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Article
Investigation of wicking, wetting anddrying properties of
acrylic knitted fabrics
Meltem Yanlmaz and Fatma Kalaoglu
Abstract
In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship
between different knitted structures and some thermo-
physiological comfort parameters. Wetting, wicking and drying
properties of single jersey, 1 1 rib, 2 2 rib andinterlock knitted
fabrics made out of acrylic yarns were studied and experimental
wicking height, wicking weight, transfer
wicking ratio, contact angle and WER (water evaporation rate)
values were measured. Samples were produced in two
different tightness values to obtain slack and tight fabrics for
all structures. Some comfort-related parameters were
correlated with structural parameters of fabrics such as fabric
tightness factor, thickness, porosity, loop length and pore
size etc. The statistical analysis results indicate that the
effect of the knitted structure is significant for wicking
height,
wicking weight, contact angle values, transfer wicking ratios
and WER values. Wicking height increases depending on
knitted structures namely, single jersey, 1 1 rib, interlock and
2 2 rib, respectively. Slack fabrics have longer looplengths with
higher porosity values and higher pore sizes for all knitted
structures. Slack structures of 2 2 rib, 1 1 rib,interlock and
single jersey knits have higher transfer wicking ratios when
compared with their tight structures. WER is
inversely related with fabric thickness. It decreased with an
increase of thickness due to increase of compactness and
decrease of air space. All tight knitted structures have higher
contact angles than their slack forms due to compactness of
the surface.
Keywords
comfort, acrylic, knitted structures, wicking, drying
Introduction
Knitting structures are important due to several advan-tages
such as comfort, high elasticity, conformity withthe shape of the
body, softer touches, lightweight,warmth, wrinkle resistance, and
ease of care. etc. It iswell known that the physical properties of
fabrics aredependent on their yarn properties and fabric
construc-tion parameters. Construction parameters, such as ne-ness
of yarns, density and the type of knitted structure,control the
texture and surface topography offabrics.15
Thermo-physiological comfort is one of the consid-erations of
clothing comfort. The thermo-physiologicalcomfort of a garment is
related to several parameters:lightness, thermal resistance, heat
and water vaportransport, sweat absorption, wind impermeability
anddrying. Investigating the relationships between fabricstructure
and permeability to water vapor/water (i.e.sweat) is stimulating
interest. The ability of clothing
materials to transport moisture vapor is important todetermine
wear comfort. Absorption of sweat and itstransportation through and
across the fabric are relatedto clothing comfort properties of the
fabrics.611
Drying time is another important aspect while deter-mining a
comfort level.12 There is a general agreementthat fabric thickness,
density and porosity are criticalfactors to determine comfort
perceptions.1315 Yoonand Buckley16 reported that steady state
moisturevapor transport through fabrics is controlled by a
dif-fusion process that is inuenced by fabric structure,fabric
thickness and openness.
Textile Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Corresponding author:
Meltem Yanlmaz, Textile Engineering, Istanbul Technical
University,
Gumussuyu 34437, Istanbul, Turkey
Email: [email protected]
Textile Research Journal
0(00) 112
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DOI: 10.1177/0040517511435851
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Higher wicking properties oer a drier feeling by thespreading of
the liquid fast.1719 Fiber must be wettedbefore wicking. If ber is
not wet by a liquid, the liquiddoes not wick into a fabric. Wetting
is determined bythe surface properties of the bers and the
wettingliquid, whereas wicking is also aected by the wayand
arrangement of the bers or yarns. To determinewetting and wicking
properties, pore size and numberof pores in the fabric structure is
important.20,21
Porosity is one of the main physical parameters thathave a great
inuence on thermo-physiological comfortproperties.1,22 The porosity
of a knitted structure willinuence its physical properties, such as
its bulk den-sity, moisture absorbency, mass transfer and
thermalconductivity. The yarn diameter, the surface
formationtechniques and the number of loop counts per unit areaare
the main factors aecting the porosity of textiles.2
Besides pore structure, the ber surface properties arethe main
determinants of wicking properties.23 Theevaluation of contact
angle between a liquid and asolid surface indicates wettability,
changes in the levelof surface energy, and changes in the chemical
andsupermolecular structure of the surfaces. Textile sur-faces are
rough; depending on the structure of the inter-lace of yarn
strands, the bers inll and theirarrangement in the product.24
Hasan et al.4 reported that topographical character-istics of
the fabrics strongly depend on their construc-tion parameters such
as the type and neness oflaments, yarn neness, yarn density, warp
and weftdensity and the type of weave. Oglakcioglu et al.25
investigated thermal comfort properties of some knit-ted
structures (single jersey, 1 1 rib, interlock) andreported that
each knitted structure tends to yieldrather dierent thermal comfort
properties. Ucaret al.26 investigated the eects of rib design on
thermalproperties of rib fabrics by using three dierent
ribstructures (1 1, 2 2, 3 3) and reported that withincreasing
density, air permeability and heat lossdecreases. Ramachandran et
al.27 investigated thethermal behavior of ring and compact spun
yarnsingle jersey, rib and interlock knitted fabrics andstudied the
relationship between thermal propertiesand some physical
characteristics such as thickness,tightness factor, density and
permeability. They con-cluded that the thermal properties show a
decreasingtrend as the fabric thickness, tightness factor andfabric
aerial density values increase. Emirhanovaet al.28 investigated the
eects of the knitted structureon the dimensional and physical
properties of winterouterwear knitted fabrics. Crow and
Osczevski29
reported that the amount of water that wicked from
Table 1. The properties of fabric samples
Code
Short
code
Fabric
structure
Thickness,
mm
Weight per
unit area,
g/m2
Loop
length,
cm
Stitch
density,
loops/cm2
Tightness
factor,
tex1/2/cm
Porosity,
%
Pore
size, cm
Stiffness
(Newton/
cm2)
SJ-Slack SJ-S Single jersey 1.72 0.07 326.8 0.890 4.42 6 26.52
9.494 0.702 0.101 0.438028SJ-Tight SJ-T Single jersey 1.768 0.07
342.2 0.780 4.40 7 30.8 10.833 0.705 0.094 0.538221R(1 1)-Slack 1
1R-S 1 1 rib 2.152 0.01 365.5 0.630 9 8 72 13.413 0.542 0.058
0.498561R(1 1)-Tight 1 1R-T 1 1 rib 1.934 0.07 394.5 0.477 11 11
121 17.715 0.352 0.042 0.567444Int-Slack Int-S Interlock 2.45 0.08
429.1 0.300 11 8 88 28.167 0.766 0.051 0.93273Int-Tight Int-T
Interlock 2.454 0.07 519.1 0.290 12.2 9 109.8 29.138 0.723 0.046
1.350201R(2 2)-Slack 2 2R-S 2 2 rib 2.778 0.03 391 0.563 12 9 108
15.009 0.525 0.033 0.37332R(2 2)-Tight 2 2R-T 2 2 rib 2.734 0.09
483 0.525 12.3 10 123 16.095 0.487 0.029 0.567444
0 90.40.80.70.60.50.40.3
30
25
20
15
10
Loop length
Tigh
tnes
s Fa
ctor
0.90.80.70.60.50.3
0.110.100.090.080.070.060.050.040.030.02
Loop length
Pore
size
0.90.80.70.60.50.40.3
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
Loop lengthSt
iffne
ss
Figure 1. Correlation of loop length with tightness factor, pore
size and stiffness.
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one layer to another depended on the pore sizes andtheir
volumes. Zhuang30 reported that the amount oftransferred water
largely depends on the performanceof individual fabrics as well as
the way in which theycontacted.
There are some reports in the literature about com-fort
properties of knitted structures, but there is nodetailed study
about wetting, wicking and dryingproperties of dierent knitted
structures made ofacrylic yarns. In this study, acrylic yarns were
usedto prepare four dierent knitted structures (singlejersey, 1 1
rib, 2 2 rib and interlock), with eachstructure prepared at two
dierent tightness levels(slack and tight). Several fabric
parameters were mea-sured and comfort parameters were tested to
investi-gate the correlations between fabric parameters andcomfort
properties.
Experimental
The fabric samples were produced using 28/2 Nmacrylic yarns.
Single jersey, interlock, 1 1 rib and2 2 rib fabric samples were
knitted in two dierenttightness levels, i.e. slack and tight, with
the samemachine settings. The specimens were knitted with thesame
yarn tension and cam setting by using 7 ne, 672needle Shima Seiki
SES 124S V bed at knittingmachine. Before the measurements and
tests, the sam-ples were conditioned in standard atmospheric
condi-tions (20 2C, 65 5% relative humidity) for twodays. All tests
were carried out in standard atmosphere.Fabric tightness factor
were determined by the equa-tion (TFT1/2/l; where T is the linear
density of yarnin tex and l is the loop length in cm) used
byRamachandran et al.27 Porosity and pore size values
Table 2. Experimental wicking height, wicking weight, transfer
wicking ratio, contact angle and WER values
Wicking height at 10 min, mm Wicking weight, g
Transfer
wicking
ratio, %
Contact
angle, WER at
75 min
Number Code
Short
code
Wale-
wise
Course-
wise
Wale-
wise
Course-
wise
1 SJ-Slack SJ-S 12.07 0.09 10.63 0.07 3.013 0.11 3.004 0.08
14.77 0.17 73.6 0.876 0.052 SJ-Tight SJ-T 11.20 0.08 10.93 0.18
2.932 0.12 2.930 0.25 10.78 0.2 88.93 0.869 0.053 R(1 1)-Slack 1
1R-S 12.37 0.04 9.62 0.07 3.384 0.08 3.039 0.14 14.98 0.17 75.69
0.847 0.084 R(1 1)-Tight 1 1R-T 12.13 0.09 9.67 0.07 3.042 0.05
2.793 0.05 4.65 0.28 96.4 0.841 0.035 Int-Slack Int-S 12.53 0.17
11.67 0.07 4.268 0.08 4.212 0.07 6.81 0.20 71.14 0.784 0.076
Int-Tight Int-T 12.27 0.12 12.40 0.07 4.238 0.07 3.392 0.06 5.53
0.21 76.79 0.710 0.087 R(2 2)-Slack 2 2R-S 13.10 0.09 10.40 0.57
4.068 0.12 3.248 0.07 32.25 0.28 99.01 0.693 0.068 R(2 2)-Tight 2
2R-T 12.90 0.09 10.30 0.07 3.917 0.04 3.340 0.09 28.40 0.18 118.26
0.705 0.02
Figure 2. Vertical wicking curves for wale-wise directions.
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were calculated according to Benltoufas formula1 andOgulatas
formula,2 respectively.
The porosity (" 1 (yarn volume/total volume)) iscalculated
according to the formula below:
" 1 d21CW=2t
where t is sample thickness (cm), l is loop length (cm), dis
yarn diameter (cm), C is the number of courses percm, W is the
number of wales per cm.1
The pore size is calculated by using rp [(t-Slpry2)/ptS]1/2
where rp is pore radius, t is thickness, S is cw,l is loop
length.2
To determine vertical wicking properties of the fab-rics, a
method stated in the literature31 was used. Thespecimens were cut
along the wale-wise and course-wisedirections (200mm 25mm). They
were suspended ina reservoir of distilled water. The bottom ends of
thespecimens were immersed vertically at a depth of 3 cminto the
water. The wicking heights were measured andrecorded every minute
for 10min to evaluate the wick-ing ability. Transfer of wicking
properties were mea-sured according to the stated method.30
Thespecimens were cut into 7.45 cm diameter circles. Thespecimens
were wetted and placed between two dishes.The dry specimens were
put on the wet specimensand the specimens were weighed every 5min
up to30min. The wet specimens were weighed before eachtest as
mentioned in the literature.30
Drying capabilities were evaluated by calculatingwater
evaporating rates (WER) as mentioned in thestudy of Fangueiro et
al.31 The specimens were cut asa 200mm 200mm square and weighed.
The waterwas used to wet the specimens. The amount of waterequals
to 30% of the dry specimens. The specimens
were weighed and the change of weights were recordedto measure
WER.
Information about wettability and solid-liquid con-tact geometry
was obtained by measuring the deionizedwater contact angle using a
contact angle meter(Attension theta optical tensiometer). First the
speci-men was placed on the sample stage. Then, a drop ofwater was
deposited on the fabric surface. The imageswere recorded and
analyzed by the software(OneAttension Software). The measurements
wererepeated three times for each sample. The looplength, the
number of wales per cm, the number ofcourses per cm, the thickness
and the weight of fabricswere measured according to relevant
standards (TS EN14970, TS EN 14971, TS EN 7128, ISO 5084, TS
251).Stiness of the specimens were measured accordingto ASTM
International, Designation D 4032-94:The Standard Test method for
Stiness of fabricby the Circular Bend methods, (2001). Statistical
anal-yses have been carried out by using SPSS 18 andMinitab15.
Figure 3. Vertical wicking curves for course-wise
directions.
Table 3. Correlation coefficients and p-values for wicking
heights
Dependent-independent
variables
Pearson
correlation
coefficient p-value
Wicking height-pore size 0.781 0.022Wicking height-porosity
0.798 0.018
Wicking height-stiffness 0.838 0.009
Wicking height-thickness 0.859 0.006
Wicking height-density 0.686 0.003
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Results and discussions
The properties of fabric samples are given in Table 1. Itcan be
seen that the fabrics diered in terms of theknitted structure, the
number of courses and walesper cm and loop length. The thickness of
the fabricsvaried with the loop length and course
count.Furthermore, tightness factor, porosity, pore size andstiness
were reported in the Table 1.
The dimensional, weight and comfort-related prop-erties of
knitted fabric are determined by the looplength.3 As shown in
Figure 1, there is an inverse
correlation between the loop length and the tightnessfactor. The
Pearson correlation coecient of looplength and tightness factor is
0.943 and the p-valueis 0.000. The higher value of the coecient
shows theexcellence of relationship, and the p-value must besmaller
than 0.05 to conclude that the result is signi-cant and
meaningful.
There are also a correlation between loop length andpore size
with the 0.743 Pearson coecient(p-value 0.000) and an inverse
correlation betweenloop length and stiness (Pearson correlation
coe-cient0.748, p-value 0.000) as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 4. Vertical wicking ability of the fabrics at 10 min,
comparison of wale and course directions.
Figure 5. Vertical wicking weights.
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Measured wicking height, wicking weight, transferwicking ratio,
contact angle and WER values are pre-sented in Table 2.
Vertical wicking test results
Figures 2 and 3 show vertical wicking test results forwale and
course-wise directions, respectively.Univariate analysis of
variance results indicate that dif-ferent types of knitted
structures have statistically sig-nicant eects on the vertical
wicking ability of thesamples at a 95% condence interval for
course-wisedirections (p 0.001) and wale-wise directions
(p 0.018). For the wale-wise direction, the order ofwicking
heights of dierent knitted structures is thesame for slack and
tight forms. The order is 2 2rib>interlock>1 1 rib>single
jersey. Furthermore,the slack forms of the dierent knitted
structuresshow better wicking ability than their tight
forms.According to Figure 2, wicking heights increasedepending on
the knitted structure namely, singlejersey, 1 1 rib, interlock and
2 2 rib, respectively.For course-wise direction, the order of
wicking abilityof the dierent structures has changed
(interlock>sin-gle jersey>2 2 rib>1 1 rib) and tight forms
havehigher wicking compared to their slack forms.
The fabric structures such as single jersey, rib andinterlock,
inuence the comfort properties of the knit-ted fabrics. It is,
basically, because of fabric propertiessuch as fabric thickness,
tightness factor, porosity, poresize, loop length and density
change according to knit-ted structure. Benltoufa et al.1 indicated
that liquidabsorbency are closely related to pore size and
distri-bution. Wong19 reported that according to the
capillaryprinciple, smaller pores are lled rst and inuence
theliquid front movement. As the smaller pores are com-pletely
lled, the liquid then moves to the larger pores.The distance of
liquid advancement is greater in a smal-ler pore because of the
higher capillary pressure. Theresults obtained in our study were
similar. There is aninverse correlation between pore size and
wickingheight. The Pearson coecients and p-values can beseen in
Table 3. Wicking height for course-wise direc-tion are correlated
with porosity and also correlatedwith stiness. Thickness is also
correlated with wickingheight for our samples (Pearson coecient is
0.859,
Table 4. Correlation coefficients and p-values for wicking
weights
Dependent-independent
variables
Pearson
correlation
coefficient p-value
Wicking weight-loop length 0.777 0.000Wicking weight-density
0.604 0.013
Wicking weight-tiffness 0.574 0.02
Wicking weight-tightness factor 0.767 0.001
Wicking weight-thickness 0.553 0.026
Wicking weight-tightness factor 0.728 0.001
Wicking weight-porosity 0.521 0.039
Wicking weight-stiffness 0.515 0.041
Wicking weight-loop length 0.638 0.008Wicking weight-pore size
0.679 0.004
Figure 6. Transfer wicking ratios.
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correlation is signicant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) dueto
p-value of 0.006). There is also a correlation betweenthe wicking
height for wale-wise direction and the den-sity with the coecient
of 0.686. Higher wicking heightsfor tight fabrics might be related
to the comparativelyshorter loop lengths of the tight fabrics.
Figure 4 shows the vertical wicking heights of thesamples at 10
minutes for course-wise and wale-wisedirections. Textile structure
and construction aredependent on the type of weave pattern, type of
theber content, ber neness (ends/inch, picks/inch),and the yarn
parameters. Wicking properties of textilefabrics is also inuenced
by the surface roughness, theheterogeneity, the diusion of liquid
into the ber, andthe capillary action of the ber assemblies. A
number of
factors, especially fabric structure (yarn count, fabricdensity,
weave design, porosity, ber content etc.)also eect wicking
height.32 The samples show shorterwicking heights for all knit
structures except forInterlock-tight sample for course-wise
direction thanfor wale-wise direction. It might be related to
dierentloop shapes and densities of the structures for wale-wiseand
course-wise directions. Arrangement of yarns andvolume fractions of
bers per unit area change depend-ing on directions so dierent trend
was seen for dier-ent directions.
Figure 5 shows the vertical wicking weight values.According to
statistical analysis, there is a correlationbetween vertical
wicking weights and loop lengths forwale-wise direction. For
wale-wise direction, wickingweights are correlated with tightness
factor. Forcourse-wise direction there is a correlation betweenthe
wicking weight and the tightness factor. Wickingweights and loop
lengths are correlated. There is alsoan inverse correlation between
the wicking weight andthe pore size with a Pearson coecient of
0.679. Asstated by Wong23 high liquid retention can be achievedby
having a large number of large pores or a high totalpore volume.
Porosity can be correlated with wickingweights for our samples
(Table 4) as stated before byWong.
Transfer wicking test results
Figure 6 shows the transfer wicking test results. Thereare
signicant dierences between transfer wickingratios of the samples.
2 2 rib structures have the high-est ratios (more than 25%). It can
be seen from
2.82.62.42.22.01.81.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
Thickness, mm
Tran
sfer
wic
king
rat
ios
Figure 7. The relationship between transfer wicking ratio
and
the thickness.
Figure 8. WER curves.
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2.82.62.42.22.01.81.6
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
Thickness, mm
WER
at 7
5 m
in, %
Figure 9. Regression plot of WER vs thickness.
0.110.100.090.080.070.060.050.040.030.02
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
Pore size, cm
WER
at 7
5 m
in, %
a
12010080604020
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
Density, loops/cm2
WER
at 7
5 m
in, %
b
0.90.80.70.60.50.40.3
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
Loop length, cm
WER
at 7
5 m
in, %
c
3025201510
0.90
0.85
0.80
0.75
0.70
Tightness factor, Tex1/2/cm
WER
at 7
5 m
in, %
d
Figure 10. The relationship between (a) pore size, (b) density,
(c) loop length, (d) tightness factor, and WER.
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Figure 6 that transfer wicking ratio values of the sam-ples
increase depending on knit structure namely, 1 1rib, interlock,
single jersey and 2 2 rib, respectively.As can be seen in Table 1,
slack fabrics have longerloop lengths with higher porosity values
and higherpore sizes for all the knitted structures. Slack formsof
2 2 rib, 1 1 rib, interlock and single jersey struc-tures have
higher transfer wicking ratios compared totheir tight forms.
Similar results were reported fortransfer wicking of slack fabrics
comparing them withtheir tight forms by Cil et al.33 who studied
the eectsof the composition, the yarn number and the thicknesson
some comfort properties of cotton-acrylic fabrics. Itwas concluded
in Ramachandrans study that the mate-rial which has good transverse
wicking will increase thewearing comfort21 and that the thickness
of the mate-rial governs the transverse wicking. There is a
correla-tion between the transfer wicking properties and
thethickness for our samples (Figure 7, correlation coe-cient 0.507
p-value 0.045) as reported before in thestudy of Ramachandran.
Drying test results
Figure 8 shows the WER of the samples. ANOVAresults show that
the dierence between the specimensis signicant with a 0.013 of
p-value at a 95% con-dence interval. WER values of the samples, at
75min,increase depending on knitted structure namely, 2 2rib,
interlock, 1 1 rib and single jersey, respectively.Slack structures
have higher WER values compared totheir tight forms. The drying is
related with the loopdensity of the knitted fabric and the drying
time islonger for tight fabrics with higher loop densities forthe
same fabric construction. Density is higher for 2 2rib fabric (for
tight sample, the density is 123 loops/cm2). 2 2 rib structure has
the lowest WER becauseof less air entrapped in the knit structure.
It may be dueto the fact that the total contact area of bers
holdingwater is higher for 2 2 rib fabrics because of higherber
volume fraction in their knitted structure thanother
structures.
The WER values show decreasing trend when thefabric thickness
increases in all the cases. The statisticalanalysis results
indicate that WER is correlated signif-icantly with fabric
thickness as shown in Figure 9.Pearson correlation coecient of
thickness and WERat 75min is 0.946 with p-value 0.000. The
regressionequation is WER at 75 min 1.190.177 thickness,R2 89.4%,
R2(adj) 87.7%. The inuence of thick-ness on WER is signicant
because the correlationindexes, R2 and R2(adj), are properly .89
and .87. Thehigh value of the correlation index shows that the
inu-ence of thickness on WER is high and expressiveness
of the relationship is also high and
meaningfulstatistically.
WER decreases with the increase of the thicknessdue to increase
of compactness and the decrease ofair space. Univariate analysis of
variance resultsreveal that at the 0.01 level, thickness (0.946)
hasthe signicant eect on drying. The pore size and den-sity were
also correlated as shown in Figure 10 (a, b)and Table 5. Univariate
analysis of variance results alsoindicates that loop length and
tightness factor(Figure 10 c,d) have statistically signicant eects
onthe WER of the samples at a 95% condence interval.
Contact angle measurement results
Figure 11 shows the contact angle photos and micro-scopic views
of the samples. Contact angle values arereported in Table 2. The
contact angle which occursbetween the fabric surface and water
moleculesdescribes the geometry of solidliquid contact.Contact
angles are used for the study of the wettingon a solid material.
Interfacial tension can occur onat, homogeneous surfaces by using
liquids with dier-ent surface tensions. For heterogeneous
structures liketextile fabrics, the contact angle is aected by
interfacialtension, surface roughness, chemical heterogeneity,polar
groups, sorption layers, suction, porosity, swell-ing, molecular
orientation, yarn tension etc.34The con-tact angle also determines
the wicking behavior. Alower contact angle causes higher wicking
rates.2,7
For our samples, all slack samples have lower contactangle
values and higher transfer wicking ratios with lessstiness values
compared to tight samples. This result isin attendance with the
ndings of Fangueiro et al. andRamachandran et al.21,31
The wetting behavior of a solid surface is controlledby both the
surface tension and the roughness of thesurface.35 Textile bers do
not have ideal surfaces andtheir wetting phenomena are complicated
by surfaceroughness, heterogenity, and adsorption of liquids
orsurfactants with a consequent change of surface energy.
Table 5. Correlation coefficients and p-values for water
evaporation rates
Dependent-independent
variables
Pearson
correlation
coefficient p-value
WER-thickness 0.946 0.000WER-pore size 0.793 0.000
WER-density 0.745 0.001WER- loop length 0.616 0.011
WER-Tightness factor 0.513 0.042
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Moreover, the geometrical features of fabrics such asthickness
and density of fabric, twist, yarn types, yarncount, the internal
volume and the pore size distribu-tion make the structure non
ideal.32 The fabric con-struction and tightness changes the surface
roughnessof the fabric. In order to analyze the eect of the
knit-ted structure on the surface tension, contact angle
mea-surements are taken. Both fabric construction and
tightness of fabric have an eect on fabric surfaceparameters. As
it is seen in Table 2, all tight knittedstructures have higher
contact angles than their slackforms due to compactness of the
surface. Similar resultswere reported by Truong et al.36 They
stated thatreducing the size of the openings between the yarnsby
increasing densities makes the fabric tighter. Theincreased
tightness makes the fabric more resistant to
Figure 11. Contact angles and microscopic views of the
samples.
0.80.70.60.50.40.3
120
110
100
90
80
70
Porosity,%
Con
tact
ang
le,
12010080604020
120
110
100
90
80
70
Density, loops/cm2
Con
tact
ang
le,
0.110.100.090.080.070.060.050.040.030.02
120
110
100
90
80
70
Pore size, cm
Con
tact
ang
le,
Figure 12. The relationship between pore size, density, porosity
and contact angle values.
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the hydrostatic pressures that produce surface wetting.Also 2 2
rib fabrics have higher contact angles com-pared to all other
samples. Dierent knit types causechanges on fabric roughness due to
the fact that knitstructures aect loop density and dimensions of
loops.Consequently the highest contact angle values of 2 2rib
samples and the higher values of tight samples com-pared to slack
samples can be explained by the incre-ment of the roughness of the
surface. The roughnessand the contact angle relation may be
established bymeasuring the roughness of the knitted fabrics in
futurestudies. Furthermore, statistical analysis reveals thatthere
is also a signicant correlation between the con-tact angle and the
density (coecient 0.527, p-value 0.036), the porosity
(coecient0.671,p-value 0.004) and the pore size
(coecient0.528,p-value 0.035) as shown in Figure 12.
Conclusions
The statistical analysis results indicate that there is
aninverse correlation between pore size and wickingheight. Slack
forms of 2 2 rib, 1 1 rib, interlockand single jersey structures
have higher transfer wickingratios compared to their tight forms.
The statisticalanalysis results also indicate that the WER is
inverselyrelated to the fabric thickness. All tight knitted
struc-tures have higher contact angles than their slack formsdue to
higher compactness of the surface. The testresults revealed that
the parameters of comfort are sig-nicantly aected by knitted
structure.
Funding
This research received no specic grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.
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