The HyperTx™ polymer looks like a helix, it coils and uncoils and acts like a thermal spring. Fabrics incorporating HyperTx™ phase-change molecules help keep the wearer at a steady temperature. The polymer changes from a solid to a liquid when heated and then slowly releases that heat and changes back into a solid when cooled, like water changing from ice to water to ice. HyperTx™ treated fabric can be formulated to maintain a range of temperatures, kicking into action when conditions get too hot or cold.
HyperTx™ utilizes Polyethylene glycol (PEG) which has a lot of hydrogen and oxygen, so it's hydrophilic, or water loving. When the PEG molecule's thermal spring encounters damp heat-perspiration, for example, it uncoils, drawing water away from the skin. If a cool breeze comes up and a wearer stops perspiring, the spring reacts and coils, releasing heat.
The HyperTx™ formulation is nontoxic and eliminates odor-causing microbes. Extensive laboratory testing has shown that various harmful micro-organisms cannot survive on fabrics treated with the HyperTx™ polymer. This microbe inhibiting feature is due to a variety of factors, including the water-loving molecules which make the surface so dry that bacteria cannot survive (desiccation), and a surfactant effect by which the HyperTx™ molecules alter the fabric fibers so that bacteria cannot attach themselves.
"Wonder Wear." Discover Magazine Jan. 2000: 46-48.
“Fabrics are being coached, molecule by molecule, to engage with their environment, to get in the ring with odor, bacteria, heat, cold, and dirt.”
“Those spring-like polyethylene glycol molecules will be a boon for the medical industry as well. For reasons not totally understood, microorganisms cannot survive on fabrics treated with [the HyperTx™ Technology].”
"Antimicrobial Activity of Fabrics Containing Crosslinked Polyethylene Glycols." Textile Chemist and Colorist & American Dyestuff Reporter Sept. 1999: 42-45.
"Several improved properties (including antimicrobial activity against representative bacteria and fungi) of the HyperTx™ treated fabrics indicate excellent performance for potential health care and consumer uses."
