UV PROTECTION

UV resistance and UV protection are not only important when it comes to your skin. The rich in energy radiation also impacts fabrics, fibers and yarns by reducing their performance by lowering the tenacity value or by making them brittle for example.

It is thus crucial to furnish yarn, fibers or textiles with protection against UV in order to guarantee a steady behaviour. Only then, one can rely on the safety of yarn, fibers or textiles when one is for example climbing, as UV radiation is significantly higher in the mountains and thus impacting the performance of the rope more intensly. UV protection is furthermore also an influential topic in terms of:

 

• aerospace
  for in solar sails, transmittor in satellites etc. as UV radiation is especially high in outer space.
   
• automotive
   
• curtains
   
• maritime
  for in ropes, sails etc.
   
• outdoor furniture
  especially in regions near the equator, UV protection of outdoor furniture is of big importance as UV rays are more excessive there, meaning significant shorter life time of outdoor furniture if not UV protected.

UV resistance is in the responsibility of special molecules. UV protection in yarns and textiles can be reached by two methods:

 

• by additives
  Additives, meaning certain molecules, are getting mixed into the polymer before the extrusion. The UV resistance (reflection or absorption of the UV rays) is thus directly embedded into the yarn and cannot be washed out. 
  
  Due to production technique (synthetic type spinning), only artificial or synethetic yarns can be equiped with UV protection via additives. 
  
   
• furnished in the fabric
  UV protection after the fabric has been produced usually gets embedded by dyeing (as an additional particle or dyeing the fabric a dark colour - as dark colours absorb UV rays better) or an additional step after dyeing (coating or impregnation).

Depending on the polymer, it can also be that the polymer inherently is UV resistant like acrylic. This means no additives need to be added to prevent yellowing, stress crack formation, development of brittleness or reduction of tenacity value from happening.

Swicofil offers a broad variety of UV resistant yarn and fibers including ETFE, FEP, HDPE, PPS or PVDF.

Depending on your end application, UV resistance can be combined with characteristics like:
 

• high tenacity
• resistant to high temperatures for a long time
• resistant to acids
• resistant to alkalis

Browse or products or contact us with your project requirements in order to get your perfect UV stabilized yarn or fibers!

(Kindly note that Swicofil is not able to supply you with UV resistant fabrics as Swicofil is active in the field of yarn and fibers exclusively.)

CONTACT US  with more information concerning your project in order to get your perfect UV stabilized solution.