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Belfasun™: Fit for the sun

Whether out on the waves, on the beach, playing golf, or on safari – people exposed to the sun need effective ultraviolet screening. Hence the masses of creaming and spraying that takes place every summer. And if that is still not sufficient, on go the textile “covers”, preferably combined with conventional UV protection. But what only a few people know is that cotton provides little resistance to UVA/UVB radiation, particularly when dyed light. Plus, if the fabric becomes wet, the conventional UV protection completely disappears. Enter Belfasun™ from Pulcra Chemicals – the world’s first sun-protective treatment for cotton featuring nano particles. Textiles subjected to this process can be relied upon to give safe and dependable sun protection. It ensures total UVB and 70 percent UVA radiation absorption, with the remaining 30 percent UVA being effectively scattered.

Belfasun™ contains tiny particles of nano zinc oxide, bonded to the fabric’s fibers, which serve to absorb or scatter UVA and UVB radiation. The nano particles are invisible to the human eye – hence the colors of the textiles remain clear and brilliant. In contrast to the more conventional UV filters, Belfasun™ is toxicologically harmless and offers a generally very high tolerability level. There are no known allergies triggered by zinc oxide. Even if the fabric should become wet, for example due to rain, perspiration or (sea-) water, the sun-protective effect remains intact. This is not usually the case with traditionally finished textiles. And best of all: Belfasun™ can withstand even frequent washing – the sun-protective effect will survive at least 40 washes at moderate machine settings.

Aside from sport and apparel textiles, the Belfasun™ UV-protective treatment is also ideally suited to all cotton fabrics used as utility textiles – such as parasols, marquees and awnings. While a parasol of lightly dyed cotton provides pleasant shade, it hardly protects at all from UV radiation. For small children and light-skinned people, an additional UV-protective treatment of the fibers is therefore a must.

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Belfasun™ does not use conventional UV filters such as frequently encountered in sun creams and lotions, but rather tiny nano particles of zinc oxide (ZnO) that absorb UVB radiation completely and UVA radiation to 70 percent, with the remainder being effectively scattered.

Quantities amounting to 0.5-2 percent ZnO nano particles are distributed in an aqueous dispersion. For this process, Pulcra Chemicals uses the high-quality product NanoShield™, a new nanotechnological development from the USA. Pulcra Chemicals’ specialist know-how has been applied in the dispersion process and an especially developed binder system. This attaches the invisible nano particulate to the cotton fibers, providing them with an even, stable and permanent coating. The same innovative Pulcra Chemicals technology ensures uniform distribution of the nano particles even in the industrial-scale process (padding technique), guaranteeing reliable sun protection even in mass-produced articles.

In the first instance, Pulcra Chemicals is offering a hydrophilic form of the binder. With this, Belfasun™ offers not just effective sun protection but also enhanced wear comfort thanks to good moisture transfer: perspiration is able to diffuse more easily to the outer surface of the fabric to facilitate evaporation, rather than accumulating and trickling down the surface of the skin. With this extra property, Belfasun™ is also particularly suitable as a treatment for sports fashion apparel, such as golf and other outdoor shirts, beachwear etc.

One of the real benefits of the Belfasun™ is its resistance to laundering. A cotton fabric treated with Belfasun™ nano sun protection is able to withstand at least 40 household (i.e. moderate temperature) washes – which roughly corresponds to the average lifetime of a garment.

The UV-protective capacity of Belfasun™ has been tested in accordance with German UV Standard 801 of the renowned Hohenstein Institutes. As the internationally most stringent specification of its type, it takes into full account realistic usage patterns. In this test process, the UVA and UVB radiation shield afforded by the textile is investigated to determine its overall ultraviolet protection factor (UPF). This screening effect must remain intact in the stretched, wet state, even after 40 washes.

For more information please visit our microsite
 www.active-textiles.com

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