Thermo-physiological comfort characteristics and blended yarn woven fabrics

Clothin g protec ts from cold or heat to ma in ta in body thermal comron throu ghout th e full range of human activit ies. Var ious typ es of tac tile . moisture and thermal interac tion s be tween the clothing ma te rial and the human skin determine th e comfo rt leve l of a perso n at a given enviro nm enta l condi ti on whil e engaged in a spec ific level of activity. The fabric type and its blend compositi on, th e ta ctil e and th erma l in sulation beha viour or th e fab ric assembly and th e moisture manag ement capabilities of th e clothin g can affec t th e comfort. This pnper discu sses the ro le of fib re properti es on comfort characte ri stics or fabric s and wh y th e bl endin g of fibre s at yarn mamtfacturing sta ge can lead to fabri cs hav in g the desi red characteri stics from comfort poi nt of vi ew. The detail s about the properti es of diffcrem fibres and their rel ationship to different co mfort auributes ha ve also been provided. The resu lt s o f experimentnl stud y of wnter vap our permeabilit y conduct of po lyester/ viscose (PlY) and pol yes ter/c otton (PIC) blended yarn fabric s show that the higher po lyester co ntent in P!V and PIC fabri cs is detrim enta l to water vapour tra nsmiss ion. The wa ter vapour u·an smi ss ion rate al so in creases with th e air now rate above th e fa bri c. Ke)'WOrds: Rl encl ed yarn. Comfort. Thermal insulation behav iour, Water vapour permeabilit y. Woven fabric IPC Code: Int. C l. 8 D03D 15/00 I Introduction Comfort may be defin ed as a pleasant state of psyc hological, phys iological and physical harmony between a human being and the env ironment. All three aspects are eq uall y import ant, sin ce people fe el uncomfortable if any one of th em is absent. Co mfort is not a propert y bu t a condition of mind. The human mind respo nds with various degrees of sat isfactio n to th e ever chang in g environment. This perceptio n in cl udes the effect of clothing between body and environment. A number of properties of fibres, yarns, fabrics and ga rmen ts are signifi cantly related to co mfort and must be take n in to account in producing sui tab le apparel items. Des igners of clot hin g can take care of psychological and phy sical aspects of comfort by suitable selection of co lour, des ign, texture, sty le, garment fit, etc. However, suitable fabrics from th e comfort point of view mu st be developed by textile technolog ists by proper se lection of fibre content, yarn and fab ri c co nstru ction techniques and fi ni shin g treatments as th ey influ ence physiological co mfort level through therm al retention or transmiss ion, moisture vapo ur permeability , water resis tance, static charge build-up, etc . Fabric properties depend on fibre properties, ,ya rn structure, fabr ic structure and th e mechanical and chemical fin ishin g treatments given to th e fabric . Of