Theoretical study of the functional characteristics of composite fiber/colorant materials for military digital camouflage.

Background: Based upon experimental literatures to simulate many newly developed systems and analyzed and compared the physical properties and NIR absorption of the materials for supplying future research reference into military camouflage clothing. Aims: This project aimed to explore composite fiber/cotton/colorant materials that possess the characteristic of anti‐near‐infrared radiation (NIR) reflectance and their further application in military combat uniforms to achieve the aim of personnel camouflage and concealment. Materials and Methods: Materials Studio (MS06 version), Gaussian 09 software, and the GULP program were adopted for simulation and computation in this study. Results and Discussion: The physical absorption of the dyes and nylon 66/ cotton exhibited the same trend from large to small in the order NCIBu > NCD > NCIG > NCT > NCA. All systems had good colorfastness except for the NCA, NCD, and NCT systems. The colorfastness of the dual‐dye systems was better than that of the single‐dye systems; in particular, the colorfastness of the NCIG‐138T and NCIBu‐12D systems. The six layered NCT, NCIBu, NCIBu‐12D, NCIG‐138T systems exhibited excellent reflectivity in the NIR region. Conclusions: The NCIBu‐12D and NCIBu‐138D systems, with a weight percentage of 2/49/49%, exhibited the best performance in our simulation. These achievements could be helpful in terms of informing actual experiments in order to perfect the design of military clothing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]