Abstract
Skin wetness and body water loss are important indexes to reflect the heat strain of the human body. According to ISO 7933 2004, the skin wetness and sweat rate are calculated by the evaporative heat flow and the maximum evaporative heat flow in the skin surface, etc. This work proposes the soft textile-based sensor, which was knitted by stainless steel/polyester blended yarn on the flat knitting machine. It investigated the relationship between electrical resistance in the weft/warp directions and different water absorption ratio (0–70%), different sample size (2 cm × 2 cm, 2 cm × 4 cm, 2 cm × 6 cm and 2 cm × 8 cm). The hydrophilic treatment effectively improved the water absorption ratio increasing from 40% to 70%. The weft and warp direction exhibited different electrical behaviors when under dry and wet conditions. It suggested the weft direction of knitted fabrics was recommended for detecting the electrical resistance due to its stable sensitivity and linearity performance. It could be used as a flexible sensor integrated into a garment for measuring the skin wetness and sweat rate in the future instead of traditional measurements.
Highlights
Body fluid is important for human beings
The knitted fabrics were treated with a hydrophilic softener in order to increase the
The knitted fabrics were treated with a hydrophilic softener in order to increase the water absorption capacity
Summary
Body fluid is important for human beings. Sweat is a kind of moisture created by human beings. The skin wetness can reflect the body condition of different people, such as firefighters, babies, elderly people, soldiers, sportsmen, etc. Smart textiles have emerged from the combination of textiles and electronics [1]. The potential market is wide, e.g., for sports, healthcare or military [1]
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