Development of laid-in knitted fabric for buoyant swimwear

Abstract

As the use of buoyant swimwear by children in residential swimming becomes more common, the investigation of the effects of buoyant textiles is crucial for the optimisation of functional buoyant clothing design. This study investigated buoyant knitted fabrics developed using an inlaid knitting technique for buoyant swimwear application. The impact of the inner diameter, outer diameter, and the linear density of the inlaid tube on the buoyant ability of the buoyant fabrics was analyzed using multiple linear regression. The result demonstrated that the fabric’s net buoyant force was significantly affected by all three parameters, with inner diameter having the greatest effect, followed by the outer diameter and linear density of the inlaid tube. The increase in the net buoyant force of the fabric can be predicted by the increase in the inner diameter of its inlaid tube and linear density and decrease in the outer diameter. The divergence of the results for specimens inlaid with Silicon tube and from the result predicted by multiple linear regression indicates that the net buoyant force is also affected by the linear density and the wall thickness of the inlaid tube. The new knowledge of this study can contribute to the production of buoyant layers inside the buoyant swimwear in replace of air chambers to improve the limitation of non-distributed buoyancy, accidental punctuation and bulkiness in conventional buoyant swimwear.