In 1969, Bob Gore independently discovered expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) and introduced it to the public under the trademark Gore-Tex, for which he promptly applied for and obtained , issued April 27, 1976 and , issued February 5, 1980.
In the 1970s Garlock, Inc. infringed Gore's patents and was promptly sued by Gore in the Federal District Court of Ohio. After a "bitterly contested case" that "involved over two years of discovery, five weeks of trial, the testimony of 35 witnesses (19 live, 16 by deposition), and over 300 exhibits," (quoting the Federal Circuit) the District Court held Gore's patents to be invalid. On appeal, however, the Federal Circuit disagreed in the famous case of Gore v. Garlock, reversing the lower court's decision on the ground, inter alia, that Cropper forfeited any superior claim to the invention by virtue of having concealed the process for making ePTFE from the public, thereby establishing Gore as the legal inventor.
PTFE is made using an emulsion polymerization process that utilizes the fluorosurfactant PFOA, a persistent environmental contaminant. As Gore-Tex is PTFE-based, PFOA is used in its production.
The simplest sort of rain wear is a two layer sandwich. The outer layer is typically nylon or polyester and provides strength. The inner one is polyurethane (abbreviated: PU), and provides water resistance, at the cost of breathability.
Early Gore-Tex fabric replaced the inner layer of PU with a thin, porous fluoropolymer membrane (Teflon) coating that is bonded to a fabric. This membrane had about 9 billion pores per square inch (around 1.4 billion pores per square centimeter). Each pore is approximately 1/20,000 the size of a water droplet, making it impenetrable to liquid water while still allowing the more autonomous water vapour molecules to pass through.
However it was found that when used in clothing the exposed Teflon membrane layer was easily damaged, as well as being compromised by exposure to the wearer's own perspiration. As a result a third, monolithic PU layer was added, denoted in the schematic (see right) as the inner of the "protection" layers. Finally either a loose fabric shell layer, or a bonded coating (typically a grid fabric, or occasionally a carbon layer as in Gore-Tex Paclite Shell) is added to the garment to protect the membrane sandwich. This final design has been criticized as offering greatly reduced performance and more marketing benefits than performance ones.
More recent fabrics such as eVent, Nikwax Analogy and Epic avoid the need for this inner PU coating and have been shown to have higher breathability as a result, while still being rainproof.
Both wear and cleaning will reduce the performance of Gore-Tex clothes by wearing away the Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treatment on the surface of the fabric. The DWR prevents the face fabric from becoming wet and thus reducing breathability. However, the DWR is not responsible for the jacket being waterproof. This is a common misconception, so when the face fabric becomes soaked due to an absence of DWR, there is no breathability and the wearer's sweat will cause condensation to form inside the jacket. This may give the appearance that a jacket is leaking when is not, but the DWR is still crucial to the best performance of any membrane-based waterproof. It can be reinvigorated by tumble drying the garment or ironing on a low setting. If this does not work, re-proofing the garment by applying a topical water repellency restorative (DWR treatment) for outdoor fabrics can be used. Wash-in re-proofers are not recommended for this use, as they can hinder the garment's breathability.
A guide to maintaining Gore-Tex fabrics is available.
Gore-Tex is used as a medical prosthesis for replacing torn anterior cruciate ligament and posterior cruciate ligament. and is also playing an increasing role in the conservation of illuminated manuscripts.
Explosive sensors have been printed on Gore-Tex clothing leading to the sensitive voltammetric detection of nitroaromatic compounds.
The Gore naming system does not imply specific technology or material but instead specific set of performance characteristics.
Category:Technical fabrics Category:Brand name materials Category:1976 introductions
ca:Gore-Tex cs:Gore-Tex da:Gore-Tex de:Gore-Tex es:Gore-Tex eu:Gore-Tex fr:Gore-Tex it:Gore-Tex nl:Gore Tex ja:ゴアテックス no:Gore-tex pl:Gore-Tex ru:Gore-Tex sk:Gore-Tex fi:Gore-Tex sv:Goretex zh:Gore-TexThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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