ArcticShield® Debuts New, Improved RE-tain™ Technology

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (Dec. 29, 2004) – ARC Outdoors clothing brand ArcticShield®, known worldwide for innovative cold-weather clothing, has a new and improved RE-tain™ technology for 2005.

ArcticShield’s® exclusive, patented RE-tain™ technology has been redesigned to be lighter, quieter and more flexible. To the sportsman, this means less fatigue and more comfort, which leads to longer, more enjoyable outings.

RE-tain™ is not a traditional insulation, which is bulky and only slows heat loss; it’s a thin multi-layered heat resistant barrier that captures and returns up to 97 percent of heat yielded by the body. RE-tain™ will keep the human body warm regardless of temperature and wind chill, even during gusty winds. RE-tain™ is naturally waterproof and windproof.

ArcticShield’s® main focus is inventing multi-layered thermal barrier technologies, instead of thick traditional insulations that only slows heat loss. No other company on the planet can match ArcticShield® on garment thinness while maintaining superior warmth.

ArcticShield® also keys on technologies for water proofing, wind proofing, odor control, moisture permeability and comfort. Across the entire ArcticShield® clothing line, multiple technologies work together in each garment to give maximum comfort.

ArcticShield® is committed offering a full line of cold-weather inner and outerwear that works as a "Complete Body Warming System™."

ARC is a unique branding group, serving as an umbrella for the manufacturing, marketing and sales of ArcticShield®, X Scent® and Element 47™ apparel, and the marketing and sales Xtreme Scents®, Red Monkey and Roger Raglin Products.

© 2004 ARC

The Physics of RE-tain™

Why suffer with uncomfortable thick traditional insulation? When the mercury drops into uncomfortable temperatures, nobody likes to add more movement-restricting insulating layers when they’re already uncomfortable.

Freezing out, due to heat loss, is a problem sportsmen face while out in the field during cold weather. The vast majority of heat energy lost by the human body is in the form of radiation. This is where traditional, mass insulations fail; they only address two of the three mechanisms of heat transport, which are conduction and convection.

Traditional, mass insulation does little to stop heat loss by radiation. As the human body emits heat, traditional bulky insulation can only absorb so much heat and then it is re-radiated to the cold outside.

Adding more insulation isn’t the answer to staying warm. In some cases, adding more insulating layers can make the wearer even more uncomfortable, not to mention, more expense. By adding more insulation, wearers will store more heat, only to be re-radiated to the outside and away from the body, where it’s needed.

There are three modes of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation (infrared range). Of the three, radiation is the primary mode; conduction and convection are secondary and come into play only as matter interrupts or interferes with radiant heat transfer.

All substances, including air spaces and materials, such as fabric and insulation, obey the same laws of nature and transfer heat. Solid materials differ only in the rate of heat transfer, which is mainly affected by differences in density, weight, shape, permeability and molecular structure. Materials which transfer heat slowly can be said to resist heat flow.

Direction of heat transfer is an important consideration. Heat is radiated and conducted in all directions, but convected primarily upward.

Reflection and emissivity by surfaces can only occur in space. This is why all RE-tain™ powered ArcticShield® garments are fabricated with a small air gap. Where there is no air space, there is conduction through solids. When a reflective surface of a material is physically attached to a solid, that particular surface ceases to have radiant insulation value at the points in contact.

The surface of RE-tain™ has the ability not to absorb, but to reflect 92 to 97 percent of the infrared rays – from the body – which strike it. Since RE-tain™ has such a low mass to air ratio, very little conduction can take place, particularly when only 3 – 8 percent of the rays are absorbed.

Heat control with RE-tain™ is made possible by taking advantage of its low thermal emissivity and the low thermal conductivity of air. It is possible with layered RE-tain™ and air to practically eliminate heat transfer by radiation and convection. This fact is employed regularly by the NASA space program. In the space vehicle Columbia , ceramic tiles are imbedded with a low thermal emissivity material, which reflect heat before it can be absorbed. NASA’s "moon suits" are made of reflective material surfaces surrounding trapped air for major temperature modification.

Conduction

Conduction is direct heat flow through materials. It results from actual physical contact between materials, including liquids and gases. For instance, if one end of an iron rod is heated, the heat travels by conduction through the metal to the other end; it also travels to the surface and is conducted to the surrounding air, which is another, but less dense, body. An example of conduction through contact between two solids is a cooking pot on the solid surface of a hot stove. The greatest flow of heat possible between materials is where there is a direct conduction between solids. Heat is always conducted from warm to cold, never from cold to warm, and always moves via the shortest and easiest route.

In general, the more dense a substance, the better conductor it is. Solid rock, glass and aluminum – being very dense – are good conductors of heat. Reduce their density by mixing air into the mass, and their conductivity is reduced. Because air has low density, the percentage of heat transferred by conduction through air is comparatively small. Two thin sheets of aluminum foil with about one inch of air space in between weigh less than one ounce per square foot. The ratio is approximately 1 of mass to 100 of air, most important in reducing heat flow by conduction. The less dense the mass, the less will be the flow of heat by conduction.

Convection

Convection is the transport of heat within a gas or liquid, caused by the actual flow of the material itself. In air space within a jacket, natural convection heat flow is largely upward, somewhat sideways, not downward. This is called "free convection."

For instance, a person loses heat by conduction to the colder air in contact with them. This added heat warms the molecules of the air which expand, becoming less dense, and causes them to rise. Cooler, heavier air rushes in from the side and below to replace it. The popular expression "hot air rises" is exemplified by smoke rising from a chimney or a cigarette. The motion is turbulently upward, with a component of sideways motion. Convection may also be mechanically induced, as by a fan. This is called "forced convection."

Radiation

Radiation is the transmission of electromagnetic rays through space. Radiation, like radio waves, is invisible. Infrared rays occur between light and radar waves, which are between the 3 -15 micron portion of the spectrum. Henceforth, when we speak of radiation, we refer only to infrared rays. Each material that has a temperature above absolute zero (-459 F) emits infrared radiation, including the sun, clothing, humans, icebergs, etc.

All objects radiate infrared rays from their surfaces in all directions, in a straight line, until they are reflected or absorbed by another object. Traveling at the speed of light, these rays are invisible, and they have no temperature, only energy. Heating an object excites the surface molecules, causing them to give off infrared radiation. When these infrared rays strike the surface of another object, the rays are absorbed and only then is heat produced in the object. This heat spreads throughout the mass by conduction. The heated object then transmits infrared rays from exposed surfaces by radiation if these surfaces are exposed directly to an air space.

The amount of radiation emitted is a function of the emissivity factor of the source's surface. Emissivity is the rate at which radiation is given off. Absorption of radiation by an object is proportional to the absorptivity factor of its surface which is reciprocal of its emissivity.

Although two objects may be identical, if the surface of one were covered with a material of 90-percent emissivity, and the surface of the other with a material of 5-percent emissivity, the result would be a drastic difference in the rate of radiation flow from these two objects. This is demonstrated by comparison of four identical, equally heated iron radiators covered with different materials. Paint one with aluminum paint and another with ordinary enamel. Cover the third with asbestos and the fourth with aluminum foil. Although all have the same temperature, the one covered with aluminum foil would radiate the least (5-percent emissivity). The radiators covered with ordinary paint or asbestos would radiate most because they have the highest emissivity, even higher than the original iron. Painting over the aluminum paint or foil with ordinary paint changes the surface to 90-percent emissivity.
Materials, whose surfaces do not appreciably reflect infrared rays, i.e.: paper, asphalt, wood, glass and rock, have absorption and emissivity rates ranging from 80 to 93 percent. Most materials used in building construction – brick, stone, wood, paper, and so on – regardless of their color, absorb infrared radiation at about 90 percent. It’s interesting to note that a mirror of glass is an excellent reflector of light but a very poor reflector of infrared radiation. Mirrors have about the same reflectivity for infrared as a heavy coating of black paint.