RSBTR is selling UHMWPE fabric

[Doug Coe]

Fyi, RipstopbytheRoll is now selling a 3.9 oz/sq yard UHMWPE fabric. For a lot of money.

I’m not affiliated with them, just thought you might be interested. It sounds bulletproof (literally?).

[Jon Solomon]

That’s like half the weight of 500D Cordura with probably at least twice the strength and much greater, durable water resistance.

Black isn’t such a great color for a whole pack bag, IMHO, but would be fine for pack bottoms and other high abrasion areas, or places like shoulder pads where the low friction benefits would help.

[Brad Rogers]

I didn’t think you could dye UHMWPE, hence why it is always white.  I know Dan McHale has a process but even he can’t get it a dark solid black like this color.

[Doug Coe]

I didn’t think you could dye UHMWPE, hence why it is always white. I know Dan McHale has a process but even he can’t get it a dark solid black like this color.

I didn’t even think of that. I wonder if it’s somehow black during manufacturing. I don’t know the first thing about this topic, so maybe that’s not possible.

[Rex Sanders]

Dyeing UHMWPE (DCF, Cuben, Spectra) at the factory is a solved problem, according to a long-time outdoor gear designer I talked to recently. Involves processes you aren’t likely to have in your garage. We didn’t get into why the market supplies only white and black fabric. Dyneema rope is available in a variety of colors.

The PE in UHMWPE is polyethylene – think plastic bags and bottles. Hard to get chemicals to penetrate or stick.

— Rex

[Stumphges]

TPU outer coating. Why? The Dyneema must be like 1000x more resist to abrasion. Just to allow bonding of inner to outer for no-sew projects?

Awsome new fabric in any case.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Looks amazing. I wonder how it feels against the back though? I imagine wet and slippery with sweat…

[Jan Rezac]

TPU outer coating. Why?

The UHMWPE fibers are slippery, and the woven fabrics itself would fray horribly. It won’t hold a seam. It has to be stabilized somehow, but it’s also difficult to glue. TPU coating on both sides provides such a stabilization that should be durable enough.

To the color choice:

To the colors – the material itself is difficult to dye, and deep, durable colors can hardly be achieved by dyeing the “natural” transparent fiber. Some colorant can be, however, mixed into the polymer during manufacture. There’s true black Dyneema available in some products. It’s likely that other colors could be produced, but the cost would be much higher.

It’s also possible that the color is in the coating…

[Brook / MtGL]

Anyone had a real try with this new fabric?

One thing to note, this fabric is called “Venom(TM) UHMWPE TPU”. It may imply that this fabric is not from DSM by using its Dyneema(R) thread, because Dyneema is the trademark name from DSM and only a brand of UHMWPE fiber. So this is from another manufacturer with the Venom as TM. Anyone know more about Venom?

To my understanding, the abrasion resistency depends always mainly on the surfce of the fabric, hence the TPU coating. When we talk about “strong” in general, we mean lots of things: tear, tensile, abrasion etc. It’s very interesting to see different combinations and their ratios of composite fabric, and to it’s practical application needs.

 

 

[Tuukka U]

Jan: On Instagram, RSBTR claim that even the uncoated fabric has a stable weave.

[Doug Coe]

It’s also possible that the color is in the coating…

From Reddit’s r/myog:

I also abraded an offcut against a rough brick and the outer coating came off but the UHMWPE fibres appeared undamaged. They appeared to stay pretty stable without the outer coating in place – the fabric is coated the same on both sides as far as I can tell. The fibres appear white so any high abrasion areas on this pack will probably start to appear lighter/white in time.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Yeah i saw that. The abrading of the coating makes the outer coating seem pointless to me. I’d rather just have an inner coating and save the weight. Or is there something I’m missing?

For comparison my Ortleib panniers (circa 2006) are still going strong. The fabric is ~500D cordura with an inner TPU only. Works a treat, even though the DWR went long ago.

[Mike J]

I purchased some of this fabric and did a build with it this past weekend: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/3-9-oz-venom-uhmwpe-tpu-coated-fabric-backpack/

I will need to get it on the trail tomorrow and over the next few months I will see how it wears.

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