Studies on Effect of Fiber Properties and Fabric Structure on Fabric Hand

By

Sungmee Park

Fabric hand is a proper psychological response that will help in deciding the quality and performance of the fabric for a particular end use. It is also the measuring unit for subjective assessments that are natural and instinctive because of the psychological process that occurs when the fabric is touched. The evaluation of fabric hand has been used in the textile and related industries as a convenient method to measure the quality and potential performance of a product for the particular end use. Hence the goal is to determine how objective assessments can be applied for particular end uses, instead of subjective assessment which are normally used by customers. The experiments, 'in this thesis, have accordingly been conducted to study three different effects: 1) Effect of Material; 2) Effect of Yarn Geometry and Fabric Structure (Thread Spacing, Thread Count and Yarn Twist); and 3) Effect of Size Application.

From this study, it was found that woolen fabrics have the least softness when compared to the fabrics made from other fibers because woolen fibers have the highest value of coefficient of friction among the fibers tested. At low stresses, the fabric stretchiness would depend more on the weave structure than on yarn geometry or fiber properties. In the case of stiffness, woolen fabrics were the most stiff while polyester fabrics were the most flexible. In the case of thermal insulation, close structured fabrics made from fine yarns had a warmer feeling than open structured fabrics made from coarse yams. The results of objective and subjective assessments were similar. Consequently, objective assessment can be used for testing fabric hand properties instead of subjective assessment.

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