The objective of the present study is to produce base layer winter active sportswear fabrics using natural and synthetic fibres and their blends which will deliver good comfort properties. Polyester, wool and bamboo fibres were selected for this study. Polyester is the most common fibre used in sportswear, wool is increasingly being used in sportswear and bamboo is a relatively new fibre that offers properties suitable for base layer sportswear. Bamboo is also regarded as a "green" and eco-sustainable fibre. Preliminary experiments were carried out to find the liquid moisture transfer performance of knitted fabrics made from each selected 100% fibre blend. Preliminary experimental sample fabrics were produced as single jerseys with different cover factors. It was concluded that cover factor was influenced by loop length; whereas cover factor, physical and structural fabrics properties influenced its performance, depending on the fibre type that was used. Experimental single jersey sample fabrics were also produced from different fibre blends including wool, polyester and bamboo. The physical and structural properties selected for testing were weight/m2, thickness, stitch density (courses/cm and wales/cm), porosity and optical porosity. The comfort properties selected for testing and analysis were liquid moisture transfer and a fabric classification with respect to the following properties: thermal conductivity, warm/cool feeling, stiffness and number of contact points. These parameters were assessed to determine the comfort properties of commercial and a range of experimental sample fabrics. It was concluded that fibre blending influenced comfort properties of experimental sample fabrics and that the most suitable for base layer winter active sportswear sample fabrics are P100, W43P57, W35B65, W52B48, W60b40 (experimental sample fabrics and MRWB (Commercial sample fabric)
展开▼
