Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9

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Applied Ergonomics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apergo

Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted

fabrics and comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions
Gauthier Bedek a, b, e, Fabien Salaün a, b, *, Zuzana Martinkovska c, Eric Devaux a, b, Daniel Dupont a, d
a
Univ Lille Nord de France, F-59000 Lille, France
b
ENSAIT, GEMTEX, F-59100 Roubaix, France
c
Technical University of Liberec, Studentska 2, 46017 Liberec 1, Czech Republic
d
HEI, F-59046 Lille, France
e
Despature et Fils SAS, 69, rue Edouard Vaillant, 59100 Roubaix, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study reports on an experimental investigation of physical properties on the textile thermal comfort.
Received 31 March 2009 Textile properties, such as thickness, relative porosity, air permeability, moisture regain, thermal conduc-
Accepted 4 January 2011 tivity, drying time and water-vapour transmission rate have been considered and correlated to the thermal
and vapour resistance, permeability index, thermal effusivity and moisture management capability in
Keywords: order to determine the overall comfort performance of underwear fabrics. The results suggested that
Thermal comfort
the fibre type, together with moisture regain and knitted structure characteristics appeared to affect some
Heat and mass transfer
comfort-related properties of the fabrics. Additionally, thermal sensations, temperature and skin wetness
Underwear physical characteristics
predicted by Caseto! software for three distinct activity levels were investigated. Results show that the data
obtained from this model in transient state are correlated to the thermal conductivity for the temperature
and to Ret, moisture regain and drying time for the skin wetness. This provides potential information to
determine the end uses of these fabrics according to the selected activity level.
" 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Everyday, people wear textiles in contact with their skin, and in
some context such as sport, work, or prolonged bed immobility. The
dynamics of interactions between the fabric and the skin are impor-
tant factors to be considered in terms of product development. Every
friction, wrong moisture or heat management decreases the level of
comfort and can also lead to minor inconveniences such as sensitive
skin, feeling of wetness. or major inconveniences and discomfort
such as an increase of skin temperature and skin wetness. Thermal
comfort refers to the mind condition which expresses satisfaction
with the thermal environment (ASHRAE, 1992) and it is closely
related to clothing comfort. Thus, when it is provided by clothing, it is
mainly affected by tactile perceptions meaning sensorial comfort
including warm-cool feeling of the fabric, moisture and thermal
interactions which influence the human perception (Sukigara and
Niwa, 1997); and also related to the way clothing interacts with
metabolic heat and moisture dissipation, i.e. thermophysiological
comfort. Fanger, in 1972 has underlined that the conditions of thermal
* Corresponding author. ENSAIT/GEMTEX, 2, Allée Louise et Victor Champier, BP
30329/59056 Roubaix, France. Tel.: þ333 20 25 64 59; fax: þ333 20 27 25 97.
E-mail address: fabien.salaun@ensait.fr (F. Salaün).
comfort are mainly dependent on the activity level, the thermal
resistance of the clothing, the air temperature, the mean radiant
temperature, the relative air velocity and the vapour pressure in
ambient air (Fanger, 1972). The thermal comfort of the wearer is
dependent on the clothing relationship with the wearer, its activity
and the environment, since garment can be an obstacle to the heat
and moisture transfers (Parsons, 1993). Heat transfers of underwear
at low activity are mainly governed by conductive, convective and
radiative heat transfer mechanisms (Holcombe and Hoschke, 1983);
whereas at high activity levels (or warm conditions), evaporation
becomes predominant (Watkins and Slater, 1981). Thus, at these
latter conditions, the thermal sensation is mainly influenced by the
sweating rather than by the skin surface temperature, since the
evaporative cooling effect by the sweating allows to maintain skin
temperature at a favourable level (Fukazawa and Havenith, 2009).
Furthermore, according to the Ukponmwan’s study, the design of
clothes for an ideal clothing comfort should take into account a high
thermal resistance for protection from cold, a low water-vapour
resistance for efficient heat transfer under mild thermal-stress, and
rapid liquid transport characteristics to improve heat transfer under
high thermal-stress conditions (Ukponmwan, 1993).
Various researches have been carried out to determine the
clothing variables that contribute to the microclimate and the

0003-6870/$ e see front matter " 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001

Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
2 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9

perceived thermal comfort. The first sensation, warm-cool feeling,
and the structural roughness of the fabrics change according to fibre
type and fabric structure, thus a warmer feeling can be obtained
when the interfacial contact between the skin and the fabric is small
for rough fabric (Pac et al., 2001). Furthermore, according to the Hes’
study, cotton yarns are suitable for a cool feeling and PES/wool yarns
for a warm feeling for hot and cold day applications, respectively
(Hes, 2000). The fibre nature materials as well as the fabric design
of the knitted fabrics influence also the microclimate over the
skin surface (Nielsen and Endrusick, 1990a, 1990b), and the ther-
moregulatory response at the skin. Thus, the thermal properties of
a rib knitted structure are in close relation to the fabric structure,
fabric density related to stitch density, rib number and yarn
properties; since an increase of yarn count and twist increase the
thermal resistance whereas water-vapour permeability is found to
be decreased (Özdil et al., 2007; Uçar and Yılmaz, 2004). Other
parameters influencing water-vapour transport and permeability
are the thickness, air permeability and moisture regain related to the
fabric characteristics, i.e. fibre composition, yarn and fabric variables
(Çil et al., 2009; Prahsarn et al., 2005). Therefore, fabrics properties
like thermal resistance, air permeability, water-vapour permeability,
and liquid water permeability can be suggested as critical for
thermal comfort of clothed body (Das et al., 2007); and are required
to assess the heat exchange and to evaluate the wearer’s comfort
perception (Pause, 1996; Prahsarn et al., 2005; Ruckman, 1997).
A literature survey showed that there are various methods to
simulate the main aspects of body exchange functions as well as to
realise textile measurements under well controlled energy-exchange
conditions, allowing to establish some relevant thermophysiological
correlations, e.g. sweating guarded hot plate apparatus, cylindrical
devices, instrumented manikins and human tests (Babus’Haq et al.,
1996; Fan and Tsang, 2008; ISO, 1993). Moisture management
tester (MMT) was also used to characterise the liquid transfer prop-
erties of the fabrics (Hu et al., 2005; Yao et al., 2006). However,
most of times, these measurements are realised under steady-state
condition, whereas textile underwears should absorb rapidly a high
amount of sweating to maintain thermal comfort at long term during
a sportive activity, since they are worn next to the skin. Therefore,
to insure adequate predictions of comfort, the evaluation of heat and
moisture transfer of textile fabrics should be explored under steady
and transient states. Besides, from the last years, several textile
thermal models and simulation have been developed to simulate or
predict human thermal physiological status (Huizenga et al., 2001; Li,
2005; Luo et al., 2007; Wang and Li, 2003). In one of them, CASETO!,
Tillman and Blanc took into account a complete model of all energy
exchanges (conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation) in
the fabric, a model of human thermoregulation developed by NASA,
statistical models of thermal sensation and comfort which were
obtained from a test series in a climatic chamber (Tilmann and Blanc,
2008). This development allows to design materials that are precisely
adapted to a given activity.
The purpose of this study was not only to collect experimental
data about the heat and moisture transfers through a selected
group of underwear fabrics, but also to compare these results with
those predicted by Caseto!. The first step of this study was to
evaluate fabric properties, i.e. air permeability, moisture water-
vapour transmission (MWVT), thermal effusivity (ET) and conduc-
tivity (lT), liquid moisture management properties, and thermal
and evaporative resistances (Rct and Ret) in order to determine the
effects of the construction design factor on comfort in steady state.
The second step was to elucidate the dependency of these physical
properties for three defined types of activity on the skin tempera-
ture and wetness simulated by Caseto! (transient state).
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
In this study, six types of commercially available underwears
designed for sportswear applications were used. Their fibre contents,
fabric design structures, fabric weights as well as their moisture
regains and relative porosity are listed in Table 1. The sample simple
rib, labelled A, was composed of a blend of cotton, polyester and rayon.
Three 1 " 1 interlock samples were also studied, which differed
essentially in their composition, i.e. cotton (B), blending of cotton
and viscose (C), and polyamide (D), respectively. The double rib fabric
samples labelled E and F, were specially designed for the moisture
management, with a hydrophilic inner side and a hydrophobic outer
side, respectively.
They were conditioned for 48 h in the atmospheric conditions of
temperature 20 # 2 $ C and relative humidity 65 # 2% RH, before the
various tests.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Relative porosity
Porosity values were calculated using the equation given below
(Eq. (1)):
m
! "
P ¼ 1& " 100 (1)
r " er
where P is the porosity; m, the fabric weight (g m&2); r, the fibre
density (g m&3); and er the fabric thickness (cm) (ISO, 1996).
2.2.2. Air permeability
The air permeability of textile fabrics is determined by the rate
of flow of air passing perpendicularly through a given area of fabric
by measuring at a given pressure its difference across the fabric
test area over a given time period. Transverse air permeability was
measured with FX3300 (Textest, Switzerland) with a pressure
applied of 196 Pa, according to ISO 9237 (ISO, 1995).

Table 1
Description of test materials.

Sample Description Fabric weight Thickness Relative Moisture Air permeability

code m (g/m2) (mm) porosity P (%) regain (%) (l/m2/s)
Fabric content Fabric design
A 38% cotton, 31% polyester and 31% rayon Simple rib 215.7 (#2.1) 0.99 (#0.02) 85.4 4.2 (#0.9) 727.80 (#74.55)
B 100% cotton 1 " 1 Interlock 216.4 (#6.4) 1.19 (#0.01) 87.4 4.6 (#0.3) 706.20 (#21.86)
C 70% cotton and 30% viscose 1 " 1 Interlock 226.7 (#5.1) 1.16 (#0.01) 86.8 5.6 (#0.1) 917.20 (#23.34)
D 100% polyamide 1 " 1 Interlock 166.6 (#5.2) 0.73 (#0.03) 78.7 2.3 (#0.1) 1224.00 (#140.00)
E 68% polyester and 32% hydrophilic Double rib 207.2 (#7.6) 0.86 (#0.02) 83.0 0.3 (#0.1) 2060.00 (#76.15)
polyester (filament)
F 69% polyester and 31% hydrophilic Double rib 187.8 (#2.5) 0.86 (#0.02) 84.1 0.3 (#0.1) 2660.00 (#65.90)
polyester (multifilament)

Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9
2.2.3. Drying duration
The determination of drying duration was determined according to
the French standard NF G 07-166 (ISO, 1993). For drying tests the
fabric samples were completely immersed and wrung. Then the
weights of samples were measured every 5 min until the
percentage of absorbed water on the samples became 1%.
2.2.4. Water-Vapour Transmission Rate (WVTR) by desiccant
inverted cup method
The water-vapour transmission rates of the various fabrics were
measured according to ISO 15496 (ISO, 2004). The inverted cup
test was conducted at 23 $ C and 50% relative humidity. A saturated
potassium acetate solution (Carlo Erba, SDS, France), previously
maintained at 23 $ C during 12 h, was used as a desiccant to generate
23% relative humidity on the upper side of the fabric. When, the
solution was poured in the measuring cup (transparent plastic,
internal diameter from 85 to 95 mm, 250 ml), this latter was
covered by a vapour permeable membrane (PTFE membrane, water-
vapour permeability >1.5 g m&2 Pa h) using rubber band to
maintain the membrane taut. The measuring cup was weighted by
means of a balance with a precision of #1 mg, inverted and inserted
into the specimen holder. After 15 min, the measuring cup was
removed and reweighted. The water-vapour permeability of the
fabric was calculated from (Eq. (2)):
96 " ða1 & a0 Þ
WVTR ¼ (2)
S
where, WVTR is the rate of water-vapour transmission (g m&2 day&1);
a0 and a1 the mass of the inverted cup before test and after test of
15 min (g); and, S, the water-vapour permeable area (m2).
2.2.5. Thermal conductivity
The thermal conductivity (lT) of fabric samples were measured
by the Hot Disk! Method Thermal Analyser (TDA-501). The hot-disk
method uses a thin disk-shaped sensor (hot-disk sensor) to measure
the thermal conductivity. The measurement time was kept at 20 s,
and the output power to the hot-disk sensor was 40 mW. The sensor
radius was 6.403 mm. At least five measurements were performed
for each material to ensure the repeatability of the measurements
results. To prepare samples for the hot-disk measurements, knitting
fabrics of 100 " 100 mm2 were compressed at 2 kPa. During the
measurement, the hot-disk sensor was sandwiched between the
two sample fabrics, according to ISO 22007-2 (He, 2005; ISO, 2008;
Salaün et al., 2010).
2.2.6. Thermal effusivity
This parameter characterises the transient thermal feeling
during the first contact when we put on the underwear (Hes, 2000).
Thermal effusivity or hand feel related to the warm-cool feeling of
the knitted samples was measured on Thermo labo device KES-FB7
under an applied pressure of 1 gf cm&2, and with a temperature
difference of 10 $ C (Yoneda and Kawabata, 1982).
2.2.7. Moisture management properties
The moisture management properties of the various fabrics were
evaluated using Moisture Management Tester (MMT) from Atlas!,
which contained upper and lower concentric moisture sensors,
enclosing the knitted sample (Yao et al., 2006). All specimens
(8.0 " 8.0 # 0.1 cm2) were washed and ironed to remove excessive
water and wrinkled; and then they have been conditioned for
at least 24 h prior to be tested (ASTM, 2008). The wetting time top/
bottom (WTTop/WTBottom), absorption rate top/bottom (ARTop/ARBot-
tom), maximum wetted radius top/bottom (MWRTop and MWRBottom),
spreading speed top/bottom (SSTop/SSBotto), and accumulative one-
way transport capability from fabric’s inner surface to outer surface
Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
3
(R) were the measured indexes. Furthermore, the overall moisture
management capacity (OMMC) related to the overall capability of
the fabric to manage the transport of liquid moisture was determined
knowing the ARBottom, R, and SSBottom indexes.
The sweating was stimulated with 0.21 # 0.01 g of synthetic
sweat, which was introduced onto the fabric’s top surface during
the first 20 s of the test (120 s) and then transferred onto the
fabrics in three directions, i.e. spreading outward on the upper
surface of the fabric, transferring through the fabric from the
upper surface to the bottom surface and spreading outward on the
lower surface of the fabric.
2.2.8. Sweating guarded hot plate (steady-state evaluation)
The sweating guarded hot plate apparatus was used to
measure the thermophysiological comfort of clothing, i.e. the
thermal and vapour resistances of fabrics under steady-state
conditions, Rct and Ret, respectively (ISO, 1993). The temperature
of the guarded hot plate was kept at 35 $ C (i.e. the temperature of
the human skin) and for the determination of Rct of the fabrics,
the standard atmospheric conditions (65% R.H and 20 $ C) were
set, whereas for the Ret determination of the samples, the air
temperature was set to 35 $ C and the relative humidity was
controlled at 40%. The test apparatus consisted of a guarded hot
plate assembly was enclosed in a climatic chamber, and air speed
generated by the air flow hood was set to 1 # 0.05 m/s. The test
section was in the centre of the plate, surrounded by the guard
and lateral heater that prevented heat leakage. Data from three
replications of the tests were averaged to determine the mean
value for each fabric.
For the Rct test, the fabric sample was placed on the porous
metal plate surface and the heat flux from the plate to the envi-
ronment was measured. After the system reached steady state, total
thermal resistance of the fabric was calculated using (Eq. (3)):
Tp & Ta
#$ %&
RcT ¼ Rc & Rc0 ¼ & Rc0 (3)
Hc
where, Rc0 was thermal resistance without sample; Hc (W m&2)
was the energy supplied to the plate to be maintained at 35$ C; Tp
and Ta were the plate and the room temperature, respectively.
The resistance to evaporative heat transfer, Ret (m2 Pa W&1),
which simulated the moisture transport through textiles when
worn next human skin, was determined in the sweating guarded
hot plate. It is an indirect method of measuring the vapour trans-
mission property of a fabric. To insure only water-vapour contact
with the fabric sample, a PTFE membrane was placed on the plate.
Ret was calculated after that has reached its steady state from the
following equation (Eq. (4)):
#$
Pp & Pa
%&
ReT ¼ Re & Re0 ¼ & Re0 (4)
He
where, Pp the water-vapour pressure at the plate surface (kPa), Pa
the water-vapour pressure of the air (kPa), He the electrical power
(W m&2), and Re0 is the evaporative resistance measured for the air
layer.
The permeability index, ImT, determined according to ISO 11092
(ISO, 1993) (Eq. (5)), was a relative measure of the permeability of
the fabric to the passage of water vapour. The ImT varied between
0 and 1 for completely impermeable and permeable fabrics,
respectively.
RcT
ImT ¼ 60 " (5)
ReT
4 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9

2.2.9. Simulation of physiological and thermal comfort
in transient state
The thermal sensations, which should be obtained by the
wearer in transient state for three distinct activities were evaluated
by the software CASETO! (ENVEHO, France). This software has
taken into account the various exchanges between the human skin
and the textile fabric with the integration of two models, i.e. heat
and moisture transfers through the fabric layers and an adaptation
of the thermoregulation model (from Gagge’s model), and a corre-
lation between the thermophysiological parameters and the
thermal sensation. Seated quiet (heat generation of 61 W m2),
walking during 20 min (heat generation of 220 W m2) and running
(heat generation of 290 W m2) were selected as activities.
The environmental conditions used for these simulations were as
follows: ambient temperature of 26 $ C, relative humidity of 46%,
without wind, radiant temperature of 26 $ C, the solar illumination
was considered as zero, and 5800 K was chosen for the spectral
temperature. The choice of a solar illumination of zero was con-
ducted to focus the study only on conductive, convective, diffusive,
and evaporative transfers.
Skin temperature (Tsk) and skin wetness (w%) were chosen as the
two thermoregulatory responses during this simulation. The skin
wetness is the rate between the required body secretion to insure
a null balance, and the maximum possible evaporation in the
ambient air. Low value of wetness (below 12%) is generally associ-
ated with a sense of pleasantness and comfort, since wetness is not
perceptible and skin feels dry. From 12 to 30%, a slight moistness
appears; and from 30%, a decrease of sweat efficiency leads to
an unpleasant sensation (Berger, 2001). Beyond 60%, the skin
surface is completely wet, and therefore it is experienced as
discomfort (Gagge et al., 1969). Furthermore, according to Havenith,
the skin wetness can be recognised to be one of the most convenient
indices to predict the human thermal comfort level on the warm
side (Havenith et al., 2002).
3. Results and discussion
The thermal and moisture management properties of knitted
fabrics depend on several factors which may take into account the
fibre characteristics, the structure and properties of the resulted
yarn as well as the design characteristics of the fabrics itself. All
the selected samples found application in textile underwear, which
allowed us to examine the effect of porosity, chosen as fabric
construction factor, on the main physical characteristics of the fabrics,
i.e. air permeability, thermal and moisture management properties.
3.1. Influence of the fabric design on physical properties
The porosity of a fabric should be one of the most important
parameters which influence the moisture absorbency, mass trans-
fer and thermal conductivity. Even if, air permeability was mainly
affected by the fabric porosity, the relationship between air
permeability, a dynamic property, and knitted fabric porosity is not
simple, since porosity can be considered as a static property. Thus,
the porosity depends mainly on the structural parameters of the
fabric design, i.e. pores and inter-thread channels and therefore to
the bulk density. Besides, for the samples labelled B, C and D, having
the same fabric design, as the bulk density increases, air perme-
ability increases too. Whereas for the samples labelled E and F with
similar fibre structure, it has been noticed that the air permeability
value increased as expected with the increment of porosity. This
was mainly due to the difference of the inter-fibre pores dimen-
sions between the monofilament and the multifilament of PES.
Moisture regain values of the fabrics tested are listed in Table 1.
Previously, Çil et al. have found that the most significant variables
affecting the moisture regain properties of fabrics was the fibre
composition (Çil et al., 2009). Thus, it was not surprising to observe
that as the proportion of hydrophilic fibres, i.e. cotton and viscose,
in the fabrics increases, the number of water absorbing group
increases leading to higher moisture regain of the knitted under-
wear. Furthermore the measured value for the sample B, D, E and F
are closed to the literature ones (Morton, 1962).
3.2. Thermophysiological properties
The aim of investigating fabrics underwear properties was to
determine the contributions of variables to the heat and moisture
transfers in steady and transient states. The measurements of
heat and moisture properties are given in Table 2, and the Pearson
correlation coefficients between these variables and underwear
properties are listed in Table 3.
The thermal effusivity, or first thermal contact feeling, of the
underwear tested was strongly affected by their structure and
more specially relative porosity (Fig. 1), and also by the moisture
regain value related to their composition (Tables 1 and 2). Thus,
fabrics having low moisture regain, E and F, have the lower thermal
effusivity value which provide warmer feeling. On the other hand,
fabrics A, B, C and D show the coolest feeling with higher moisture
regain. Although, thermalpeffusivity is also correlated to the
l$r$Cp, r is the density (kg m&3) and
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
thermal conductivity (E ¼
Cp is the specific heat capacity (J kg&1 K&1)) (Table 3), the narrow
range of the thermal conductivities lT of various textile underwear
(0.0482e0.0816 W m&1 K&1) cannot account for the variation of
the measured value of the first contact feeling. Thus, the main
factors explaining the variation range are the densities (nylon: 114;
cotton: 152; and PES: 139 kg m&3) and the Cp (nylon: 1.43; cotton:
1.21; and PES: 1.34 J kg&1 K&1) which are dependent on the
textile structures. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity increases
depending on the double rib, single jersey, and interlock 1 " 1
structures. The amount of fibre increases in the unit area and
the amount of air layer decreases as the weight increases. And this
is related to the amount of entrapped air in the fabric structure, or
porosity, since the thermal conductivity values of the fibres are
higher than the entrapped air ones.
3.2.1. Steady state heat and vapour transmission
Measured and calculated properties related to heat and vapour
transfer under steady-state conditions are given in Table 2. The dry

Table 2
Properties of the underwear.

Sample code Thermal Conductivity Rct (m2 K W&1) Ret ImT Drying WVTR OMMC Thermal effusivity
lT (W m K&1) " 10&3 (m2 Pa W&1) time (min) (g m&2 day&1) ET (J cm&2 s&1)
A 76.70 (#3.6) 0.0260 (#0.0002) 3.96 (#0.35) 0.39 87 (#3) 16864.10 (#832.12) 0.27 (#0.09) 0.121 (#0.003)
B 81.60 (#2.4) 0.0246 (#0.0002) 4.74 (#0.05) 0.31 115 (#2) 15582.21 (#253.49) 0.22 (#0.05) 0.107 (#0.002)
C 81.50 (#2.9) 0.0258 (#0.0001) 4.82 (#0.25) 0.34 128 (#3) 15771.91 (#538.59) 0.27 (#0.02) 0.119 (#0.001)
D 77.10 (#1.6) 0.0272 (#0.0001) 3.20 (#0.30) 0.50 23 (#2) 19836.83 (#571.66) 0.72 (#0.04) 0.125 (#0.002)
E 48.20 (#3.3) 0.0256 (#0.0002) 2.68 (#0.10) 0.58 16 (#1) 16503.59 (#242.38) 0.35 (#0.01) 0.093 (#0.001)
F 49.60 (#2.4) 0.0296 (#0.0001) 3.43 (#0.20) 0.52 21 (#1) 15175.72 (#406.49) 0.34 (#0.01) 0.091 (#0.001)

Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9 5

Table 3
Pearson’s correlation coefficient between thermal properties measured on sweating
hot plate, KES module, MMT and textiles properties.

Textile properties Rct Ret ImT Thermal OMMC

effusivity
Air permeability 0.739 &0.681 0.814 &0.805 0.145
Thickness &0.610 0.907 L0.880 0.120 &0.799
Porosity &0.421 0.778 &0.726 &0.135 L0.954
Moisture regain &0.601 0.901 L0.944 0.707 &0.356
Thermal &0.524 0.757 L0.845 0.863 &0.005
conductivity
Drying time &0.609 0.961 L0.966 0.452 &0.610
WVTR 0.022 &0.422 0.292 0.609 0.901

(p < 0.05). Bold values are significant at 5% level.

heat resistance (Rct) of fabrics is generally related to the thermal

conductivity of the fibres and fabric thicknesses (Rct ¼ h/lT; Rct:
thermal resistance, h: thickness, lT: thermal conductivity), but is
also dependent on the relative porosity as shown in Fig. 2 and
the moisture content. The lower thermal resistance obtained for
the cotton fabric (B) can be attributed to its regain, which is one of
the highest. Nevertheless Pearson correlation analysis conducted to
determine eventual relationship between the results of sweating
guarded hot plate and the other test results do not allow to find
a specific correlation between Rct and thermal conductivity. Thus,
according to the construction design, i.e. double rib and interlock
1 " 1, Rct values was found to be increased or decreased with an
increase of thermal conductivity for samples labelled (E, F) and
(B, C, D), respectively. Furthermore, for a determined construction
design, the underwear fabrics with the highest air permeability
value are those which have better thermal conductivity and also
give warmer feeling (Fig. 1 and Table 2). The contradiction between
the evolution of the thermal resistance and the thermal conduc-
tivity for the samples E and F might be explained by the type of yarn
used for the double rib. Thus, the used of simple PES filament
decreases thermal conductivity value.
Table 3 shows the correlation between the evaporative thermal
resistance (Ret), measured with the guarded sweating hot plate
and thickness, moisture regain and drying time. These observations
are consistent with the fact that underwear fabrics containing
cellulosic fibres have higher moisture regain values than the others.
Therefore even if they could absorb an amount of moisture they do
not easily release the absorbed moisture.
As shown in Table 2, fabrics containing cotton have the longest
drying time, which can be correlated to lowest air permeability
value and highest moisture regain. Thus, the higher the air
permeability of the fabric was, the smaller the drying time was
obtained. Furthermore, the difference between the E and F samples,
Fig. 1. Thermal effusivity and conductivity vs. relative porosity.
Fig. 2. Thermal resistance and permeability index vs. relative porosity.
may be attributed to the effects of hydrophilic and hydrophobic
fibre properties of these fabrics. Thus, Ret value underlines the
ability to release liquid and moisture through underwear fabric.
Furthermore, except for the sample labelled D (100% polyamide),
the evaporative heat transfer was also controlled by fabric porosity.
Ret depends also on the fabric thickness which determines the
distance through which moisture vapour transfers from one side of
the underwear to the other.
The water-vapour permeability index (ImT) gives some infor-
mation about the breathability of fabrics taking into account their
thermal insulation. In this work, ImT values range from 0.31 to 0.58
(Table 2) are strongly correlated to fabric porosities, excepted for
the sample labelled D which has the lowest thickness (Fig. 2). On
the other hand, according to Verdu (Verdu et al., 2009), a fabric was
considered to provide optimum thermal comfort if ImT z 0.3, which
corresponds to our samples A, B and C. Nevertheless, samples
labelled D, E and F are also suitable to lead thermal comfort,
since a high permeability index is the starting point for allowing
sweat evaporation to avoid moisture accumulation. Furthermore,
some relevant correlations are found between this index and textile
properties (Table 2), which suggest that an increase of air perme-
ability, decreases of moisture regain, thermal conductivity and
drying time are the main fabric properties variables for thermal
comfort evaluation in steady state.
3.2.2. Mass transfer and moisture management properties
Water-Vapour Transmission Rate (WVTR) provides some rele-
vant information on the fabric “breathability”. Although, this
method should be highly correlated to the sweating hot plate
method (McCullough et al., 2003); in this study, it seemed that Ret
values did not correspond to the WVTR values (Table 3). One of
the possible explanations was the presence of air layers which led
to different water-vapour pressure gradient through the fabrics.
A comparison of the underwear fabrics examined for water-vapour
transmission (Table 2) indicated that all the fabrics exhibited high
water transmission irrespective to their construction design since
no significant difference have been observed for the various samples,
excepted for the underwear fabric labelled D. As shown in Fig. 3,
water-vapour transmission rate was correlated to relative porosity,
and lower relative porosity value led to higher MWTR value. Despite
a higher air permeability value, the MWTR measured value of the
double rib samples, E and F, remains in the same range of magnitude
than the samples A, B and C from 15175 to 16864 g m&2 day&1.
In opposition to air permeability variable which was affected by
convection, water-vapour permeability measurement took place in
conditions of free convection by the diffusion of water vapour in the
surfaces between fibres and clearance (Wilbik-Ha1gas et al., 2006).

Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
6 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9

3.3. Physiological responses and evaluation of thermal comfort

The methodology applied in this part was deductive using

Fig. 3. Air permeability and MWTR vs. relative porosity.
Thus porosity properties of the fabrics should promote this process,
which was not checked in this work. The discrepancy in these
results can be attributed to the gap between the fabric D thickness
(the lowest thickness and surface weight) and the other samples.
The results of moisture management properties of our samples
are summarised in Table 4 and shown that the samples can be
classified into three categories according to their composition, i.e.
cellulosic, polyamide, and polyester. Table 4 reveals also that
fabric D had the highest liquid overall moisture management
capacity (OMMC ¼ 0.72) and he highest one-way transport capacity
(R ¼ 1173), showing that liquid sweat can be easily and quickly
transferred from the skin to the outer surface. This fabric also had
spreading rates near zero and low wetted radii for the bottom and
upper surfaces, indicating that liquid passed spontaneously trough
the fabric without wetting it, in these tested conditions. PES
fabrics, E and F, have lower one-way transport capability (R ¼ &62.5
and &158.3, respectively), fair OMMC (OMMC ¼ 0.35 and 0.34,
respectively), very fast wetting time, medium absorption rate,
very large wetted radii and very fast spreading speed; indicating
that the liquid sweat can transfer from the surface next to skin to
the opposite surface and spread quickly with large wetted area.
Cellulosic fabrics, A, B and C, present fair one-way transfer capacity
(negative values) and fair overall liquid moisture management
capacity (from 0.22 to 0.27), showing that they have lower moisture
management properties than samples E and F. Furthermore,
their medium absorption rates, spreading speeds and wetted radii,
and fast wetting time indicate that they are fast absorbing and slow
drying fabrics.
On the other hand, OMMC are strongly correlated to fabric
relative porosity (Table 3) and to MWTR test, thus low porosity
leads to high liquid moisture management capacity.
Moreover, some relevant correlations are found between evap-
orative resistance and textile properties (Table 2), which suggest
that an decrease of thickness, moisture regain, and drying time,
are the main fabric properties variables for fabric which decrease
evaporative resistance in steady state.
a simulation of predictive model to describe the thermal sensation
from the gathered data. Thus, the effects of fabric properties on skin
temperature and skin wetness of six different underwears were
investigated and three different scenarios, i.e. sitting, walking and
jogging activities, were considered.
As it can be seen from Fig. 4A, during the sitting period, skin
temperature of the underwear fabrics have the same trend,
where there was a deep increase during the first 40 min followed
by a gradual increase thereafter until stabilisation from 80 min for
samples A, B, C and D; 100 and 120 min for samples E and F,
respectively. Furthermore, skin temperature of samples E and F
were marginally lower than the other fabrics of 0.15 and 0.45 $ C,
respectively; and a delay of the thermal sensation transition from
slightly cold to neutral of 8 and 16 min was obtained. During the
low metabolic activity period (Fig. 5A and B), the skin temperature
rapidly rose to reach a maximum value for each fabric and lower
than those obtained during the rest period. After 4e6 min, the skin
temperature fell down to reach a steady state from 30 min.
According to the kind of underwear worn, the shape of temperature
skin curves gave greater distinction of fabrics. Thus, even if the
temperature variations were in the same order of magnitude
(w<0.4 $ C), the skin temperature of the wearer was found to be
lower in the following rank order of fabrics: F < E < D < A < B < C.
For a high activity level, the same order was found (Fig. 6). On the
other hand, the curve shapes and the thermal sensation transition
varied in a large scale. Thus, after an increase between the 2nd and
the 3rd minutes, the skin temperature for the worn samples E and F
decreased until the 5th minute to gradually increase until to reach
the steady state at the 20th minutes. With the other fabrics worn,
the skin temperature increased either rapidly with C and B samples
to reach a maximum value at the 12th minute and decrease towards
the steady state thereafter; or to reach slowly a steady state with
A and D fabrics. Thus, whatever the activity level, each fabric
influenced differently the variations of skin temperature, which
seemed to be related to the thermal conductivity of the tested
samples. Indeed, the skin temperature curves may be ranked in the
same order than the thermal conductivities of their underwear
fabrics, i.e. FeE < DeA < BeC.
The variation of skin wetness was also depicted in various activity
levels in Figs. 4B, 5B and 6B. During the rest period, the skin wetness
was relatively low (<10%), the sweat appeared from the 76th
minutes with the A, B and C fabrics, whereas when the other
underwear were worn we can note a delay of 1.5 min for sample D,
21.3 and 42 min for samples E and F, respectively. These delays may
be attributed to the fabrics air permeability. Thus, during the sitting
activity, fabrics with good air permeability gave low temperature
and humidity. For the other activity levels, the skin wetness showed
similar tendency whatever the fabrics used, i.e. a rapid increase
from the 2nd to the 5th minute and then an equilibrium phase.
On the other hand, skin wetness was found to be between 57e67%
and70e80% for walking and jogging activities, respectively. The rank

Table 4
Summary of fabrics moisture management properties of various underwear fabrics.

Sample WTTop, s WTBottom, s ARTop, %/s ARBottom, %/s MWRTop, mm MWRBottom, mm SSTop, mm/s SSBottom, mm/s R, % OMMC
code
A 4.7 # 0.4 4.9 # 0.2 42.9 # 6.0 41.0 # 3.9 15.0 # 0.0 16.0 # 2.2 2.4 # 0.1 2.4 # 0.1 &36.1 # 129.9 0.27 # 0.09
B 4.8 # 0.4 5.0 # 0.4 44.9 # 1.3 48.9 # 2.7 14.0 # 2.2 13.0 # 2.7 2.1 # 0.3 1.9 # 0.3 &14.3 # 28.1 0.22 # 0.05
C 3.9 # 0.1 4.1 # 0.2 45.1 # 1.0 43.9 # 1.5 19.0 # 2.2 19.0 # 2.2 2.9 # 0.1 2.9 # 0.1 &34.4 # 6.1 0.27 # 0.02
D 120.0 # 0.0 8.4 # 1.3 0.0 # 0.0 111.2 # 43.8 0.0 # 0.0 5.0 # 0.0 0.0 # 0.0 0.6 # 0.1 1173.3 # 165.1 0.72 # 0.04
E 2.7 # 0.1 3.4 # 0.4 50.3 # 2.4 47.1 # 2.1 25.0 # 0.0 23.0 # 2.7 5.3 # 0.0 4.1 # 0.2 &62.5 # 14.3 0.35 # 0.01
F 2.5 # 0.1 3.7 # 0.1 51.9 # 1.4 48.9 # 2.6 30.0 # 0.0 20.0 # 0.0 6.8 # 0.1 3.8 # 0.2 &158.3 # 10.6 0.34 # 0.01

Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9
Fig. 4. Simulation of skin temperature (A) and wetness (B) for a sitting activity by
Caseto!.
Fig. 5. Simulation of skin temperature (A) and wetness (B) for a walking activity by
Caseto!.
Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001
7
Fig. 6. Simulation of skin temperature (A) and wetness (B) for a jogging activity by
Caseto!.
order of these variations was to be found in good agreement with the
Ret, the moisture regain as well as the drying time of the samples.
Indeed, the higher moisture absorbency of the fabric in contact to the
skin was, the slower the vapour transmission of the knitted structure
was. Therefore it affected the clothing thermal comfort.
The lowest skin temperature and skin wetness was found when
samples E and F were worn, most probably because the PES
underwear absorbed sweat and dried quickly so as to dissipate the
body heat effectively. Furthermore, the thermal comfort sensation
transitions warm to hot were delayed from 5 to 10 min compared to
the other underwear during high activity level. Thus, these fabrics
may be assumed to more comfortable than the other samples.
Thin sample D, with a high OMMC value, a good MWTR capacity
and relatively high thermal resistance generated low temperature
variation and skin wetness. On the other hand, results obtained
with samples A, B and C were found to be in correlation with their
relatively low OMMC value, even if the behaviour with sample
A due to its higher MWTR is better than with fabrics B and C, where
the textile tests do not allow to discriminate them.
4. Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to analyse and determine the
relationship between the textile properties and the thermal
comfort of six knitted types of underwear. Thus, we have attempted
to discuss some comfort-related properties of fabrics from cotton/
polyester/rayon blend simple rib, cotton, cotton/viscose blend,
polyamide 1 " 1 interlock and polyester double rib. It was found
that the thermal comfort in steady state was mainly influenced
by the relative porosity and moisture regain which affect the first
thermal contact feeling and their thermal conductivities. Relevant
correlations were also determined between the vapour resistance
8 G. Bedek et al. / Applied Ergonomics xxx (2011) 1e9

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Please cite this article in press as: Bedek, G., et al., Evaluation of thermal and moisture management properties on knitted fabrics and
comparison with a physiological model in warm conditions, Applied Ergonomics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.001