Effect of Blend Ratio on the Thermal Comfort Characteristics of Cotton/Bamboo Blended Fabrics

Abstract

The present work explains the thermal comfort properties of cotton (100:0), bamboo (0:100), and cotton:bamboo (70:30, 50:50, 30:70) blended yarns/fabrics. The physical characteristics of cotton:bamboo (50:50) blended fabrics show the very closest properties of pure cotton yarn fabrics for the count of 30 tex. The proportion of bamboo fiber in the fabrics influenced the physical properties of the yarn such as areal density, fiber fineness, and other structural parameters. The plain-woven fabric generally aligned as 30 tex in warp direction for pure cotton yarn and 30 tex in weft direction for pure bamboo yarn. Similarly, the experiment is conducted for various proportions and noted that cotton in warp and bamboo in weft direction depicts higher air permeability and water vapor permeability (WVP) compared to all the other fabrics. From the comfort properties of fabrics, the thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance of the blended fabrics were found to be decreased with a gradual increase in the ratio of bamboo fiber. The reduction in inter-yarn space and higher yarn hairiness leads to reduction in air and water permeability values with an increase in cotton proportion. The enhanced WVP and air permeability of the prepared fabrics were observed with an increase in bamboo content.

Keywords

• thermal conductivity
• thermal resistance
• air permeability
• water vapour permeability
• cotton/bamboo
• thermal comfort property