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James Heal unveils new moisture management tester

07 Feb '20

3 min read

Pic: James Heal

James Heal has launched WickView, a state-of-the-art instrument that uses advanced imaging system to track and record the transfer of moisture through fabric and other materials. Combining engineering excellence with a culture of innovation, James Heal, headquartered in the UK, provides elegant product solutions for accurate and reliable materials testing.

WickView moisture management tester helps garment and textile manufacturers in understanding how effective their materials are at dealing with moisture and in predicting real-world wicking behaviour.

A key feature of the WickView moisture management tester is its ability to perform both vertical and horizontal wicking testing. Being able to rotate the instrument allows testing to occur in different orientations, providing a new level of understanding into wicking behaviour. Whether for example that fabric is used in elite sportswear (predominantly vertical), or nonwovens or linens deployed on a hospital bed (predominantly horizontal). This is a huge advantage over current market solutions and offers unrivalled insight into performance, according to James Heal.

WickView’s water delivery system introduces moisture to specimens in an accurate, controlled way, regardless of whether the specimen is in horizontal or vertical position. Cutting edge high definition cameras are positioned on either side of the material specimen to record the movement of the moisture. These cameras give full visibility of the test, and use ultraviolet and infrared light to give a perfect view of the test process, regardless of specimen colour or pattern.

WickView is fully supported with a new version of our intuitive TestWise software and shows the wicking process in detail, including a live video capture of the test, wet region boundary comparison and video playback of how the moisture spreads.

TestWise can calculate a range of nine metrics including maximum wetted area, area boundary, y axis of spread and wicking speed. Outcomes can be presented visually or in graph format, and results templates can be applied to show the user information relevant to them. Analysis of results is easy with Testwise for WickView. Previous tests can be reloaded in to the software and viewed again. Several previous sample files can be compared on screen both visually and in reported results.

“At James Heal, we are constantly innovating, searching for ways to lead the field and constantly enhance our testing methods to deliver solutions for textile professionals. WickView is the latest innovation in our precision testing instrument range, and has already had a great reception with all of the top brands that have seen it in action. We have already received several pre-orders. WickView calculates and records results providing the user with an accurate representation of real life, in comparison to existing available testing methods. By examining the direction, shape, speed, and actual wet area of fabric, WickView is accurately measuring how sweat and other liquids behave when in contact with a specimen,” Neil Pryke, innovation director at James Heal said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)