Clothing UV Protection Test

Clothing UV protection test

2023-06-24 17:10:57

Nowadays, more and more clothes have anti-ultraviolet function, and corresponding tests are generally carried out to prove to what extent they have excellent anti-ultraviolet properties. Let's explore together how the sunscreen clothing on the market is marked, and what kind of pretreatment and testing are the clothing in different usage scenarios?

The methods involved in the UV protection test of clothing in the US market are:

1. ASTM D6603 Standard guide for labeling of UV-Protective textiles

2. ASTM D6544 Standard practice for preparation of textiles prior to Ultraviolet (UV) transmission testing

3. AATCC 183 Test Method for Transmittance or Blocking of Erythemally Weighted Ultraviolet Radiation through Fabrics

Wherein：

1.ASTM D6544 Standard practice for preparation of textiles prior to Ultraviolet (UV) transmission testing

This method introduces a pretreatment procedure for UV protection, simulating the condition of the product after approximately two years of seasonal use. There are three specific procedures as follows:

1）According to the instructions of the washing label, wash the product by hand or machine at the specified temperature and dry it. The whole process requires 40 cycles of operation;

2）Passed AATCC 16 simulated sunlight exposure 100 AFU (energy unit) test;

3）AATCC 162 Chlorine Pool Water Tested.

The following table 1 helps you summarize how the above three preprocessing procedures should be selected:

Situation	Main risk	preprocessor
1	Swimwear or fabrics used for swimwear	It needs to be washed 40 times first, then exposed to 100 AFU of simulated sunlight, and finally tested for chlorine pool water.
2	Fabrics that are not bathing suits or that are not bathing suits	It needs to be washed 40 times first, and then tested by 100AFU of simulated sunlight.
3	Non-swimwear or non-swimwear-used fabrics, and products that do not need to be washed, such as disposable or special purposes	Only tested by simulated sunlight exposure 100AFU.

2. AATCC 183 Test Method for Transmittance or Blocking of Erythemally Weighted Ultraviolet Radiation through Fabrics

The sample pretreated by ASTM D6544 is irradiated with monochromatic ultraviolet light (wavelength is about 280nm-400nm) to measure the total spectral transmittance, and all projected radiant energy is collected with an integrating sphere to calculate the ultraviolet protection coefficient.

AATCC 183 generally includes tests in both dry and wet conditions.

The report usually displays the following 5 test data: