Handle Assessment of Knitted Mattress Fabrics Treated with Flame Retardant Finishes Using Fabric Touch Tester Device

Abstract

Flame retardant finishes are often imparted to the mattress fabrics nowadays as to inhibit the ignition of fire that is commonly dispersed rapidly by textile materials. As consumers buy their mattress fabrics partially after making some touch evaluation, hence the handle assessment of these materials is significant to be quantified. In this study, 12 types of double jersey mattress ticking fabrics were analyzed by the fabric touch tester (FTT), a relatively recently commercialized instrument for fabric handle measurement. The fabrics were differentiated by three production parameters, i.e., mass per unit area, fiber composition of the upper layer (i.e., closest to the body), and concentration of flame retardant finish. Based on the generated models, strong correlations were found between FTT fabric indices and mass per unit area which is indicated as the dominant factor that influenced most of the handle properties, while other factors are less pronounced. This suggests the capability of the FTT to assess the variation in these types of fabric.