Quantitative Analysis of Stiffness and Softness in Polyester Sports Jersey Fabrics

In this research work, behavior of flexural stiffness of core spun cotton spandex single jersey, 1x1 rib and interlock fabrics was studied under relaxation and machine washing treatments. Results are compared with similar fabrics made from 100 % cotton. Fabric weight density increased with the progression of treatments and it is proportionate to the fabric tightness factor (stitch length−1). Even though both types of fabrics had same machine set stitch lengths, cotton/spandex fabrics have shown the higher fabric weight densities than that of 100 % cotton fabrics. Although 1x1 rib and single jersey fabrics knitted with the same machine set stitch lengths, rib fabrics have given higher fabric weight densities than single jersey fabrics. Among the three knitted structures, interlock fabrics with higher machine set stitch lengths gave the higher fabric weights. Fabric stiffness and flexural rigidity have given higher values under the progression of treatments and it was found that higher values of stiffness have given by cotton/spandex knitted fabrics compared to their cotton fabrics. Fabric stiffness and flexural rigidity in wale direction were higher than that in course direction, but it is only observed in single jersey fabrics. However, 1x1 rib and interlock fabrics have shown an opposite behavior. It was also observed a positive correlation between TF (i.e.: stitch length−1) and bending length/flexural rigidity in both fabric types. Lower flexural rigidities reported with single jersey structures and highest values gave with interlock structures of cotton/spandex and cotton fabrics.

The overall comfort of a bedding system is, among others, the result of the moisture and thermal management capabilities of its components, including mattress ticking fabrics. The hand of mattress ticking fabrics, their smoothness, softness, flexibility, and thermal properties, in particular, partially contribute to the sleep quality. Manufacturers pay a great deal of attention to this aspect and make efforts to improve fabric hand as customers always touch and squeeze the fabric and the perceived fabric hand will partially influence their buying decision. In this study the hand of 12 mattress fabrics was investigated by the Fabric Touch Tester (FTT), which is a relatively new characterization method of fabric hand. The FTT measures simultaneously 13 fabric indices related to four categories of fabric physical properties, namely bending, compression, and thermal and surface properties. These fabric indices are subsequently used by the FTT software to predict three primary comfort indices (i.e. smoothness, softness, warmth) and two global comfort indices (i.e. total hand and total feel). The fabrics were differentiated by three production parameters, namely fabric mass per unit area, concentration of softener and fiber composition. Relevant tactile properties for mattress ticking fabrics, such as smoothness, softness, warmth, and flexibility, were assessed by an expert panel and the average scores given by the assessors were correlated with the fabric indices measured by the FTT. Among the selected variables, fabric mass per unit area has the greatest influence on all FTT fabric indices. Due to the large fabric set, considerable variances were observed between the scores assigned by the panels. That resulted in poor correlations between tactile properties and selected production parameters, although the trend seems to be correct and all the factors were found to be statistically significant. Strong correlations were found between the FTT fabric indices and tactile properties assessed by the panels, except warmth, which suggests that the FTT is suitable to assess mattress ticking fabrics with elevated mass per unit area and uneven texture.

Functional finishing brings an alteration on the mechanical and surface properties of textile materials and henceforth influences the tactile properties. In this work, Kawabata evaluation systems (KES) for fabrics were utilized to notice the changes in the tactile properties of fabrics resulting from different finishing types such as inkjet printing, screen printing, and coating. The effects of functional finishing on the fabric’s tactile property were inconsistent with reference to the course of decrease or increase being dependent on the types of finishes. The findings showed that KES can be employed as a promising tool to sort out the suitable functional finishing types in terms of tactile properties. Amongst the implemented finishing types, inkjet printing offered superior tactile properties with respect to tensile energy (softness), shear rigidity, compressional softness, bending stiffness (drapability), and surface properties. The KES results confirmed that low-stress mechanical properties are strongly associated with the tactile property and might assist as a quality profile data source for guaranteeing the production and development of a virtuous quality product. The result encourages further utilization of the KES for functional fabric tactile property evaluation.

In this study, the mechanical, comfort and flame-retardant properties of different knitted fabric structures containing modacrylic fibers with different blend ratios were investigated. Single jersey, rib, pique, three-thread fleece and interlock fabrics were produced with modacrylic/cotton blended yarns and evaluated comparatively. In order to understand the effect of antistatic fiber content on the investigated properties, two fabrics with antistatic fiber were produced. Since modacrylic fibers have moderate abrasion resistance, pilling resistances of the fabrics are not excellent. Due to the knitted fabrics having a soft and flexible structure, their fabric stiffness and bursting strength are quite high. It has been determined that water vapor resistances of all fabrics are satisfactory and the moisture management properties of the S1 (60% modacrylic, 40% cotton) and R1 (60% modacrylic, 40% cotton) fabrics are excellent. All the fabrics passed the flame-retardancy tests and it is sufficient that the modacrylic ratio is between 50% and 60% according to the fabric structure. Results also showed that 2% antistatic fiber content had no effect on the mechanical, thermal comfort and flame-retardancy properties. Since the air permeability, water vapor resistance and moisture management properties of S1 and R1 specimens are good enough, it is recommended to use one of them according to different temperature conditions. Evaluation of modacrylic fiber blended fabrics in different knitting types in terms of mechanical strength, thermal comfort and flame resistance properties together constitutes the originality of the work. Thus, it was possible to evaluate the effect of different knitting types and contents on all tests.

In this study, the dimensional and some physical properties of plain knitted fabrics made from 50/50 bamboo/cotton blended yarns are investigated. In order to see the differences and similarities, the results are then compared with those for similar fabrics knitted from 50/50 conventional viscose/cotton and 50/50 modal/cotton blended yarns. Each fabric type was produced with three different stitch lengths. After all fabrics were dyed under identical dyeing conditions, they were subjected to dry and full relaxation treatments. For dimensional properties of fabrics, course, wale and stitch densities were measured. Then, by calculating statistically best-fit lines passing both through the experimental points and the origin, dimensional constants i.e. k values were predicted in terms of the fiber types. The result show that each fabric type knitted from bamboo/cotton, viscose/cotton and modal/cotton blended yarns behaves in a similar manner. However, in both dry and fully relaxed states, the modal/cotton knitted fabrics tend to have slightly higher k values than the bamboo/cotton and viscose/cotton knitted fabrics. For physical properties, fabric weight per unit area, thickness, bursting strength, air permeability and pilling were evaluated. The results show that the weight, thickness and air permeability values are independent of the fiber type. Plain knitted fabrics from modal/cotton blended yarns have the highest bursting strength values. Plain knitted fabrics from bamboo/cotton blended yarns tend to pill less.

The objective of this study is to use standard testing methods to characterize the currently available synthetic mesh fabrics in terms of their chemical, physical, mechanical, and morphologic properties. Three commonly used surgical mesh fabrics, Mersilene (Ethicon), Marlex (Davol), and Teflon (USCI), were used, and the tests reveal that they differ from one another chemically as well as configurationally. The experiment included an identification of the structure of the yarn and fabrics; a measurement of the porosity, pore size and shape; and a determination of tensile and bursting strength, flexural rigidity, and wrinkle recovery. A wide variation in structure and performance was observed among the three mesh fabrics. Mersilene mesh fabrics have the highest relative porosity, while Marlex and Teflon meshes have an equivalent, but lower value. Marlex meshes have the highest tensile and bursting strength followed by Teflon and Mersilene meshes. All three meshes have one common strength characteristic--a distinctive difference in tensile strength between the wale and course directions. Marlex mesh fabrics exhibit an immense flexural rigidity and poor wrinkle recovery, due mainly to the monofilament structure of the yarn. Mersilene and Teflon mesh fabrics have similar but considerably lower, flexural rigidity than Marlex. Thus, it is evident that the chemical nature of the constituent fibers, as well as the yarn and fabric structure, have a great effect on the performance of the resulting mesh fabrics. The availability of this characterization data can serve as the basis for a surgeon's selection of the most appropriate commercial surgical mesh fabric for each case, as well as to provide a foundation for the subsequent comparison of their in vivo performance.

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.

Investigation on the effect of cotton-tencel (50:50) siro yarn twist multipliers on fabric stiffness

Engineering of 3D warp interlock p-aramid fabric structure and its energy absorption capabilities against ballistic impact for body armour applications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the seersucker fabrics from the point of view of their ability to ensure the thermo-physiological comfort. It was investigated how the kind of the weft yarn and seersucker structure influence the air permeability and thermal insulation properties of the fabrics.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents the investigations of the typical seersucker fabrics made of the same set of warps and different weft yarns. Fabrics were manufactured on the same loom with two warp beams. Next they were finished by the same way including washing, drying and stabilisation processes. Fabrics were measured in the range of their air permeability using standard test method. Thermal insulation properties of fabrics were measured in dry and wet state by means of Alambeta. Surface topography of the seersucker fabrics was analysed using 3D laser scanning.FindingsOn the basis of the obtained results it was stated that due to the puckered structure the seersucker fabrics are characterised by high thermal resistance, several times higher than the thermal resistance of typical flat woven fabrics. The seersucker fabrics are characterised by very low value of the thermal absorptivity in wet state at the level appropriate for typical flat fabrics in dry state. It confirmed that the seersucker fabrics ensure the physiological comfort. Application of the elastomeric yarn in weft caused significant tightening the fabric structure. It resulted in low air permeability, fabric stiffness and unpleasant hand.Research limitations/implicationsAs a limitation of the investigation of the seersucker fabrics in wet state we can mention the surface topography of the fabrics. It made wetting the fabrics difficult before measuring. It is necessary to elaborate precise procedure of preparation of seersucker fabrics before their testing in the wet state.Practical implicationsPerformed investigations showed that the seersucker fabrics have a big potential to be comfortable. By an appropriate designing of their structure it is possible to achieve very good comfort-related properties even without application of innovative comfort-oriented yarns.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper is based on the fact that the measurement was performed for the seersucker fabrics. The fabrics are characterised by the unique structure which influences their appearance and utility properties. It caused that they are willingly applied in different kinds of clothing. Till now any results of comfort-related properties of such kind of the woven fabrics have not been published.

The development of virtual simulation techniques and digitized interactive platforms makes the purchasing of textile products as simple as a click. But some of our real desires about a fabric is still difficult to be satisfied, such as touch. So far, much research has been dedicated to providing consumers with a realistic simulation of fabric through virtual experiences. In the previous study, we have proved that fabrics' tactile properties could be well perceived through products' visual representations. On this basis, the present study is aimed to further study the mathematical model of predicting fabric tactile properties from samples' visual features. Two sensory experiments have been designed to extract the tactile properties and visual features of a set of textile samples represented in video clips. An intelligent method based on rough set and fuzzy set theories has been developed to extract principal visual features for the interpretation of each tactile property. Then a fuzzy neural network has been designed to build a mathematical model between each tactile property and the corresponding principal visual features. Extra experiments have been carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results have proved that it is possible to predict fabric tactile properties from samples' visual features with satisfactory accuracy.

This paper presents the prediction of thermal and evaporative resistances of multilayered fabrics meant for cold weather conditions using artificial neural network (ANN) model. Thermal and evaporative resistances of fabrics were evaluated using sweating guarded hot plate method. The significance and interdependency of thickness on other fabric and process parameters and its effect on prediction performance of ANN model is analyzed in detail. For this purpose, two different network architectures were used to predict the thermal properties of multilayered fabrics. In both the networks, three-layer structure consisting of input, hidden and output layers was used. First, network was constructed with four input parameters, namely linear density of fiber, mass per unit area, punch density, and thickness of nonwoven fabric which predicts thermal and evaporative resistances. Second network was made with three input parameters, namely linear density, mass per unit area, and punch density. The network parameters were optimized to give minimum mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error percentage, and good correlation coefficient. The trend analysis was conducted and influence of various input parameters on the thermal properties of multilayered fabrics was studied. The significance of each input parameter in the prediction of thermal properties was studied by carrying out sensitivity analysis. The mean square error of the test dataset before and after the exclusion of the corresponding input parameter is taken for analysis. The input parameters were ranked based on the MSE ratio of test dataset. The predicted thermal properties of multilayered fabrics are correlated well with the experimental values. It was observed that the ANN model with minimum input parameters, namely linear density of fiber, mass per unit area, and punch density can predict the thermal properties of multilayered fabrics with good accuracy.

In textile industry, performance of the fabrics is still out of the engineering design, because of the difficulty in designing the proper mechanical properties of fabrics, and also of the difficulty in evaluating the performance where the evaluation has been done by a sensory method named hand-feel by experts.In this article, recent developments in the theoretical research on the mechanical properties of fabrics are introduced. Theoretical methods of calculating the non-linear property in biaxial and uniaxial tensile deformations of plain woven, plain knitted and inter-lock fabrics are presented here. And bending and shear properties of plain woven fabrics are also dealt with.Furthermore, a new method for evaluating hand-feel is introduced; the mechanical properties of fabrics are first characterized and represented by sixteen number of characteristic values obtained by the measurements of mechanical, physical and geometrical properties of the fabrics, and then using a linear model, the hand-feel value is calculated from these characteristic values. The agreement between the conventional sensory and the new instrumental methods is demonstrated.

Digital printing is a new technology that combines innovative design with cutting-edge technology, and it represents a breakthrough in the field of dyeing and finishing. Silk is the most widely used medium among double-sided digital printing industry. Owing to the gaps caused by different weaving methods, silk products are generally translucent and loose in structure, therefore, the color measurement of textile fabrics also has the same problem as that of translucent materials. The final color visualization is the result of combining the fabric yarn color with the voids in the area, which make it difficult to directly measure the colors of the printed fabrics with traditional spectrophotometer. The color measurement method of double-sided digital printing was always vague, and the difficulty of measuring the color of double-sided digital printing is increased for silk, a translucent material. In this paper, sixty colors of different hues, chroma and lightness are printed on four different types of silk fabrics in order to solve this industry problem. The L∗ (Lightness), a∗ (Red/Green) and b∗ (Blue/Yellow)values of each color layer were measured after stacking the four types of fabrics from one to multiple layers respectively and placing them on top of a standard white board and a standard black board as a backing, respectively, to calculate the color difference between the actual color and the design color of the silk fabric, as well as the color difference before and after stacking. The fabric properties and color properties that influence fabric color measurement are then investigated. The results show that thickness is the most important factor influencing fabric color measurement, and during measuring thin fabrics, multiple layers need to be overlaid. The effect of gloss on the number of layers in fabric color measurement is inversely proportional. The b∗ value is not significantly correlated with color measurement, whereas L∗ and a∗ are positively correlated with the number of layers when measuring color. Moreover, based on the fabric thickness, gloss, L∗, a∗ and b∗ value, the regression model was proposed, and a color measurement method suitable for silk fabrics with different fabric properties and color properties is proposed.

The principal component of any non-invasive blood pressure measurement system is an inflatable cuff. Different types of fabrics are used for inflatable cuffs construction. In this study, sphygmomanometric blood pressure measurement using inflatable cuffs was simulated in Abaqus and validated through experimental results. The purpose of the simulation is to study the effect of variation in cuff fabric geometric and mechanical properties on pressure distribution and pressure transmission during blood pressure measurement by predicting the pressure at the interface of the blood pressure cuffs and a metal cylinder. Geometric and mechanical properties of the fabrics of four different cuff types were found experimentally. Interface pressure at the cuffs and metal cylinder surface was also found experimentally using Tekscan pressure sensing system for models validation. The results of the simulation showed that the interface pressure underneath the cuffs vary with variation in geometric and mechanical properties of their fabrics. The results of the simulation were found to be in good agreement with experimental findings. This research demonstrates that the pressure distribution under the cuffs is related to the cuffs' fabric geometric and mechanical properties. This means that variation in cuffs' fabric properties could ultimately incur variations in the blood pressure values of human subjects.