Study on moisture vapor transmission characteristics of woven fabrics from cotton-acrylic bulked yarns

摘要

The fabrics made from bulked yarn are commonly used in functional clothing. It is very important to understand the moisture vapor transmission characteristics through these fabrics. The present paper deals with a detailed study to understand the phenomenon of moisture vapor transmission through bulked fabrics, which may affect the heat stress and the performance of wearer. Cotton-acrylic bulked yarns of different linear densities, proportion of shrinkable acrylic fiber, and twist levels have been developed as per the three-variable three-level factorial design technique proposed by Box and Behnken. The interaction effects of these variables on the moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) of fabrics have been studied. The influence of these three variables on the MVTR at different time intervals was also studied in details. The response surface equations for all the microclimate parameters have been derived and the surface and contour plots were obtained to analyze the interactive effect of all the variables on microclimate parameters. It has been observed that the initial rate of moisture vapor transmission is very high, but it reduces significantly with time. The increase in the proportion of shrinkable acrylic fibers results in the increase in MVTR. The MVTR reduces initially and then increases with the increase in level of yarn twist. The trend is different at 40min time interval, where the MVTR remains almost constant for fabrics with coarser yarns, but it increases for fabrics with finer yarns.