SympaTex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sympatex fabrics are branded waterproof and "breatheable" woven fabrics made or licenced by Sympatex® Technologies GmbH. They all feature a waterproof, windproof and "breatheable" membrane either laminated or coated to fabrics either on the inner face or sandwiched between two fabric layers (often marketed as "3 layer laminate"). The latter system offers greater durability, by better protecting the integrity of the Sympatex layer.
The Sympatex membrane is made of a closed (i.e. it has no pores) hydrophilic copolyetherester. Like its more common polyurethane equivalent, it can also be referred to as a monolithic membrane. No water can get in from outside, but water vapour molecules are transported through the membrane from the inside to the outside by way of a chemical process.
This differs from microporous membranes (such as eVENT) which have microscopic pores that let air (and water vapour) pass through, yet have such low surface energy that the surface tension of any water in contact remains too high to allow it to squeeze through the pores. Microporous membranes have traditionally been let down by contamination of their pores that significantly degrades their breatheability and also by poor adhesion to fabrics making them susceptible to delamination.
Sympatex's co-polymer consists of polyester (for molecular strength), and polyether (to transport water vapour through). It weighs about 30g per average jacket. The membrane is only 1/100mm thick, translucent, and stretchy with good stretch recovery. The Sympatex membrane is completely recyclable and relatively environmentally friendly.de:Sympatex
