Phase change materials and the perception of wetness

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) are increasingly incorporated in textiles in order to serve as a thermal buffer when humans change from a hot to a cold environment and the reverse. Due to the absence of wetness sensors in the skin, cooling of the skin may be perceived as a sensation of wetness instead of cold. In order to investigate if this phenomenon occurs when manipulating textiles, nine subjects were asked to touch or manipulate PCM-treated and untreated fabrics. In 75% of the cases, the subjects indicated that the treated material felt wetter than the untreated material independent of the way the textiles were manipulated. We conclude that incorporating PCMs in textiles may lead to a feeling of wetness which might be uncomfortable. Therefore, we recommend investigating a change in cooling properties to minimise this feeling.

Practitioner Summary: This article describes a psychophysical experiment into the sensation of wetness of textiles treated with phase change materials. It was found that in 75% of the cases, subjects found the treated fabric to feel wetter than the untreated. This may affect the comfort of wearing clothes made of these textiles.

Keywords:

• coldness
• wetness
• perception
• touch

Acknowledgement

This research was supported in part by the EU 7th framework project PROSPIE and by an NWO Vici grant.