Water vapour resistance modelling of basic weaving structure

Abstract

Water vapour diffusion through textile fabrics plays a crucial role in maintaining body comfort. Developing and producing comfortable textiles is a major challenge for manufacturers of fibres, yarns and fabrics. This study aims to develop a simple model to predict the water vapour permeability of textile fabrics as a function of their structural parameters to assist manufacturers in developing comfortable fabrics. To achieve this goal, geometric modeling of the woven structure was proposed to calculate porosity at the micro-and macro-pores level. Two mathematical models were introduced based on the principle of diffusion of water vapour through a textile fabric. To validate the two models, a series of 18 samples was prepared with three basic fabric structures: Plain, Twill and Turc Sateen. To vary the compactness of the structures, three weft densities were chosen: 18, 21 and 24 picks/cm. In addition, since the material influences water vapour diffusion, two types of weft yarns were inserted: 50% CO/50% PET and 100% PET. The results show that the two models are reliable for predicting water vapour resistance (Ret) depending on the structural parameters of the textile fabric.