MEASUREMENT OF THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF WET FABRICS

Abstract

In this paper thermal diffusivity of wet fabrics is studied by a dynamic method of a periodic change of temperature and the following results are obtained:(1) Variation of temperature in an artificial climate room was used as a periodic heat source.This method is advantageous for heat control and is suitable to measure thermal conductivity of wet fabrics because water in a sample can be distributed evenly under these conditions.(2) The thermal diffusivity (κ) was measured by this method and the thermal conductivity (λ) was calculated from the relation λ=κcρ, where c is the apparent specific heat and ρ the apparent density. The apparent density and the apparent specific heat of dry and wet fabrics were calculated from the densities and the specific heats of air, water and fabrics.(3) For the experimental results obtained, thermal diffusivity of various wet fabrics can be assumed to be constant regardless of water content.(4) The thermal conductivities of various dry samples are about 1-2×10-4 cal/cm-sec. °C and change in the range of about 2-10×10-4 cal/cm•sec. °C with the increase of water content of fabrics.