The Comfort Properties of the Terry Towels Made of Cotton and Polypropylene Yarns

Abstract

Studies of woven fabric comfort properties have aroused the interest of researchers in recent years. Although studies on the structures of woven terry fabrics are rather limited, the study of the comfort properties these fabrics will reveal new approaches regarding the subject. The terry-structured fabrics, used in bathroom, pool, sea, sauna and Turkish bath, hold an important place in people's personal lives as end-products. The methods of identifying and improving the comfort properties of the terry-woven fabric structure are discussed in this study. In the process of sample production, the towels were made on a loom and standard finishing techniques were applied. Cotton and polypropylene yarns were used in this study, and the properties of woven towel fabrics with alternative weaving constructions were measured and analyzed. The comfort parameters of the gray and finished fabrics such as air-permeability, velocity of water absorption, and vapor permeability were measured under standard laboratory conditions and the obtained data were evaluated statistically. At the end of the experimental studies, the data from the terry fabrics which were made of different yarns and different structures were evaluated in order to identify the fabric and yarn parameters which will lead to the best comfort. The experimental results show that the use of the polypropylene fibers for the yarns in high-pile fabrics and the use of the cotton yarn in ground yarns have tend to provide the best comfort.