Influence of flock coating on the thermophysiological comfort properties of woven cotton fabric

Abstract

In flock coating, the fabric surface is coated with an adhesive, and flock fibers of a certain length and fineness are impinged and embedded on the adhesive. Embedded fibers form a pile structure on the surface, causing the process to find a wide range of applications. However, there has been no study on the comfort properties of the flock coated fabrics due to the inevitable decrease of the fabric permeability after adhesive coating. This study evaluates the flock fiber physical properties, adhesive coating ratio, and flocking duration on the comfort properties of flock-coated fabrics. Three different coating ratios, two different flocking durations, and four different flock fibers with different fineness and length were studied. Fabric samples were produced by electrostatic flock coating of the woven cotton base fabric. In addition to the experimental study, a mathematical model has been set up to predict the flock-coated fabric thermal resistance. Short (0.4 mm) and long (1.0 mm) flock fibers have assured 82% and 204% higher thermal resistance, respectively, compared to the base fabric thermal resistance of 7.37 (10−3 m2 K/W). The thermal resistance mathematical model results have been found to agree with the actual values with a correlation coefficient of 0.95. Compared to the base fabric, long flock fiber has provided a 249% increase in thermal resistance, with at most a 20% fabric mass increment and 24% relative water vapor permeability decrease. The findings indicate that flock coating can be utilized in cold-weather clothing.