Analysis of Compressibility Behavior in Warp Knitted Spacer Fabrics: Experiments and Van Wyk Theory

Abstract

Spacer fabrics are mostly formed by two separated surface layers which are connected to each other by connector monofilaments or yarns. The middle layer in such fabrics gives a unique compressibility characteristic to them. These fabrics can be employed as the distributor or damper of pressure in the automobile industry, medical and technical textiles, and sport wear. In these applications, the compressibility behavior plays a significant role in the structural stability of fabrics. The compressibility behavior could be affected by different physical and geometrical parameters of knitted structures such as the density of monofilaments and fabric thickness. In the present work, the compressibility behavior of single and double layered warp knitted spacer fabrics (WKSF) was investigated. The work of compression and reversibility forces and hysteresis in single and double layered WKSF were experimentally obtained. The compression results for single layer WKSF are compared with the theoretical results obtained by Van Wyk theory. The comparison demonstrates that the results obtained by Van Wyk theory are consistently correlated with the experimental results. The compressibility and reversibility behavior and the hysteresis of double layered WKSFs were evaluated based on their single layer components at different cycles of loading.