Comfort properties of knitted fabrics produced from dual-core and tri-core spun yarns

Abstract

The scope of this study was to investigate the effect of yarn structure and material type on the thermal and mechanical comfort properties of plain knitted fabrics. A new type of elastic core spun yarn which is called tri-core yarn was introduced. The other yarn structures used were single-core/T400, single-core/lycra, dual-core yarn, and ring-spun yarn. The five types of yarn structure were produced with three material types (100% cotton, blended cotton/modal (50/50%), and blended cotton/tencel (50/50%)) at the same yarn count (10 Ne). Knitted fabrics with a single jersey structure were produced from yarn samples. The mechanical comfort properties including fabric modulus and recovery in wale and course directions were measured. Thermal comfort including air permeability, water vapor permeability, thermal conductivity, and thermal absorptivity were also measured. Full factorial analysis was performed on the test results. It was concluded from the factorial analysis that yarn structure, material type, and two-way interaction had a significant influence on mechanical and thermal comfort except for thermal conductivity, the significance of the material type was exactly P = 0.05. It was concluded that knitted fabric produced from tri-core in the case of blended cotton/tencel obtained the better modulus and elastic recovery in both directions in wales and courses that largely improved the mechanical comfort.