Effect of Biopolishing On Warm–Cool Feeling of Knitted Fabric: A Subjective and An Objective Evaluations

Abstract

Soft and clean surface of fabric without any floating fibers is one of the factors important for better marketing of clothing. The most common method for having such clean fabric surface is the removal of protruding (floating) fiber from the surface of the fabric. Many studies have proved that enzymatic treatment, commonly called biopolishing, removes the floating fibers from the surface of fabric and gives a smooth surface to the fabric. This study is an effort to assess and measure the impact of biopolishing of knitted fabric through objective and subjective evaluation on warm-cool feeling of fabric because of change in surface profile of the fabric. For testing purposes, 31 knitted fabric samples of various kinds were produced. Alambeta has been used for measuring thermal absorptivity values of fabric. Thermal absorptivity is an indicator of warm-cool feeling. For subjective evaluation, a group of 30 people were asked to give their opinion about warm-cool feeling. Both subjective and objective assessments confirm that biopolishing has a significant impact on warm-cool feeling. Fabric gives cool feeling after biopolishing. This study explores that clean surface will have higher thermal absorptivity and will give cool feeling when it will be touched by human skin.

Keywords

• biopolishing
• warm-cool feeling
• thermal absorptivity