Fabric coating containing energy absorbing phase change material and method of manufacturing same

Abstract

A coating composition for fabrics includes wetted microspheres containing a phase change material dispersed throughout a polymer binder, a surfactant, a dispersant, an antifoam agent and a thickener. Preferred phase change materials include paraffinic hydrocarbons. The microspheres may be microencapsulated. To prepare the coating composition, microspheres containing phase change material are wetted and dispersed in a dispersion in a water solution containing a surfactant, a dispersant, an antifoam agent and a polymer mixture. The coating is then applied to a fabric. In an alternative embodiment, an extensible fabric is coated with an extensible binder containing microencapsulated phase change material to form an extensible, coated fabric. The coated fabric is optionally flocked. The coated fabrics are manufactured using transfer techniques.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.