The Effects of Fiber Type, Elastane (El) Usage, and Knit Structure on the Moisture Management Properties of Sandwich-Type Double-Face Knitted Fabrics

Moisture management is one of the significant components specifying the thermo-physiological comfort level of fabrics. One of the approaches of making moisture management fabric is to use double-face knitted construction with the combination of hydrophobic fiber type on inner fabric face and hygroscopic fiber type on outer fabric face. While hydrophobic inner face helps to transfer liquid moisture from skin to outer face with capillary action, hygroscopic outer face absorbs liquid moisture and spreads it over greater area on outer face to facilitate evaporation. For a fabric, esthetic appearance is also as important as comfort properties. In this study, to fulfill functional and esthetic performance expectations, particular variants of sandwich-type double-face knitted fabrics are designed in four different knit structures by combining polyester (P), cotton (Co), viscose (V), and modal (M) yarns, V fiber-blended yarns consisting of mixtures of V fibers with silk (S), wool (W) or P fibers, and El yarn in fabric layers; and then the effects of the fiber type, the El usage, and the knit structure on the moisture management behaviors of these fabrics are evaluated. As knit structure, the different combinations of plain single jersey and tuck including single lacoste knit structures on the inner and outer faces of fabrics are considered. Regarding the fiber type effect on the grading values of moisture management indexes, the fabrics comprising the inner face of P fiber and the outer face of Co, V, and M fibers are categorized as moisture management fabrics in excellent (5) grade. The moisture management grades of the fabrics with the El yarn take place in very good (4) to excellent category (5). When the effect of the knit structure is considered, it is seen that all the sandwich double-face fabrics having tucks on their faces fall into good (3) to very good (4) category in terms of moisture management grades.