Volume 19, Issue 1

The study addressed the effect of the structure of silicone polyethers on selected functional properties of cotton fabric rinsed in conditioners containing the additives under study. Fabric softener formulations containing two comb-structured compounds (PEG/PPG-14/0 Dimethicone and PEG/PPG-20/20 Dimethicone) and one block-structured compound (Bis-PEG/PPG-20/20 Dimethicone) were developed. Cotton fabric rinsed in conditioners containing silicone glycols was not found to be affected by yellowing. However, differences were noted in the softening ability and re-wettability of rinsed fabrics due to diverse structures of the additives used. The most desirable soft hand effect was observed after cotton rinsing in fabric softeners containing the block-structured compound Bis-PEG/PPG-20/20 Dimethicone. In contrast, the highest fabric re-wettability was shown for the conditioner enriched with a comb-structured compound (PEG/PPG-20/20 Dimethicone). The study results demonstrate that the prototypical fabric softeners containing silicone derivatives have a potential to provide quality characteristic required by consumers of this product group.

In this paper, a new method based on phase congruency is proposed to measure pitch lengths and surface braiding angles of two-dimensional biaxial braided composite preforms. Lab space transform and BM3D (block-matching and 3D filter) are used first to preprocess the original acquired images. A corner detection algorithm based on phase congruency is then proposed to detect the corners of the preprocessed images. Pitch lengths and surface braiding angles are finally measured based on the detected corner maps. Experimental results show that our method achieves the automatic measurement of pitch lengths and the surface braiding angles of biaxial braided composite preforms with high accuracy.

Diabetic disease and its chronic complications is a public health problem that affects millions of people all over the world. Feet diabetics need private care by using appropriate shoes and socks, to avoid friction, sweating and high temperature. Diabetic socks have to attain an effective thermal comfort and higher appraisal performance. To achieve these conditions, the diabetic socks have to attain comfortable fit, no pressure points or seams on fingers, suitable size, classified as spring-summer or autumn-winter and also to avoid high temperature. The specifications of the diabetic socks sold in the market consist of its material combination, size and chemical treatments. No definite physical mechanical properties of diabetic socks are proposed. Diabetic socks taken from the market, with appropriate price, were evaluated for both thermal and non-thermal properties. The tested samples demonstrate a great variability’s in the fabric construction and properties. By analyzing the tested socks, the proposed values concerning the properties of diabetic socks for summer and winter are introduced. Moreover, relative geometrical mean of thermal comfort properties was proposed for determining a global measure of diabetic sock properties.

This paper focuses on the better performance between the garment simulation result and the simulation speed. For simplicity and clarity, a notation “PART” is defined to indicate the areas between the garment and the human body satisfying some constraints. The discrete mechanical model can be achieved by the two-stage process. In the first stage, the garment can be divided into several PARTs constrained by the distance. In the second stage, the mechanical model of each PART is formulated with a mathematical expression. Thus, the mechanical model of the garment can be obtained. Through changing the constrained distance, the simulation result and the simulation speed can be observed. From the variable distance, a desired value can be chosen for an optimal value. The results of simulations and experiments demonstrate that the better performance can be achieved at a higher speed by saving runtime with the acceptable simulation results and the efficiency of the proposed scheme can be verified as well.

Basalt fibers and fabrics made of these are characterized by excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Therefore, basalt fabrics, due to a good resistance to high temperatures, are frequently applied in the personal protection equipment (PPE). In order to improve their thermal properties and, above all, the contact heat resistance, the process of physical vapor deposition was proposed. The process of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) involves producing a coating on a specific substrate as a result of physical deposition of molecules, ions or atoms of the selected chemical compounds. The method selected for the test is the magnetron sputtering. It involves depositing a uniform film of chromium on the surface of the basalt fabric. In order to improve the thermal properties – especially the contact heat resistance, two values of thickness of the chromium layer deposited on the basalt fabric surface were adopted for the test. Covering 1 μm and 5 μm with the chromium layer did not fulfil the expectations and the research will be continued.

Waterproof breathable laminated fabrics have the special property that permits water vapour to pass through but protects by preventing the entrance of liquid water. Different characteristic properties of the layered constructions of these fabrics have good influence on their hydrostatic resistance and mechanical performance. This research study presents an experiment to enhance the hydrostatic resistance and tensile strength of four different types of hydrophobic membrane laminated waterproof fabrics by considering their breathability as well. For this purpose, water repellent coating based on C 6 -fluorocarbon resin along with polysiloxane hydrophobic softening agent was applied on these four different types of laminated fabrics using pad-dry-cure method. The coated fabrics were characterised by performing different experiments to evaluate the effect of coating on their hydrostatic resistance and mechanical property as well as on water vapour permeability and air permeability. From the test results and analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was found that hydrostatic resistance and tensile strength of the laminated fabrics were enhanced after coating along with proper water repellent property, whereas there were no significant changes in their water vapour permeability and air permeability.

Shortening the technological spinning processes, aiming at the reduction in production costs, causes problems with keeping up a high quality of yarn. Of great significance is the use of autolevellers that not only equalize the distribution of fiber linear density but also straighten the fibers and lay them parallel to the product axis. Consequently, they replace the machines eliminated from technological lines and contribute to the improvement in the quality of intermediate products and yarns. Using an example of the cotton combed spinning system, the article presents the analysis of the possibilities of using a short-term autoleveller with a modified operation algorithm that takes into account the phenomenon of sliver retardation after the process of short-term regulation. The regulation of draft was used before and after combing. The quality parameters of slivers used for feeding roving frames or rotor spinning machines were analyzed.

To realize 3D garment simulation online and show the wearing effect of different body types, a method for rapid parametric human modeling is proposed in this article. The parameterization consists of two phases. In the first phase, the characteristic parameters of the sample model are extracted according to the different types of feature information. In the second phase, the deformation is realized by combining the axial deformation method and the radial weight. Thus, according to contrasts between the input measurement and the sample sizes, parametric human modeling is realized by deformation of the sample model. In the deformation stage, the axis curve is simplified to the straight-line segment in the axis deformation method, reducing the calculation. Comparative analysis and the results of experiments demonstrate that the better performance can be achieved at a higher speed, and this method realizes real-time parametric human modeling.

In this study, the wicking properties of ring and compact-siro ring spun staple yarns were compared. The twist level, which is related to the structure of the staple yarns, was found to significantly influence the wicking property of the two kinds of yarn. Polyester staple fibers with 1.33 dtex × 38 mm were selected as the staple fiber material, and the effect of the twist level on the wicking property was investigated using the capillary rise method. The results show that with a decreasing twist coefficient, the wicking height increases with a decrease in yarn compactness. The compact-siro spun yarn showed better wicking properties owing to it special ply yarn structure. Furthermore, the tension property of the yarns decreased significantly with a decrease in the twist coefficient. Compact-siro spinning was carried out to obtain staple yarns with lower twist coefficients, and the yarns showed great improvement in terms of yarn strength, fiber straightness, and wicking properties. Thus, compact-siro spinning is an efficient method to improve the wicking properties of staple yarns.

Considering their energy and resource efficiency, fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) have been displacing metals and metal alloys for lightweight constructions. During the semiautomated manufacturing process of FRPs, and in particular during the laying of reinforced fabric layers, foreign bodies are enclosed within them, which in turn reduce the mechanical performance of FRPs. The research project presented in this article investigated if the loss in mechanical properties, such as tensile, flexural, and impact strengths, depends on the position of defined local defects, polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) in this case, in the thickness direction of FRPs. In order to achieve this aim, PTFE was placed in different layers of reinforcing fabric before infusion. Subsequently, the mechanical performance of the fabricated FRPs was tested and evaluated. On the basis of the experiment, it can be concluded that the loss in mechanical properties was maximal if PTFE was laid in the middle position of FRPs in the thickness direction.

The demand of cotton is increasing but its low production rate cannot fulfill the world requirements. The increase in cotton demand has augmented the production of regenerated cellulosic fibers. Furthermore, cotton has proved to be unsustainable because of the use of huge amount of fresh water, pesticides and insecticides. The purpose of this work is to find out the suitable blend/blends of regenerated fibers so as to replace 100% cotton fabrics. Therefore, mechanical and comfort properties of Tencel fabrics blended with other regenerated cellulose fibers have been compared with 100% cotton to achieve the equivalent or even better end properties. Hence, cotton, viscose, Tencel, modal, and bamboo fibers were taken. Plain woven blended fabrics of 100% cotton and 50:50 blends of Tencel with other regenerated fibers were prepared from normal yarn count of 20 tex. The mechanical properties (warp-wise and weft-wise tensile and tear strengths, pilling, and abrasion resistance) and the comfort properties including air permeability, moisture management properties, and thermal resistance were evaluated. It is found that Tencel blended fabrics show better results than 100% cotton fabrics. Therefore, it is concluded that Tencel blended with these regenerated fabrics can be used to replace 100% cotton fabrics.

The influence of Modal–cotton (MC) fibre blend ratio and ring frame machine parameters such as front top roller loading and break draft on the blended yarn properties has been studied. Compact MC blended yarn samples of 14.75 tex with three different MC fibre blend ratio has been produced in a LR 6 ring spinning frame fitted with Suessen Compact drafting system. A robust design optimisation to minimise the variations of the output yarn properties such as blended yarn tenacity, yarn unevenness and hairiness caused because of the variations in the material as well as machine setting parameters is achieved through the Taguchi parametric design approach. It is found that the maximum compact MC blended yarn tenacity is 23.76 g/tex, which is influenced very much by MC fibre blend ratio but meagrely by top roller loading and break draft. Similarly, the minimum 9.54 U% and 3.59 hairiness index are achieved with 100:0 and 70:30 MC fibre blend ratio, respectively, at 23-kg top roller loading. Statistical ANOVA analysis is performed on the results and optimum values are obtained within the 95% confidential level through confirmation experiments.