Thermal camouflage clothing in diurnal and nocturnal environments

Abstract

This paper shows the possibility to thermally camouflage a human body in a beach environment, during the day and at night, through the use of two knitted fabric clothing prototypes. The conceptual design process applied was initially developed based on the need to firstly understand the behaviour of an individual dressed under the focus of a thermal imaging camera in the light of the infrared spectrum. The thermal tests undertaken to observe the model's thermal camouflage in certain positions/perspectives in both environments, enable simultaneously running of different solutions while introducing changes to the clothing. Printing with copper pigments and the patchwork using stitched structures in polyester knitted fabric played a decisive role to capture the thermal colours of the thermal image intended for the camouflage effect.