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To cite this article: E. Öner , H.G. Atasağun , A. Okur , A.R. Beden & G. Durur (2013) Evaluation of moisture management
properties on knitted fabrics, The Journal of The Textile Institute, 104:7, 699-707, DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2012.752895
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The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2013
Vol. 104, No. 7, 699–707, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2012.752895
University, İzmir, Turkey; cSun Group R&D Center, İzmir, Turkey; dDepartment of Textile Engineering, Pamukkale University,
Denizli, Turkey
(Received 29 June 2012; final version received 21 November 2012)
In order to determine the effect of raw material, weave type and tightness on liquid absorption and transmission
which is an important factor in the perception of people’s clothing comfort, knitted fabrics made of cotton, viscose
and polyester yarns, which had single jersey, 1 1 rib and single pique weave type, had three different tightness
as tight, medium and loose, were produced. Moisture management tester (MMT) was used for multi-dimensional
liquid transport of the fabrics produced. As a result of the study, it is observed that polyester fabrics had higher
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OMMC values than those of cellulosic-based fabrics. Regarding the effect of tightness, liquid transport has
decreased with increasing tightness in general. Weave types examined in this study, were not as strong as raw
materials and tightness and did not have such a significant effect.
Keywords: comfort; moisture management tester (MMT); knitted fabric; water transport
management capacity is polyamide. This value has αe = 3.97), staple viscose yarn (Ne 30/1, αe = 3.75) and
been found to be low in cellulosic fibers compared to staple polyester yarn (Ne 30/1, αe = 3.61). All fabrics
others. Süpüren, Oglakcioglu, Ozdil, and Marmarali were produced on Mayer & Cie circular knitting
(2011) used four-type fabrics composed of cotton machine with 28 gauges for single jersey and single
and polypropylene fibers in their study where pique structures and 18 gauges for 1 1 rib structure
have investigated the moisture management properties using constant setting values on 30 diameters. Three
of the double-face knitted fabrics. As a result, the different machine density as tight, medium and loose
polypropylene (inner) – cotton (outer) fabric was were used. The properties of each fabric are listed in
found to have better moisture management property. Table 1.
Wardiningsih and Troynikov (2011) have concluded in Pre-treatment, dyeing and softening processes were
their study where they have investigated the moisture applied for all knitted fabrics, respectively. In order to
transport characteristics of the knitted fabrics produced extract the natural hydrophobic characteristics of cot-
from regenerated bamboo, having different cover fac- ton fabrics, an enzymatic treatment with pectinase
tor that overall moisture management capacity enzyme (Premnox C) was applied. The cotton and vis-
decreases with the increased cover factor. Namlıgöz, cose fabrics were dyed with Drimaren CL (containing
Çoban, and Bahtiyari (2010) have identified that liquid Monochlorinetriazine/Vinylsulfhon reactive group) and
transport of woven fabrics produced from cellulosic- the polyester fabrics were dyed with Foron disperse
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polyester-blended fibers are more effective than that of dyers. Softening processes were applied for all fabrics
the 100% cotton and 100% polyester. Troynikov and with silicone softeners.
Wardiningsh (2011) have examined the moisture man- The fabrics used in the study were preconditioned in
agement properties of double-layered knitted fabrics a conditioning room at standard atmospheric conditions
produced from polyester, bamboo, wool, polyester/ (20 ± 2°C, 65 ± 2% RH) for 24 h. Physical properties of
wool and bamboo/wool blended. It has been used fabrics such as yarn count, thickness and mass per
determined as a result of this study that 52–48% unit area were determined according to ASTM D1059-
wool/bamboo-knitted fabrics has the highest overall 01 (2010), ASTM D1777-96e1 (2011), and ASTM
moisture management value so they stated that 100% D3776/D3776M-09ae2 (2009), respectively. The
polyester, bamboo/wool and polyester/wool-blended number of wales and courses in an accurately measured
fabrics have high moisture management capacity. length were counted along a line at right angles to the
Meng, Ng, Hui, Li, and Hu (2011) produced five course or wale being considered. The loop length was
indices of measurement curves and used an objective determined based on the formula in Peirce (1947), using
test method to characterize the dynamic moisture man- the results of courses and wales per unit length.
agement properties of disposable diapers by the MMT, The air permeability tests were conducted accord-
which is developed to evaluate moisture transport ing to the ASTM D737-04(2008)e2 by using the Tex-
properties of textiles in multi-directions. They con- test FX 3300 Air Permeability Tester at a test pressure
cluded that five indices of measurement curves were drop of 100 Pa (20 cm² test area).
enough to describe and predict the liquid moisture According to AATCC test method 195-2009, wet-
transfer properties of diapers more effectively. ting time (top-bottom), absorption rate (top-bottom),
Many published experimental studies have shown maximum wetted radius (top-bottom), spreading speed
that the raw materials and the structural properties of (top-bottom), accumulative one-way transport capacity
fabrics are important in the determination of moisture index and overall moisture management capability of
management properties of fabrics. It is aimed by this fabrics were measured by MMT, which were used to
quite inclusive experimental study to examine the determine liquid moisture transport properties in
effect of fiber type and the fabric structural character- multi-dimensions. By placing the sample fabric
istics obtained by changing the knitting-type and between the upper and lower sensors, which are
machine tightness level systematically on the moisture located concentrically in the device, measurements are
management properties of fabric. made. The top surface of device is simulated the sur-
face in contact with the skin and the bottom surface is
simulated exposing to the atmosphere.
Material and methods A predefined amount of test solution (synthetic
In this study, three identical groups of systematically sweat) is introduced onto the top side of the fabric,
produced 27-type fabrics, which had raw material, and the test solution will then transfer onto the mate-
weave type and tightness, were taken, and the same rial in three direction as spreading outward on the top
experimental design was repeated for three times. Sin- (inner) surface of the fabric; transferring through the
gle jersey, 1 1 rib and single pique weave types fabric from the top surface to the bottom (outer) sur-
were prepared using ring spun cotton yarn (Ne 30/1, face; spreading outward on the bottom surface of the
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Sample code Raw material Fabric design Mass per unit area (g/m2) Fabric thickness (mm) Wales/cm Courses/cm Loop length (mm) Air permeability (l/m2/s)
1 Cotton Single jersey 173.33 0.63 16 22 1.62 354.23
2 Cotton Single jersey 166.07 0.65 16 21 1.64 361.27
3 Cotton Single jersey 161.00 0.64 16 19 1.73 439.17
4 Cotton 1 1 rib 201.47 0.88 11 17 5.05 692.40
5 Cotton 1 1 rib 195.93 0.90 11 16 4.93 712.33
6 Cotton 1 1 rib 193.47 0.89 11 15 4.90 711.17
7 Cotton Single pique 200.87 0.78 13 32 1.81 517.20
8 Cotton Single pique 192.47 0.79 13 30 1.87 576.83
9 Cotton Single pique 184.47 0.78 13 29 1.99 688.53
10 Viscose Single jersey 180.80 0.51 14 22 1.79 1235.00
11 Viscose Single jersey 174.53 0.49 14 21 1.81 1315.00
12 Viscose Single jersey 165.20 0.49 14 20 1.97 1521.67
13 Viscose 1 1 rib 179.13 0.68 9 19 6.22 1667.33
14 Viscose 1 1 rib 170.27 0.67 9 18 6.47 1734.00
15 Viscose 1 1 rib 167.53 0.66 9 17 6.96 1921.00
16 Viscose Single pique 214.67 0.60 13 33 1.87 1004.33
17 Viscose Single pique 205.47 0.61 13 31 1.93 1123.93
18 Viscose Single pique 194.13 0.60 13 30 2.03 1181.33
19 Polyester Single jersey 182.53 0.63 18 20 1.39 937.37
The Journal of The Textile Institute
Figure 1. Display of MMT sensors (Yao et al., 2008). Results and discussion
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Polyester Single jersey Tight 17.55 45.42 82.41 267.31 11.67 13.67 0.56 0.68 31.02 0.50
Medium 16.31 38.16 51.15 226.68 20.33 19.33 1.02 1.45 143.71 0.56
Loose 16.37 34.40 93.85 309.70 17.00 16.67 1.60 1.83 275.69 0.59
1 1 rib Tight 19.85 30.95 39.67 305.13 17.67 16.33 0.96 1.12 231.46 0.56
Medium 19.69 19.00 62.03 216.80 21.00 20.67 1.38 1.88 318.41 0.58
Loose 17.51 18.68 68.04 207.87 20.33 20.33 1.26 1.45 299.36 0.57
Single pique Tight 15.58 28.53 47.83 232.41 18.33 18.00 1.41 1.56 200.44 0.56
Medium 16.84 21.47 52.80 266.50 19.33 18.33 1.07 1.20 277.36 0.62
Loose 15.72 20.89 50.93 193.92 17.67 16.00 1.20 1.25 267.17 0.54
703
704 E. Öner et al.
the highest values have been observed with the 1 1 affecting on liquid moisture transport properties are
rib fabric with loose tightness. At the same time, the given in Table 3.
measurement results of air permeability of these fab- In this table, each one of three factors is seen to
rics are the highest. Air permeability values are have significant effects statistically on wetting time
directly associated with the pore structure of fabrics. If (bottom), maximum wetted radius (bottom) and
the fabric tightness decreases, the porosity increases; OMMC (p < 0.05). It has been observed that the
consequently, fabric permeability increases. Air perme- effects of raw material and tightness factors on the
able fabric means that liquid moisture and water AOTI and OMMC, which are important in terms of
vapour can pass from inner surface to outer surface wetting comfort, are statistically significant whereas
and the environment. weave type factor has a significant effect on only
When correlations between fabric air permeability OMMC. The raw material factor is found to be signif-
values and OMMC/AOTI measurement results were icant for all moisture transport parameters except
examined, in the same way significant relationships absorption rate (top).
were obtained as expected, and correlation coefficients Between the OMMC values of knitted fabrics,
were found to be 0.76 and 0.78, respectively. SNK post hoc results applied according to raw mate-
As a result of variance analysis applied for the rial weave type and tightness are shown in Table 4.
knitted fabrics used in this study in terms of raw SNK test results showed that OMMC values for raw
material, tightness and weave type, the statistical material are separated into three different groups as
results indicating levels of significance of factors polyester, cotton and viscose. In terms of tightness,
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Indexes Wetting Wetting time Absorption Absorption Max wetted Max wetted Spreading Spreading
factors time (top) (bottom) rate (top) rate (bottom) radius (top) radius (bottom) speed (top) speed (bottom) AOTI OMMC
⁄⁄ ⁄ ⁄⁄
Tightness 0.448 0.002 0.653 0.074 0.206 0.040 0.605 0.662 0.008 0.002⁄⁄
Raw material 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.336 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄
Weave type 0.000⁄⁄ 0.000⁄⁄ 0.334 0.001⁄⁄ 0.273 0.046⁄ 0.580 0.677 0.102 0.039⁄
Tightness + raw 0.074 0.005⁄ 0.122 0.816 0.016⁄ 0.009⁄⁄ 0.148 0.157 0.217 0.107
material
Tightness + weave 0.752 0.107 0.160 0.218 0.329 0.439 0.198 0.188 0.183 0.058
type
Raw material + weave 0.166 0.004⁄⁄ 0.002⁄⁄ 0.195 0.000⁄⁄ 0.006⁄⁄ 0.568 0.126 0.050⁄ 0.251
type
Tightness + raw 0.665 0.014⁄⁄ 0.349 0.000⁄⁄ 0.604 0.162 0.168 0.149 0.026⁄⁄ 0.001⁄⁄
material + weave
type
⁄⁄
Note: ⁄and , respectively, show that statistically significant according to α = 0.05 and α = 0.01.
The Journal of The Textile Institute
OMMC values are lower for tight fabrics and it con- As a result of the study, it is observed that polyes-
sists of a group itself. For the medium and loose fab- ter fabrics had higher OMMC values than those of
rics, OMMC values are higher than those of tight cellulosic-based fabrics. Regarding the effect of tight-
fabrics. At the same time, medium and loose fabrics ness, liquid transport has decreased with increasing
are located within the same group without statistically tightness, in general. Weave types examined in this
significant difference. Examined for the weave type, study were observed not to have an effect as strong
OMMC values of 1 1 rib fabrics are involved in and significant as the factors such as raw materials
both sub-groups and single jersey, and single pique and tightness.
fabrics take place in different groups.
References
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moisture difference between the two sides of fabric. ASTM D3776/D3776M-09ae2 (2009). Standard test meth-
ods for mass per unit area (Weight) of fabric.
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