Performance of recycled PET and conventional PES fibers in case of watertransport properties

Abstract

In recent years the researches on liquid moisture transport properties of fabrics have great importance. Especially forthe sport garments, fabric structure should led liquid moisture to transfer from skin surface to the outer layers. Specialfibers and fabric structures were designed including channelled fibers and micro fiber productions to contribute highercapillary transport capability to the textile surface. Polyester fibers are used for this purpose frequently. Due to theincrease in the demand of sustainable textiles, production and consumption of recycled polyester fibers are increasingrecently. They are expected to have adequate mechanical properties to fulfil requirements. In this study, liquid moisturetransfer properties of the polyester and r-PET fabrics were investigated. For this purpose, knitted fabrics produced from100% polyester and 100% r-PET yarns were used. Dynamic liquid transport properties, capillary transfer property, dryingrate and water absorption capacity of these surfaces were measured. According to the results, it was concluded thatboth fabrics were identified as “good” by using “Moisture Management Tester”, in case of liquid moisture transferproperties. No significant difference was determined between water vapour permeability values. Static immersion test ishelpful in order to determine wettability for the identification of sensitive differences and as a conventional method,vertical wicking test is a good indicator while distinguishing capillarity differences. It was found that r-PET fabric hasbetter results than PES fabric, in case of absorption rate, wettability, drying rate and capillarity.