Thermo-physiological Clothing Comfort of Wool-Cotton Khadi Union Fabrics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Khadi is a handspun and handloom woven textile fabric made up of natural textile fibers, predominantly cotton and wool. Khadi mainly intended for apparel purposes. Hence, the thermo-physiological properties of wool-cotton blended khadi fabric are crucial in studying fabric comfort. In this study, the 18 types of wool-cotton blended khadi fabrics are produced on a handloom by using wool-cotton blended yarn as warp; and woolen yarn comprised of three different mixes of Australian Merino (AM) wool and JK crossbred (JKC) as weft yarn. Two different weft yarns of 41.7 and 31.2 Tex were prepared using these mixes. The thermo-physiological properties of fabric viz. air permeability, water vapor transmission, and thermal resistance were studied. The air and water vapor permeability, and thermal resistance of wool-rich blended fabrics were found higher compared to cotton-rich blends. The air permeability is negatively influenced by the fabric cover factor. The coarser weft yarn gives higher air permeability while lower water vapor permeability. The thermal resistance is found to have a positive relationship with fabric cover factor. The wool content in yarn and weft yarn linear density largely influences the thermo-physiological comfort properties of the khadi fabric.