Experimental Study and Thermal Diffusivity Analysis on Whiteness Reduction of Natural Fiber Fabric Treated with Superheated Steam

Abstract

ABSTRACT The family use garment steamers with superheated steam have several advantages but lead natural fiber fabrics whiteness reduction. This study explored the four kinds of natural fiber fabric whiteness reduction both experimentally and theoretically. We first built a temperature controllable 1 atm superheated steam generator, and recorded the whiteness and decrease percentages of cotton, flax, silk and wool fabrics at 150°C, 175°C, and 200°C separately. Then we calculated the monotonically increases thermal diffusivity(α) as a function of fiber volume fraction(), and the α is divided into three regions based on the : average region( <0.3), transition region(0.3 < <0.9) and fiber region( >0.9). The of studied samples are all in the average region, and the whiteness reduction percentage value sequence is opposite with the α, which are a reflection of the samples average properties, which means the design of superheated fabric steamers should depend on the structures or garment types of fabrics rather than fiber types.