Extreme water-repellent coating for sports shoes by P2i
29 Jan '07
3 min read
P2i is currently working closely with SATRA to fully define all the properties of ion mask enhancement on a variety of footwear and footwear fabrics to highlight all the benefits of this groundbreaking approach.
“However seriously you take your sport, it's more enjoyable with cool, dry feet,” said P2i Ltd's Technical Director, Dr Stephen Coulson. “Where ion mask comes into its own is in serious competition. Getting wet feet during a marathon can mean blisters and taking water on-board can weigh down tired limbs and affect performance. Having shown the new technology to a number of leading sports shoe brands, several are considering ion mask enhancement for their footwear to give their products the edge,” added Dr Coulson.
How ionmask works Ion mask works by applying a protective layer, just nanometres thick, over the entire surface of a product by means of an ionised gas or “plasma”. This layer is molecularly bound to the surface and will not leach away.
This transforms the surface of the product to display ultra low surface energy values down to one third that of PTFE (Teflon), displaying highly water shedding properties; whilst leaving the other properties of the product unchanged. Both the inside and outside surfaces are enhanced, minimising liquid and vapour absorption either from the outside elements or from sweat evaporating from the foot.
P2i Ltd was established in 2004 as part of the UK Ministry of Defence's programmeof commercialisation of government technologies.
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