VANCOUVER – Canadian researchers have teamed up with outdoor brand Arc’teryx to develop an oil repellent fluorine-free textile finish using a new technique that combines fabric construction with PFC-free surface-based coatings.
“It became clear that the construction of the fabric, i.e. the specific weave, twist, denier, etc., was as important as the coating when it came to (oil) repellence calculations,” said to lead scientist Kevin Golovin at the University of British Columbia.
Previously, outdoor fabrics have been typically treated with perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) to repel oil-based stains but by-products of their manufacture have been found to be extremely bio-persistent and hazardous upon repeated exposure.
