Study On Wearing Touch And Pressure Comfort Of Fabric Made Of Different Variety Of Fiber

Wearing touch and pressure comfort of fabric is one of the important properties of comfortwhich meet the wearing requirements of people. Because of different types of fibers, differentyarns as well as different weaving processes, the wearing touch and pressure comfort varies fromfabric to fabric. How to make a quantitative evaluation and help researchers and consumers makea good choice of the wearing touch and pressure comfort of different types of fabrics made ofvariety of fibers on the market become an important part of this research.Total41kinds of fabrics collected from the market were tested. According to fiberclassification, these fabrics could be divided into six categories that is wool, cotton, linen,silk,polyester and nylon fabric. The wearing touch and pressure comfort of fabrics are evaluatedfrom contact warm-cool feeling, surface friction property and compressive performance.The main findings are as follows:(1) Contact warm-cool feelingFrom the test results of total41kinds of fabrics, the value of warm-cool feeling (Qmax) of sixcategories of fabrics are as follows: wool fabric0.134J/cm2s-0.159J/cm2s, cotton fabric0.114J/cm2s-0.206J/cm2s, linen fabric0.138J/cm2s-0.185J/cm2s, silk fabric0.186J/cm2s-0.214J/cm2s, polyester fabric0.183J/cm2s-0.184J/cm2s, nylon fabric0.305J/cm2s-0.344J/cm2s. By comparison wool, cotton and linen fabrics have warmer sense of feeling. silk, polyesterand nylon fabrics have colder sensation. The results of analysis shows that the fabric hairiness,smooth and loose structure contribute to colder feeling of the fabrics.(2) Surface friction propertyFrom total41kinds of fabrics’ results, the differences between warp and weft frictionperformance of wool and cotton fabrics are small. Wool, cotton and linen fabrics have highersurface roughness values and silk, polyester and nylon fabrics have lower ones. Among the sixcategories of fabrics, linen fabric have the highest average friction coefficient(MIU), the mean difference of the unevenness (MMD) and the surface roughness (SMD).Fabric surface hairiness and yarn fineness are two major factors affecting the fabric surfaceroughness. The correlation analysis shows that the average friction coefficient of the fabric relatessignificantly to the fabric structure length and yarn float length. Surface roughness is closelylinked with structure length and weft tightness. By regression analysis, the average frictioncoefficient and the mean difference unevenness of friction coefficient of fabrics have a significantcorrelation with yarn fineness. Surface roughness is significantly correlated with fabric density.(3) Compressive propertyFrom the compressive results of total41kinds of fabrics, the average bulkinesses of wool,cotton and linen fabrics are higher. Their compression work(WC) are0.32cN cm/cm2,0.13cN cm/cm2and0.12cN cm/cm2respectively. Silk, polyester and nylon fabrics have lowerbulkiness, their WC are0.05cN cm/cm2,0.07cN cm/cm2and0.02cN cm/cm2respectively.Compare the response rate(RC) of the compression work, the selected wool fabrics have the bestcompression elasticity with an average RC value of52%. Other fabrics are about40%and havethe similar compressive elasticity. Fabric compression work and response rate are significantlyassociated with thickness of the fabrics. The response rate of compression work are not onlysignificantly associated with thickness but also with fiber categories.(4) Relationship between warm-cool feeling, surface friction and compressive propertiesBy univariate correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis, warm-cool feelingcorrelates with the surface friction property and the compression performance of the fabrics. Withthe increase of the average friction coefficient value (MIU) as well as the surface roughness(SMD), the warm-cool feeling value Qmaxof the fabrics decreases. The greater value of the fabriccompression work(WC), the smaller value of the fabric Qmax.Wool, cotton and linen fabrics have higher surface roughness values, higher bulkiness andhave warmer contact feeling. Instead, silk, polyester and nylon fabrics have lower surfaceroughness values, lower bulkiness and have colder contact feeling.