What is the difference between PTFE membrane and TPU membrane? Waterproof and breathable testing standards for PTFE membranes and TPU membranes

PTFEWhat is the difference between membrane and TPU membrane? Waterproof and breathable test standards for PTFE membranes and TPU membranes

The outer waterproof and breathable fabric, this may be of concern to everyone. Waterproof and breathable fabrics on the market now are mostly made of PTFE, PU or TPU, but you will see many names. For example, GTX, DENTIK, SYMPATEX, etc., as well as various brands’ own registered fabrics brands such as CONDUIT, SUPER-TEX, HYVENT, OMINITEC, etc. The former is a manufacturer specializing in fabrics. Their fabrics come in various styles or are produced according to the requirements of brand owners. The latter is often said to be self-developed fabrics, but in fact they are fabrics purchased from various fabric manufacturers. However, because these fabric manufacturers may not have their own brand fabrics (or the fabric brands are not well-known), they have registered their own fabric brands. For publicity purposes, I would like to remind everyone not to be too superstitious about the so-called XXX fabrics developed by themselves. In fact, they are all fabrics purchased from various fabric factories. If you really want to know about the fabric, I suggest you find out whether the fabric is actually PTFE or PU or TPU. Because the ingredients are different, the use effect will be different.

　PTFE fabric is mostly a laminate fabric, which is a layer attached to the bottom of the outer fabricWaterproof and breathable membrane layer to achieve waterproof and breathable effect. The characteristics of this kind of fabric are excellent stability, and its performance is not easy to change even at low temperatures, so it is often used in various harsh environments. PU, TPU, and PTFE fabrics mostly use a coating process. A waterproof and breathable layer is applied under the outer fabric. The breathability of this kind of fabric will decrease at low temperatures, but it is cheap. And its durability and washability are better than PTFE. Therefore, we often see some big brands using GTX and other fabrics to make professional models, and using their own fabrics (actually purchased PU and TPU fabrics) to make some cheap low-altitude sportswear.

I often see some friends on the Internet asking if Dengtian’s fabrics are good? Some people say it’s good, others say it’s not. Some people ask whether a certain brand’s Dengtian fabrics are cheaper than a certain brand’s Dengtian fabrics, and they say the former is more cost-effective. What I want to tell you is that this itself is a wrong way of asking and a wrong view. A kind of fabric (including mountaineering fabrics) can never have only one kind of fabric. It can be of thousands of kinds. Because the outer fabrics used are different and the lining used to fit is different, the price will be different, including waterproof and breathable fabrics. Depending on the performance requirements, the price will be different. For the same GTX fabric or Dengtian fabric, if other aspects are the same, if the outer fabric is made of plaid nylon cloth, the price will be much different than if the outer fabric is made of ordinary polyester cloth. When the outer fabric is the same, the requirements for the waterproof and breathable performance of the fabric are different, and the price will be different. For example, if a brand owner requires the waterproof and breathable performance of this fabric to reach 10000/5000, the price will be very different for 5000/3000 performance. Far. Reflected on the final product, the price will also vary a lot. I have always been curious about why some people always question the same jacket made of Dentian fabrics. In fact, this is just because each brand has different positioning, and the materials and processes used are naturally different, and the final retail price will of course be different. Because there are more production links in factories now, in my opinion, the principle of “you get what you pay for” will not change. Even for fabrics of the same brand, the prices will vary a lot.

Regarding waterproof and breathable fabrics, I would like to remind everyone. Some people in the market now boast about how good their fabrics are, which can reach 20,000 waterproof, 100,000 breathable and so on. It seems that from the data point of view, it is already better than GTX. Some newbies who don’t know the truth really believe it. Not to mention whether the data is watery or not, even if it is indeed this data, it is using different testing standards to confuse everyone. The industry’s current standards for testing waterproofness and breathability usually use the American ASTM and Japan’s JIS standards. The data produced by the same piece of fabric under two different testing methods will be very different. Usually PU and TPU fabrics like to use JIS standards to display data because the values look very large. But in fact, if we all use the same data, for example, ASTM standards (GTX testing standards), as far as I know, there are very few PU and TPU fabrics that can achieve waterproofing/breathability of 10000/10000 or more.Yes, most fabrics are around 3000/3000 or 5000/5000. In fact, this data is enough for our ordinary outdoor activities, so as to show its fabric performance!

This article is excerpted from [China Composite Fabrics Networkwww.tpu-ptfe.com] Please indicate when reprinting.

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