The clothes made of polythene plastic with air conditioning function

Although summer is over, autumn is fierce and the day is still hot. Friends in the factory have to endure the double torture of "machine roasting" and "fire roasting".

虽然夏天已经过去，但秋老虎来势凶猛，白天依旧烈日炎炎，工厂里的朋友们要忍受“机烤”和“火烤”的双重折磨。

If you have a piece of clothing that cools you down by letting your sweat evaporate, you can work even harder.

这时候如果来一件能通过让汗液蒸发降温的衣服，干活更有劲啦!

Material source

材料来源

In layman's terms, the fabric is similar to the polyethylene plastic we use every day in the kitchen, a material that allows infrared radiation to pass through, but is impervious to water and transparent, making it impossible to use for clothing.

通俗地讲，这种面料类似我们日常所用的厨房用聚乙烯塑料，这种原料能允许红外辐射穿过，但它不透水，又透明，根本不能用来做衣服。

But the Stanford researchers used a combination of nanotechnology, photonics and chemistry to make up for the polyethylene's shortcomings.

但是，斯坦福大学研究人员综合运用了纳米技术、光子学技术和化学技术，弥补了这种聚乙烯材料不足之处。

Raw material transformation

原料改造

They found a polyethylene material commonly used in battery manufacturing that has a special nanostructure that is opaque in visible light but does not block infrared radiation.

他们找到一种常用于电池制造的聚乙烯材料，其具有特殊的纳米结构，在可见光下不透明，但不能阻挡红外辐射。

The researchers then used a harmless chemical to make it permeable, allowing water vapor molecules to pass through the material's nanopore.

然后，研究人员用一种无害的化学物质使其具有透水性，让水蒸气分子能通过材料的纳米孔。

As a result, the new material has three basic requirements for a garment fabric: it is opaque to visible light, breathable to water, and allows thermal radiation to pass through.

这样，改良后的新材料就具备了作为服装面料的三个基本条件：可见光下不透明，透水透气，允许热辐射穿过。

To make the thin material more like a garment fabric, the researchers designed a structure with three layers of strength and thickness: two layers of polyethylene separated by cotton mesh.

为了使这种轻薄材料更像服装面料，研究人员设计了具有一定强度和厚度的三层面料结构：两层聚乙烯，中间由棉网隔开。

Heat dissipation mechanism

散热机理

The researchers noted that all objects, including the human body, lose heat in the form of infrared radiation, and clothing limits body heat emissions, making skin feel warmer.

研究人员指出，所有物体，包括人的身体，都是以红外辐射的形式散热，衣服会限制身体热量的排放，使皮肤感到更温暖。

The new fabric uses a different cooling mechanism: It promotes body heat by reducing the barrier of infrared radiation. Instead of using an external energy source, it achieves this by changing the infrared radiation penetration of the material.

这种新面料运用了不同的冷却机制：通过减小红外辐射障碍来促进身体散热，不利用外部能源，而是通过改变材料的红外辐射穿透性达到目的。

Compared with cotton cloth of the same thickness, the new fabric has better heat dissipation performance: wearing clothes made of the new fabric, the body temperature will be two degrees lower than wearing cotton clothes.

新型面料与相同厚度的棉布对比，具有更好的散热性能：穿着新型面料制作的衣服，会比穿着棉布衣服的体感温度低两摄氏度。

trivia

小知识

Polyethylene is odorless, non-toxic, feel like wax, has excellent low temperature resistance (low use temperature can reach -100~-70°C), good chemical stability, resistance to most acid and base erosion (not resistant to acid with oxidizing properties).

聚乙烯无臭，无毒，手感似蜡，具有优良的耐低温性能(较低使用温度可达-100~-70°C)，化学稳定性好，能耐大多数酸碱的侵蚀(不耐具有氧化性质的酸)。

Insoluble in general solvent at room temperature, small water absorption, good electrical insulation.

常温下不溶于一般溶剂，吸水性小，电绝缘性优良。

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new type of fabric that dissipates heat better than any existing natural or synthetic fabric.

美国斯坦福大学研究人员开发出一种新型面料，具有比目前所有的天然或合成织物更好的散热效果。

Writing in the journal Science, they say that wearing the fabric in the summer can make you feel cool and comfortable even without air conditioner.

他们在《科学》杂志上撰文称，在夏日里穿着这种织物做的衣服，即使在没有空调的环境中，一样会感觉凉爽舒适。

Looking forward to next summer, we can wear air conditioner to endure the scorching sun.

期待明年的夏天，我们可以身披空调，挨过烈日炎炎。