Sports Apparel Warm and Cool Touch Effusivity Spectrums Based on Human Perception

In the sports product industry, technical apparel materials can be developed to be perceived warm or cool to the human touch. Those created for warm touch are typically for cold environments - generating warmth for athlete comfort, whereas cool touch materials are developed for hot environments – making the athlete’s skin surface feel cool and fresh. These attributes can be engineered into the face or back side of the material – providing different point-of-purchase and next-to-skin perceptual experiences. The goal of this study was to define warm and cool touch effusivity spectrums that the sports apparel industry can reference when developing new technical materials. The warm and cool touch characteristics of common sports materials were evaluated mechanically with a Modified Transient Plane Source (MTPS) sensor and perceptually with a human subject fingertip test protocol. From the data collected, cool and warm touch effusivity spectrums were determined for face and back material sides. For the face side of the material specimens, subjects’ perception of warmth was at an average effusivity value of 145.9 (+/-23.1), and cool at 182.2 (+/-19.7). For the back side of the specimens, the materials were perceived warm at 138.6 (+/-22.6), and cool at 177.3 (+/-19.3). The results of this study provide sports apparel material developers insight into target effusivity value ranges for athlete warm or cool touch perceptual experiences.