Key Engineering Materials Online: 2019-07-15

ISSN: 1662-9795, Vol. 812, pp 127-133

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.812.127
© 2019 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland

The Thermal Colour and the Emissivity of Printed Pigments on Knitted

Fabrics for Application in Diurnal Thermal Camouflage Garments
Catarina Pimenta1,a*, Carla Morais2,b and Raul Fangueiro1,3,c
1
Centre for Textile Science and Technology, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058
Guimarães, Portugal
Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Street Sá Nogueira, University Campus, Alto da
2

Ajuda, 1349-063 Lisbon, Portugal

3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058
Guimarães, Portugal
a
catarina.rpimenta@hotmail.com, bcarlapmorais@fa.ulisboa.pt, crfangueiro@dem.uminho.pt

Keywords: Thermal Camouflage; Thermal Colour; Emissivity; Pigments; Knitted Fabrics

Abstract. This work compares thermal colour and emissivity of different pigments printed on to
two types of jersey knitted fabrics (cotton and polyester). In order to analyze and differentiate the
thermal colours of the knitted fabrics samples, diurnal and nocturnal thermal images of a female
body were captured in an outdoor environment using a thermal imaging camera. Five pigments
(white, black, yellow, magenta and cyan blue) were analyzed in a conditioned environment,
simulating atmospheric (diurnal/nocturnal) and skin temperature, using a climatic chamber, a
thermal manikin and a thermal imaging camera. The thermal tests allowed identifying the thermal
colour of the printed pigments for application in the diurnal thermal camouflage garments.

Introduction
Camouflage allows an object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment and is a
fundamental requirement in a military uniform to provide the first line of defense of any soldier.
Currently, the concept of camouflage transcends the visible spectrum requiring its application in
several bands of electromagnetic frequencies [1]. Technological evolution has generated new forms
of detection impelling the search for better camouflage efficiency in any background and
wavelength. Night vision goggles or thermal imaging cameras have incited the possibility of
nocturnal operations, where visible camouflage is unnecessary [2]. In addition, the quickness in
providing a response, the identification and measurement of different temperatures in a determined
environment, the viability of vision through dust or smoke during military operations are some of
the advantages of using thermal imaging cameras [3]. Thereby, the development of materials for
implementation in the stealth technologies of infrared radicalization and radar waves is the most
relevant subject in the military research area [4].
In military camouflage, it is possible to detect objects through thermal energy that they reflect or
emit (between 3-5μm and 8-14μm) [5], The infrared radiation has a shorter wavelength than the
microwave radiation, but longer than the visible light [6]. The thermal image is obtained from the
object’s radiation, where the temperature and emissivity interconnect [3]. The radiation of the
environment reflected by the human body, the behavior of the atmosphere and the emissivity of the
human body are factors that can influence thermal radiation [7]. There are three possible ways for
the development of infrared camouflage technologies, namely: controlling the external emissivity of
the surface; adjusting the target surface temperature; and changing the infrared transmission
characteristics of the atmosphere [8].
The control of thermal signature of human body reveals great difficulty. The human body
contrasts with the surrounding environment (a warm body is visible in a cold environment and a
cold body is visible in a warm environment), which facilitates the detection of hidden soldiers, for
example [9]. The skin temperature and the body’s core temperature constitute the human body

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128 Advanced Materials for Defense

(homothermal being), where the metabolic activity is associated with temperature stability and
control. According to the literature, body and skin temperatures range from 36 ° C to 38 ° C and
from 32 °C to 35 °C, respectively [10, 11, 12]. The human body can maintain a stable temperature
for several hours in the environments with different temperatures in dry air (between 21ºC and
54ºC) [10]. However, the surrounding environment, besides being indoor or outdoor, involves
several elements, e.g. temperature, wind, rain, radiation, etc. [13], that influence energy swaps
between human body and the environment, allowing changes in surface temperature. The thermal
color generated due to radiation (invisible to the human being) is different from the visible color, [3]
because the human being is only able to detect a small part of the spectrum, where the objects
selectively reflect light [14]. Thereby, the orange, yellow and white colours indicate lower
temperatures and the black, blue and purple colours reveal higher temperatures in the thermal
imaging camera [3].
One of the modification possibilities of the target’s thermal signature is through the emissivity
control (the value of 1.0 ε presents a perfect emitter, while the value 0.0 ε indicates no energy
emission at all). Shiny and metallic surfaces do not demonstrate to be good emitters (e.g.: stainless
steel 0.12 ε) in contrast to most of the surfaces (e.g.: textile materials 0.92 ε - 0.98 e), but they allow
reducing the thermal signature of the target due to its decreased emissivity. However, this property
can compromise the visual camouflage [5]. In the thermal infrared region, the emissivity from
several colours printed on the same fabric undergoes no changes [15]. The surface and temperature
relationship of the material may cause variations in the emissivity under individual experimental
conditions. Research regarding the determination of the emissivity value of textile products at
different temperatures and frequencies related to the infrared range, is still scarce [16].
The development of materials and products with thermal camouflage functionality also reveals a
great scarcity and the total thermal invisibility solution is not a reality. Some studies present
possible materials or methods to achieve camouflage and thermal illusion. However, they address
no practical aspect of usability for the soldiers or humans [4, 8, 17,18,19]. The textile products
which are commercially available to assist the thermal camouflage operations in the military and
surveillance area include Adam Harvey Anti-Drone Wear [20], the Raven Aerostar NEMESISTM
clothing [21], the BLÜCHER SYSTEMS® GHOST® fabric [22], the BLÜCHER SYSTEMS®
SPECTRAFLAGE® two-dimensional camouflage network [23], and BAE Systems ADAPTIV
technology [24].
The main goal of this work is to analyze, with respect to thermal imaging (invisible to the
human), the behavior of the color pigments that are printed onto knitted fabrics (visible to the
human). The intention of this study is to find the possibility to introduce pigments in future for the
development of thermal camouflage garments. To select the most suitable scenario for the
application of the thermal colour, the samples were analyzed in the laboratory using a thermal
imaging camera, a climatic chamber (for atmospheric temperature simulation) and a thermal
manikin (for skin temperature simulation). The thermal images captured in the laboratory were
compared with the thermal images previously captured in the outdoor environment (diurnal and
nocturnal) with a female model.

Materials and Methods

For the purpose of analyzing and comparing the thermal imaging behavior of printed pigments on
knitted fabrics, it was fundamental to capture in advance the human body in the outdoor
environment.
Accordingly, for the external thermal tests, a female model (1,80m of height) was selected and
Carreço beach (located in Northern Portugal) was selected as the surrounding outdoor environment,
as shown in Fig. 1 a) and b). The outdoor thermal images were captured in June 2017 during the day
time (at 2 pm with approximately 24ºC atmospheric temperature) and at night (at 10.30 pm with
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 812 129

approximately 18ºC atmospheric temperature). Both atmospheric temperatures were verified from
the official meteorological websites (www.ipma.pt and www.windguru.cz).

a) b)
Fig. 1 Photographic images from the outdoor environment (Carreço Beach): a) without the model
and b) with the model.

On the other hand, for the thermal tests of the printed knitted fabric samples, the surrounding
environment was conditioned in the laboratory using the following equipment: a Newton 34-zone
Sweating Thermal Manikin (programmed at 34ºC – ISO 15831) for simulating the human body’s
skin temperature; and a Climatic Chamber FITOCLIMA 24000 EDTU walk-in (inner volume:24
m3) for simulating the diurnal atmospheric temperature (programmed at 24ºC de temperature and
65% humidity) and the nocturnal atmospheric temperature (programmed at 18ºC temperature e 65%
humidity). The samples were previously conditioned in the climatic chamber, with temperature and
humidity programmed for each simulation (diurnal and nocturnal), without the contact with the
temperature of the thermal manikin. After the conditioning period, the samples were placed on the
thermal manikin’s legs, and subsequently thermal images were captured every 5 minutes during 20
minutes, for each simulation.
In both thermal tests (outdoor and laboratory) a Thermal Imaging Camera Testo 885 was used,
within the measurement option from -30°C to 100°C, between 7.5 μm and 14 μm, with an emissivity
adjustment of 0.95 ε (approximate value of the skin’s emissivity), to capture the thermal image and its
original photograph. The iron range of colours, characterized by the colours: black, blue, purple,
magenta, orange, yellow and white, was selected because they presented a better perception of the
contrast between colours in thermal imaging. In this case, white corresponds to the highest
temperature and black to the lowest temperature. The equipments used in the thermal tests are
shown in Fig. 2.

a) b) c)
Fig. 2 Photographs of the equipments used in thermal tests: a) Thermal manikin; b) Climatic
Chamber; c) Thermal imaging camera.
For the outdoor thermal tests (diurnal and nocturnal), a tight to the body garment was selected,
with the objective to obtain a better analysis of the model’s body temperature behavior. Thus, in
both thermal tests the model used the following garments: (i) a hip length sweater with a wide
130 Advanced Materials for Defense

neckline and three-quarter sleeves, of jersey knitted fabric M1; and (ii) a pair of ankle length
trousers/leggings, of jersey knitted fabric M2.
Moreover, for the thermal tests in the laboratory, two types of knitted fabrics (natural fiber and
synthetic fiber) were selected in order to analyze the behavior of the printed pigment, namely: (i)
100% cotton jersey knitted fabric M3; and (ii) 100% polyester jersey knitted fabric M4. The
properties of the textile materials used in the outdoor and laboratory tests are presented below, in
Table 1.

Table 1 Properties of the textile materials used in indoor and outdoor thermal tests.
M1 M2 M3 M4
Textile structure Jersey Knitted Jersey Knitted Jersey knitted Jersey
fabric fabric fabric Knitted
fabric
Composition 100% CO 97% CO 100% CO 100% PES
3% EA
Aerial mass[g/m2] 147.00 178.02 154.14 153.39

Yarn linear density 18.7 15.1 CO 19.6 26.9

[tex] EA *
No. Wales/cm 15 14 16 15
No. Courses/cm 20 21 21 20
Thickness [mm] 0.46 0.52 0.42 0.42
*No data available
Therefore, in M3 and M4 knitted fabrics samples, five pigments (white, black, yellow, magenta
and cyan blue) were manually printed in a rectangular shape (measuring 10cm x 6cm) using a Sefar
Pet1500 43.80 WPW screen and a manual printing machine with 6 pallets. With a squeegee, two
layers of ink were applied to each sample. Thereafter, all the printed pigments on knitted fabrics
were placed in a textile drying tunnel for fixation. The quantities used in the blend for each printed
pigment are listed below in Table 2.
Table 2 Quantities of Virus products used to the printed pigments.
Printed Pigment Virus Products

White 100g Hydra Soft Clear Base

5g Aqua Tint White
Black 100g Hydra Soft Clear Base
5g Aqua Tint Black B
Magenta 100g Hydra Soft Clear Base
4g Aqua Tint Pink
Cyan Blue 100g Hydra Soft Clear Base
4g Aqua Tint Blue A
Yellow 100g Hydra Soft Clear Base
5g Aqua Tint Yellow A

Results
The variation of thermal colours, in the diurnal and nocturnal outdoor environments, with and
without human model, is shown above in Figs. 3 and 4.
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 812 131

a) b)
Fig. 3 a) Diurnal thermal image of the outdoor environment (Carreço Beach), with approx. 23 ºC
atmospheric temperature; b) Diurnal thermal image of the outdoor environment with human model.

b) b)
Fig. 4 a) Nocturnal thermal image of the outdoor environment (Carreço Beach), with approx. 18 ºC
atmospheric temperature; b) Nocturnal thermal image of the outdoor environment with the human
model.
The results of the thermal and emissive tests of the printed textile samples are shown in Tables 3
and 4. By using a thermal manikin and an adiabatic chamber it was possible to observe a constant
yellow thermal colour in both printed pigments, with high emissivity, in both simulations
(atmospheric temperature at 24ºC and 18ºC). The thermal colour of the image did not encounter
significant changes in the time span of 20 minutes neither with the change of atmospheric
temperature (24ºC and 18ºC).

Table 3 Thermal colours of printed pigments in both simulations.

Pigments Photographic Image Thermal Image - 24 ºC Thermal Image - 18 ºC

Knit M3 Knit M4 Knit M3 Knit M4 Knit M3 Knit M4
White

Black

Magenta

Cyan Blue

Yellow
132 Advanced Materials for Defense

Table 4 Emissivity values of printed pigments in both knitted fabrics.

Printed Pigments Emissivity [ε]
Knitted fabric M3 Knitted fabric M4
White 0.86 0.84
Black 0.88 0.83
Magenta 0.85 0.81
Cyan Blue 0.87 0.85
Yellow 0.85 0.82

Conclusions
This study shows a possibility of controlling the yellow thermal colour (from the Iron Colour
Range) through the use of garments with printed pigments in polyester and cotton knitted fabrics.
Printed knitted fabrics with high emissivity can be introduced into the process of creating garments
in order to obtain human thermal camouflage in diurnal military operations. The military's thermal
signature can be disguised with the use of these materials. On the other hand, the printed pigments
on knitted fabrics present several limitations for the development of thermal camouflage garments
for nocturnal operations, since there is no predominance of yellow thermal colours in the nocturnal
environment with the presence of the model’s body.

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