engleski

Discrepancy of UV Protection in Wet State

The incidence of skin cancer is increasing by epidemic proportions. Basal cell cancer remains the most common skin neoplasm, and simple excision is generally curative. On the other hand, aggressive local growth and metastasis are common features of malignant melanoma, which accounts for 75 percent of all deaths associated with skin cancer. In Croatia only, more than 20.000 new cases of skin cancer has been diagnosed in 2010 of which melanoma 555 new cases – 295 in men, and 260 in women population. The back sides in men and women, as well as the lower limbs in women, are the most common site for melanomas. The primary cause of skin cancer is believed to be a long exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation crossed with the amount of skin pigmentation in the population. There are indications that other parts of solar spectrum (e.g. blue light) might also have effects on skin and vision. Most people think all clothing will protect them, but that's not the case. UV clothing can show UV protection, but it does not provide full sun screening properties. UV protection ability highly depends on large number of factors such are type of fiber, fabric surface, construction, porosity, density, moisture content, type and concentration of dyestuff, FWA, UV-B protective agents, as well as nanoparticles, if applied. For that reason, jeans offer a very good level of protection, as do garments made from other tightly woven, dark fabrics. However, on a hot summer day, those aren't the kinds of clothing people usually reach for. More often, when they are on the beach, wearing T-shirt, even during the swimming in the sea, and thinking that it will protect them from harmful UV radiation. For all of these reasons, in this paper the discrepancy of UV protection in wet state by white cotton knit fabrics commonly used for T-shirts has been investigated. For that purpose, fluorescent whitening agent (FWA) and UV absorber were applied in wide concentration range to achieve the best UV protection ability. The discrepancy in UV protection of textiles in distilled water and Adriatic Sea water is here discussed.

UV protection; FWA; whiteness; UV absorber; textile

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