Proposal of The Project: Correlation between Fabric Hand and Thermal

Feeling

Background: Consumers trust their tactile feeling in evaluating clothing. Thermal

feeling is an important factor. Silk padding quilt gives a cool feeling at the first touch,
while it gives a warm feeling after thermal balance is reached. We’d like to explore
whether there exists certain correlation between fabric hand and people’s thermal
sensation towards fabrics during their temporary contact with the skin.

Scene One A purchasing agent selects fabric sample.

Question One The purchasing agent has to recall so many candidates for
comparison; or maybe just compares two candidates with both hand touching them
separately. What is the initial sensory reflection in their mind? Probably the answer
is thermal feeling, cool or warm.

Scene Two A consumer tries on clothes in a shopping mall.

Question Two What if a consumer is too busy to squeeze out enough time for
shopping, and has to purchase clothes online? He imagines what this clothes feels
like, or whether it keeps warm in such a cold winter, without actually touching it. Is
it better if his imagination has some data to base on? Merely fiber components, their
contents and fabric type don’t supply sufficient information. That’s why we want to
build up a relation between fabric’s thermal feeling and a certain kind of fabric
evaluating approach that can be expressed simply and can be understood by
consumers easily. What evaluating method has the characters mentioned above? We
propose fabric hand, which serves as a communicating medium between purchasers
and clothes. Why choose fabric hand?

Reasons: (1) Fabric hand can be digitalized by modern technology. Thus, it is easy to
express. (2) Fabric hand is an overall evaluation term, which covers lots of data of
fabrics, for instance, its stiffness, fabric density, surface smoothness and thickness. It
incorporates detailed information of the fabric. The relationship between sensory
stimuli and physical measures is not linear[4]. Thus, the correlation between
thermal sensation and textile hand may not be apparent. Our concern is which
detailed characteristic has an influence on the thermal sensation over the other
detailed characteristics.

Experiment Design:

A. Fabric material and thermal sensation

Textile materials (cotton, wool, silk, polyester, nylon, nonwovens) and non-
textile ones (plastic film, paper) of similar structure and fabric density
(1) Measure their hand values; (2) Measure local blood flow situation; (3)
Compare two set of data and do analysis.

B. Fabric tightness and thermal sensation

 Find out sets of cotton woven fabrics, which have diverse tightness;
(1) Measure their hand values; (2) Measure local blood flow situation; (3)
Compare two set of data and do analysis.

C. Fabric thickness and thermal sensation

Find out sets of cotton woven fabrics, which have diverse thickness;
(1) Measure their hand values; (2) Measure local blood flow situation; (3)
Compare two set of data and do analysis.

D. Fabric structure and thermal sensation

Find out sets of woven fabrics of the same material, and the major difference
is their structure (woven, knitting and fleece).
(1) Measure their hand values; (2) Measure local blood flow situation; (3)
Compare two set of data and do analysis

E. Fabric processing and thermal sensation

Find out sets of cotton woven fabrics, and the major difference is their
processing technology (mercerization or not).
(1) Measure their hand values; (2) Measure local blood flow situation; (3)
Compare two set of data and do analysis

Those designs listed above are preliminary considerations for this research.
However, some improvements are to be added to improve the effectiveness
and reliability of these series of experiments.

Related Literature Review:

[1] “From fabric hand to thermal comfort: the evolving role of objective
measurements in explaining human comfort response to textiles”,
Roger L. Barker, International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology,
Vol. 14 No. 3/4, 2002, pp. 181-200.
[2] “Some Relations of Fiber Properties to Fabric Hand”, R.M. Hoffman and
L.F. Beste, Textile Research Journal 1951; 21; 66
[3] “Skin Blood Flow in Adult Human Thermoregulation: How It Works,
When It Does Not, and Why”, Nisha Charkoudian, Mayo Clin Proc, May 2003,
Vol. 78
[4] “The Perception of Thermal Comfort”, I. Chatonnet* and M. Cabanac, Int. J.
Biometeor. 1965, vol. 9, number 2, pp. 185-195
[5] “Fabric Hand: Tactile Sensory Assessment”, Geitel Winakor, Charles J. Kim
and Leroy Wolins, Textile Research Journal 1980; 50; 601
[6] “Objective Evaluation of Fabric Handle by Simple Measurement Methods”,
Vildan Sü lar and Ayse Okur Textile Research Journal 2008; 78; 856
What do the articles say:
[1] This article “From fabric hand to thermal comfort: the evolving role of
objective measurements in explaining human comfort response to textiles” is
most relevant to what we shall do research on. However, it doesn’t provide
systematic experiments on how the fabric hand influences thermal comfort.
[2] How fiber stiffness and fabric stiffness differs from each other.
Compliance/Stiffness/liveliness/weight/leanness and Bulk/ Compressibility
and Thickness/ Waxiness/Friction/Contact Warmth/Drape/Smoothness and
Luster/ Covering Power/ Contour Retention and ResilienceAnalysis of
these properties of fibers and fabrics and how they influence the fabric hand.
[3]Measurement of skin blood flow and their mechanisms: Laser Doppler
flowmetry or venous occlusion plethysmography; Local cooling and warming
of the skin.
[4] Cutaneous temperature (Ts) is both the signal and the reference value for
the thermoregulatory apparatus.
Some observations show a discrepancy between the comfort feeling and Ts,
suggesting that the two are relatively independent. Thermal sensation and
thermal comfort may be independent.
[6] A Subjective Total Handle Equation THVSC = 0,138T + 0,432S + 0,430R
These handle components were abbreviated as thickness-thinness (T),
stiffness-softness (S), and roughness-smoothness(R) in the equation for total
handle (THVSC).

References list useful for future research:

[7] The Influence of Environmental Temperature and Exercise Intensity on
Skin Blood Flow
[8] Sensory Analysis Applied to Textile Goods
[9] Comfort Properties of Heat-Resistant Protective Workwear in Varying
Conditions of Physical Activity and Environment. Part I: Thermophysical and
Sensorial Properties of Fabrics
[10] Optimization Aspects on the Hand of the Fabrics
[11] Thermo physiological Comfort Determinations for Three Experimental
Knit Fabrics