Development of Visible and Near Infrared Camouflage Textile Materials

Abstract

Under the rapid development of surveillance and acquisition devices it became imperative to develop camouflage textiles that could protect the objects from detection by various sensors in the wide spectral range. And, as the sensor systems continue to be refined, it is necessary that the performance of camouflage materials would be continually updated. In this research the samples of woven printed camouflage fabrics, which can conceal the object both in the visible (380 nm – 780 nm) and near infrared – NIR, (780 nm – 1200 nm) radiation spectral range, were developed and investigated. Three different printing technologies (using pigments, reactive dyes and vat dyes) were used to achieve these characteristics. Colour fastness to various influences, spectral characteristics of surface colour in visible and NIR spectral range and influence of different pretreatments (washing, abrasion, repeated flexing and exposure to light) on colour change were determined and analyzed. Some advantages and disadvantages of the applied printing technologies were set. The results showed that even noticeable changes of colour intensity after some pretreatments in the visual spectral range, in many cases does not have significant influence on the spectral reflectance in the NIR range and it remains in the required level. These studies would pave the way for development and optimization of textile materials with respect to better stability of concealing properties in the visible and NIR all wearing period.