example changing the dye recipe, but these have been unsuccessful. The infra red remission of currently used webbings falls outside the boundaries set down in the NATO infra red curve of remission of the official colour standard for green.

It has now, surprisingly, been found that by using dark pigmented fibres in the material, a webbing can be made which has an infra red remission within the boundaries of the NATO curve of remission.

The present invention provides material for use as an infra red absorbent layer comprising a plurality of dark pigmented fibres and green fibres.

A preferred embodiment of the invention provides woven material suitable for military use comprising fibre containing a dark pigment as either the weft or the warp of the material and including green dyed fibre as the other of either the weft or the warp of the material, such that the overall appearance of the material is green and the infra red remission of the material is less than or equal to 40% for a wavelength between 350 and 1200 nanometres.

Preferably, the infra red remission of the material is less than 12% for a wavelength between 350 and 650 nanometres, and between 10% and 40% for a wavelength between 750 and 1200 nanometres. More preferably, the infra red remission of the material is between 35% and 40% for a wavelength between 750 and 800 nanometres and between 25% and 40% for a wavelength between 800 and 1000 nanometres. The dark pigment is preferably black although any other dark colour such as blue or brown, which gives a material with an infra red remission within the desired limits, can be used.

Desirably the pigment used contains carbon, but any other substance which is known to absorb infra red radiation, and produces material with an infra red remission within the desired limits, can be used.

Conveniently, the fibre containing the dark pigment comprises the weft of the material.

The woven material of the present invention is advantageously webbing material. The webbing can be made from any suitably strong and hard-wearing fibres such as nylon,- polyester, cotton, polypropylene, polyethylene or mixtures of such fibres. Nylon and polyester are preferred.

A method of making woven material according to the invention is also provided and comprises weaving dark pigmented fibres and undyed fibres to form a material in which the dark pigmented fibres comprise the weft of the material and the undyed fibres comprise the warp of the material, and then dyeing the finished woven material green. Alternatively, the pigmented fibres may be woven with fibres which have already been dyed green. Varying shades of green dye may be used but olive green is preferred. If the fibre is of the type which is extruded, the dark pigment should be present when the fibre is extruded.

It is important that the finished material looks green overall in order to achieve camouflage during the day-time. It would not, therefore be desirable to make webbings entirely of the pigmented fibres and indeed it has been found that such webbings fall outside the NATO remission standards and are visible through an infra red sight.

A. preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing; in which Figure 1 is the NATO infra red curve of remission of official colour standard for green A webbing material comprises black pigmented polyester fibres as the weft of the material and green dyed nylon fibres as the warp of the material. The black pigment contains carbon, and the pigment is present in the polyester fibre as the fibre is extruded. The pigmented polyester fibres are then woven with undyed nylon fibres so that the pigmented fibres form the weft and the undyed fibres the warp. The woven piece of webbing material is then dyed green to a procedure well known to those skilled in the art. The green dyes suitable for use are also well known to those skilled in the art.The webbing can be woven on any suitable loom which has several shafts, for example the needle loom system five. Alternatively, the pigmented fibres may be woven with fibres that have already been dyed green.

The material may alternatively be made using pigmented nylon as the weft and dyed polyester as the warp. The material can also be made entirely from nylon or entirely from polyester, or from one or more of the other materials listed previously. As a further alternative, the pigmented fibres my comprise the warp and the dyed fibres the weft.

The infra red remission of the webbing material is measured using standard apparatus, such as the Pekin Elmer MOD330, and standard procedures known to those skilled in the art. In our tests, it has been found that the webbing of the present invention gives an infra red remission curve which substantially falls within the boundaries of the official NATO curve, which is shown in Figure 1. The upper and lower hatched lines on the graph in Figure 1 show the maximum and minimum desired percentage remission of infra red light according to the wavelength of the light. The single unhatched line is the ideal curve to be achieved. The webbing of the present invention therefore has an infra red remission curve which is within the desired region. It therefore represents a significant advantage over the prior art webbing material, none of which have an infra red remission curve which is within the desired region, their infra red remission being, in most instances, far too high.

The material of the present invention achieves surprising results and it is not theoretically fully understood why the material of the present invention has such a substantially improved infra red remission over the prior art material. However, it is thought that the use of contrasting coloured fibres, one of which is pigmented and the other dyed, and interwoven in the way described above gives a dilution of the effects of the two types of fibres. This produces an overall infra red remission of the webbing which falls within the upper and lower limits which define the desired standard range.

Claims

CLEMS.

1. Material for use as an infra red absorbent layer comprising a plurality of dark pigmented fibres and green fibres.

2. Woven material suitable for military use comprising fibre containing a dark pigment as either the weft or the warp of the material and including green dyed fibre as the other of either the weft or the warp of the material, such that the overall appearance of the material is green and the infra red remission of the material is less than or equal to 40% for a wavelength between 350 and 1200 nanometres.

3. Woven material according to Claim 2 wherein, the infra red remission of the material is less than 12% for a wavelength between 350 and 650 nanometres, and between 10% and 40% for a wavelength between 750 and 1200 nanometres.

4.- Woven material according to Claim 3 wherein, the infra red remission of the material is between 35% and 40% for a wavelength between 750 and 800 nanometres and between 25% and 40% for a wavelength between 800 and 1000 nanometres.

5. Woven material according to any other preceding claim wherein, the dark pigment is black.

6. Woven material according to Claim 5 wherein, the black pigment contains carbon.

7. Woven material according to any other preceding claim wherein, the fibre containing the dark pigment comprises the weft of the material.

8. Woven material according to any other preceding claim wherein, the material is a webbing material.

9. A method of making a material according to any other preceding claim comprising weaving dark pigmented fibres and undyed fibres to form a material in which the dark pigmented fibres comprise the weft of the material and the undyed fibres comprise the warp of the material, and then dyeing the finished woven material green.

10. Woven material substantially as described hereinbefore with reference to the accompanying drawing.

11. A method of making woven material substantially as described hereinbefore.