Common chest pad materials include sponge, memory cotton, silicone foam, latex and 3D upright cotton.
sponge
When it comes to sponges, the first thing that comes to mind is a bathing sponge or a cleaning sponge for washing dishes. These soft-to-the-touch, slightly scary items are not only highly absorbent, but also will be restored to their original state and have good plasticity no matter how you "abuse" them. But you know what? Sponge is actually an animal, a very primitive multicellular animal. Their bodies have no fixed shape, and there are many small holes in their walls. They belong to Polypodiaceae in classification, and there are tens of thousands of species so far, most of which grow in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas.
Later, due to the development of materials science and the application of polymer materials, we can now easily buy cheap sponge products, which are mainly synthetic sponges with porous honeycomb structure made of foamed plastic polymers.
There are many kinds of synthetic sponges, but in a narrow sense, people are accustomed to equate "sponge" with ordinary polyurethane soft foam, which is made by mixing polyisocyanate and polyol with water, catalyst and stabilizer. This kind of soft foam material has good oxidation resistance and solvent resistance, and is often used in textile, clothing composite lining, underwear manufacturing and so on. However, due to the poor hydrolysis resistance of polyester itself, the service life of foam is not long under hot and humid conditions, and yellowing will occur after a period of time.
Judging from the additives in sponge production, the reasons for the yellowing of sponge include the following points:
In order to solve the yellowing problem of polyurethane soft foam sponge, many sponge manufacturers, especially some high-grade sponge manufacturers, have tried to improve the yellowing resistance of sponge by adding antioxidants and light stabilizers, but the effect is not obvious. In addition, the selection of sponge as underwear pad is not only easy to yellow and mildew, but also has insufficient water permeability and air permeability, weak perspiration effect and easy to breed bacteria; At the same time, it has strong adsorption, and it is not easy to clean thoroughly after absorbing detergent, thus causing chemical residues. Therefore, ordinary polyester sponges often "lie down" and become the "culprit" of female breast diseases. But in fact, most underwear on the market at present is made of sponge. First, the price is low, and second, the shaping effect is good. It is suggested that if you choose an ordinary sponge bra, please change it every 3-6 months, and don't wear it for a long time.
Silicone foam
Besides sponges, we often hear that foam is used as underwear material. In fact, foam is the floorboard of all materials made of foamed plastic particles, so synthetic sponge is also a kind of foam, belonging to PU foam. Next, we will talk about silicone foam, which is also a common foam material for underwear breast pads, especially for contact bras. Silicone foam, also known as foamed silica gel, is a porous, low-density and compressible polymer elastomer made of silicone rubber, filler, vulcanization accelerator and foamed rubber through a special process of high pressure and high temperature. It not only has the chemical stability of silicone rubber, high and low temperature resistance, thermal aging resistance and ultraviolet resistance, but also has the flexibility, high resilience and shock absorption of foam materials.
The cup with silicone cushion is generally divided into two layers, the surface layer is a TPU film and the inner layer is foamed silicone. Although the plastic effect of silica gel is good, its quality is also great. Usually, the weight of the contact bra is about 100g, and some can even exceed 400g ... The silicone bra is very compliant, and there will be no air between it and the skin after wearing it, so even if you wear it for swimming, you don't have to worry about falling off. However, the almost zero air permeability also limits the normal breathing of the skin. Usually, after putting on silicone underwear for 6 hours, the chest will feel sultry, and even allergic, itchy, red and swollen symptoms will appear. In addition, due to the viscosity of the inner layer, it is easy to absorb dust, bacteria and fine hairs in the air, so the cleaning and storage requirements of silicone underwear are higher. If it is not cleaned or stored improperly, it is easy to breed bacteria, which is not conducive to skin health.
There are many kinds of foamed silica gel. At present, there is no uniform standard for the production of silicone chest pads in China, and there is no corresponding regulation on the silicone composition used in making bras. At present, the price of silicone underwear on the market is very unstable, ranging from tens to hundreds.
Some inferior silica gel has toxic and side effects on the body, while some food-grade foamed silica gel is nontoxic and tasteless, which has passed SGS environmental protection and FDA food-grade certification and is a relatively healthy material. However, the purchased silicone chest pad cannot be directly distinguished from the appearance. Consumers are advised to pay more attention to product identification and not to wear silicone bras for a long time on unnecessary occasions. After all, due to the limitation of materials, the permeability of silica gel has not been improved in design.
emulsion
The latex liquid is injected into the mold, and after foaming process, an integrated latex chest pad can be made, which feels as soft as jelly. Compared with the silicone chest pad, the bra made of latex has the functions of ventilation, dehumidification, mite prevention and anti-allergy. , and good support, suitable for women. However, the choice of latex material needs the difference between natural latex and synthetic latex, and the quality and price between them are very different.
The milky white liquid from rubber tree tapping is called natural latex, which is green, nontoxic and pollution-free. Therefore, bras made of natural latex are harmless to human body, but most latex bras on the market are made of synthetic latex, and its main component is styrene-butadiene rubber, which will volatilize a substance harmful to human body-styrene. Long-term exposure to benzene can make people feel sick, tired, dizzy and unconscious. Therefore, for the sake of health, it is recommended to choose a bra made of pure natural latex. In terms of maintenance, latex materials will lose their elasticity at high temperature, so they should be hung in a ventilated place to dry.
Memory cotton
Memory sponge is a particularly hot new material in recent years, and it also belongs to a kind of polyurethane sponge. Because of its good elasticity, it is a polyurethane polymer with open-cell structure, so it is called "memory cotton". Even if it is artificially twisted and squeezed for a long time, it can be restored to its original state in a short time, as if it had a memory. Memory cotton is an innovative design for bra cups. Memory cotton in underwear will fully share the pressure on the chest, with zero restraint and slow rebound, so that underwear can actively adapt to the curve of the body, with good support and decompression, light breathing, extremely soft and very comfortable. Moreover, because memory cotton underwear does not press or pinch, sharing chest pressure is as comfortable as hanging, which can protect free chest fat and reduce the probability of breast cancer.
The birth of memory cotton can be traced back to a study by NASA in 1962. At that time, this material was developed to be used in the seat of spacecraft to absorb the huge impact on astronauts when the rocket (spacecraft) took off, the spacecraft returned to the atmosphere, and some unexpected situations (such as falling), so as to improve the protection and comfort of the seat to astronauts. Because memory cotton is usually called the memory cotton of space.
Usually, the blood circulation pressure of human skin is 36mmHg, and the advanced imported memory cotton material (slow rebound time 10 second-15 second) can evenly distribute the pressure at all points of the contact surface, so that the compression is generally reduced to below 36mmHg, which makes people feel that the blood is smooth and the comfort is greatly improved, and can also improve the problems such as acid swelling and sores caused by blood circulation blockage caused by long-term compression. Therefore, in addition to underwear, memory cotton is also widely used in the design of automobiles, airplane seats, sofas, mattresses, cushions and pillows. At the same time, memory cotton, an open cellular molecular structure with similar cell structure and good compatibility with human body, has also been applied in the field of medical rescue.
In the production process of memory sponge, in order to produce high-quality products with good body feeling, several raw materials from American and Japanese companies must be used. However, the price of imported raw materials is high and the required quantity is large, which is unbearable for small factories in general. Production technology, product density, selection of auxiliary materials, etc. It also leads to great differences in the quality of slow rebound products from different manufacturers. Usually, the cost of an ordinary memory cotton bra is between 150-250 yuan, so the retail price of memory cotton underwear will not be lower than that of 300 yuan/piece or even higher. But after all, memory cotton is a kind of polyurethane sponge, and the unique defects of yellowing, chemical residue and air permeability of polyurethane sponge are not spared. At present, brands can only improve their design. Here, the author can only advise consumers to choose brands with brands and corresponding test reports.
3D upright cotton
3D upright cotton is also a new type of environmental protection nonwoven material in underwear breast pad. But different from the traditional parallel network structure of nonwovens, 3D upright cotton has an upright network structure or a honeycomb network structure, just like a spongy three-dimensional structure. Due to this special physical structure, 3D cotton has excellent high resilience and compression resistance. Compared with sponge, 3D cotton is made of fibers by rubbing, hugging or bonding, or the combination of these methods. The whole production process belongs to a physical change process, and no chemical agent is added. The chemical properties of fibers are stable, and yellowing will never be found under normal sunlight irradiation. It can be recycled, and combustion will not produce toxic substances. It has high permeability, high pollution discharge, easy cleaning, easy drying, difficult deformation and difficult breeding of harmful bacteria.
Because of its upright structure, 3D cotton is light in texture. Under the same performance, its weight is only 50% of foamed polyurethane material and 60% of other non-woven modeling materials. It has revolutionary significance in health, environmental protection and energy saving, and has huge market space and economic and social benefits. Besides being widely used in bra cups, it is also used as a padding material for clothes/insoles, mattresses, sofas, seats and so on. , aircraft, high-speed rail, car interiors and medical and health supplies.
Moreover, the characteristics of fiber products determine that 3D cotton material has strong ductility. According to different products, you can choose various fiber materials that are beneficial to your health, such as protein fiber, antibacterial fiber, etc. You can even add traditional Chinese medicine to make products with therapeutic effects, or add spices to make products with lasting fragrance.
To sum up, there is no perfect material for the breast pad of women's underwear. Early women's underwear paid more attention to "pleasing" and pursued sexiness. The market is full of aggregated products, which requires materials to have better supporting performance; With the awakening of women's self-awareness, the establishment of the concept of "self-esteem" and the improvement of their consumption ability, women's demand for underwear products is also changing, which is manifested in the increasing demand for underwear with different styles and functions, and the increasing demand for comfort and peace of mind. It can be said that the rapid rise of women's underwear online brands has witnessed the continuous innovation and breakthrough in the field of polymer materials.
At present, the manufacturers of underwear industry in China are mainly distributed in coastal provinces and cities such as Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. Among them, Guangdong underwear manufacturers account for more than half of the national underwear manufacturers and become one of the fastest growing regions in the global underwear industry. In recent years, some mature enterprises have gradually moved to central and western China and Southeast Asia. This year, China International Bubble Expo will be held in Shenzhen on February 7-9. Tassus Group, the organizer, took three days to gather brands and buyers' resources from many industrial chains, including Shenzhen Underwear Exhibition (SUIF), to help you connect underwear manufacturers in Guangdong and Southeast Asia in a centralized, accurate and efficient way. Targetedly display all kinds of black technology materials, material processing technology and equipment in underwear industry, and help upstream and downstream enterprises in underwear industry chain to hold the "last cake" in clothing industry.