EFFECT OF ELASTANE ON DIMENSIONAL AND THERMAL PROPERTIES OF SPORTSWEAR FABRICS

Abstract

In recent years, the use of woven and knitted fabrics with elastane has increased remarkably. This is due to the particular fact that these articles are characterized by excellent wear comfort and fit. In addition to extensibility, thermo-physiological comfort properties such as air permeability and thermal properties can be influenced by elastane yarn. This paper aimed to investigate the relation between elastane yarn linear density and fabric dimensional and thermal properties. Two series of 3 knitted fabrics were produced using the 8-feed Single-Jersey Circular Knitting Machine MERZ – MBS. The ground yarns were: 30% Outlast®Viscose / 70% Cotton, 14.75 tex, and a Dacron® 702 WSD 1.7/38, 14.30 tex (Coolmax®). The plating yarns were 22 dtex, 44 dtex, and 77 dtex Creora®, plated at every feeder by using the electronic feeder. The results indicated that the linear density of elastane has a significant effect on the dimensional and thermal properties of Coolmax®/Creora® and Outlast®/Creora® plated plain knitted fabric. The elastane yarn linear density mainly influences the number of courses per cm and consequently the number of stitches per cm2, and respectively the weight of knitted fabrics. The linear density of elastane yarn influences mostly the air permeability, thermal conductivity, and thermal absorptivity of Single-Jersey fabrics. The higher the linear density of the elastane yarn, the lower the air permeability and the higher the thermal conductivity and thermal absorptivity of the fabrics. These findings are an important tool in the design of a product tailored to thermal management requirements.

Keywords

• knitted structure
• thermal resistance
• thermal conductivity
• thermal absorptivity
• air permeability.