Structural design of single functional jersey with moisture comfort based on yarn combination

Abstract

Yarn property and structure design play a decisive role in the sweat, evaporation and heat dissipation comfort of single jersey. However, single jerseys also tend to exhibit limited moisture comfort properties, even with the use of high-performance fibers or specific structures. They also have some common phenomena such as backflow and the poor isolation of sweat, making the garment feel uncomfortable when worn. To enhance the moisture comfortable feeling of single jersey, the fabric is formed from a yarn combination of 75 dtex/288 f and 50 dtex/14 f polyesters, and the fabric structure with rapid moisture conduction is formed through the structural design. Through the research method of this paper, the single jersey ensures an excellent capillarity effect, and the outer surface of the fabric shows a large loop structure. In contrast, the inner surface is supported by yarn without contact with the skin. Furthermore, the fabric contains three pathways to transfer sweat outward, including a multistage bifurcated transmission system, which aids in the improvement of fabric moisture conduction, penetration and prevention. In the various tests, compared with plain structure, the single jersey of this design scheme exhibits a 1.98-fold larger loop size. It contains an effective sweat transmission pathway, which improves fabric air permeability and water permeability. In addition, the water repellent effect of the fabric is improved by 26.56%, with the inner surface of the fabric remaining dry within 3 s, even in the presence of heavy sweating. It is expected that the structural and material optimization designs of the single jersey can provide a promising method for functional textiles.

Keywords

Single jersey structural design yarn combination moisture comfort water repellent multistage bifurcation structure

The moisture comfort property is one of the critical indexes used to evaluate the wearability of garments, especially sportswear. The single jersey with moisture comfort properties plays an indispensable role in the micro-climate between the human body and the outside environment.^1,2 Therefore, the single jersey is the common fabric for sportswear, not merely due to its convenient production but more importantly because knitted fabrics have unique loop stitches and excellent properties such as being very soft, comfortable, and breathable.³ In recent years, the research and development of functional yarn is rising more and more, and it also improves the comfort performance of fabrics to a higher level. For example, the fine denier yarn, the special yarn, the modified yarn and the other yarn raw material have the unexpected effect of enhancing the fabric function. At same time, the design and optimization of the fabric structure can again help improve the comfort of the fabric. However, even if the functional yarn or specific structure are used, the conventional single jersey often suffers from the problems of backflow and poor isolation of sweat on the fabric. And it exhibits a terrible feeling of wetness, clamminess, adhesion, and so on in heavy sweating conditions.^4,5

Sweat begins to converge on the surface of human skin and ultimately dissipates by evaporation in the external environment, mainly through three stages: sweat is pulled from the human skin into the fabric; sweat is transferred inside the fabric; sweat evaporates as perspiration on the fabric surface.⁶ Among them, the transmission mode of sweat inside the fabric is the most difficult to control. In addition to the bottom-up moisture conduction, sweat will also occur in the top-down movement, such as backflow, penetration, and other phenomena, which will seriously affect the wearing experience of clothing. At present, there are few kinds of research on the phenomena of sweat penetration in the interior structure of fabrics. On the one hand, because the structure of the single jersey is relatively simple, and the structure change and thickness of the fabric are limited. On the other hand, researchers frequently agree that improving the moisture conduction of fabrics can satisfy the moisture comfort performance of garments, but neglect to study the effect of fabric structure on the multi-direction transfer of sweat. However, it is undeniable that most of the fabrics on the market have these problems to a greater or lesser extent, especially single jerseys. Although sweat transmission does occur on the fabric, the human skin feeling is not completely dry and comfortable as the sweat has backflow. And the wet fabric has been poorly isolated from the human body, because of the limited thickness and the large loop pores of the single jersey.⁷ In other words, the sweat flow situation is tougher to be controlled in a single jersey.⁸ Accordingly, in addition to decent unidirectional moisture conduction function, the structural and material optimization designs of the single jersey should also show the separation performance of a clammy surface from the human body and the penetration prevention of the fabric to provide the adequate comfortable performance of the attire.

The differential capillary effect is a common manufacturing technology to improve the unidirectional moisture conduction function of the fabric.^9,10 And it only requires to be through two fibers, the inner yarn with high linear density and the outer yarn with low linear density, to create a considerable extra pressure difference between the inner and outer layers. The liquid water in the fabric automatically flows from the inner layer to the outer layer under the action of the pressure difference,¹¹ which is a very simple and efficient production means to improve the moisture conductivity of the fabric. Moreover, this consists of the common phenomenon principle that the liquid climbs up the inner wall of a vertical pipe under the action of internal and external atmospheric pressure differences in daily life.^12,13 In addition, many preparation methods of moisture conduction fabrics are derived from the above effects, such as hydrophilic surface finishing,¹⁴ multi-layer structure design,¹⁵ nanofiber film preparation, and coating treatment¹⁶ based on the effects of wettability gradient and differential capillary. Also, some researchers use the bionic principle to build a multistage bifurcated transmission system that simulates the process of water transport inside the branch. The evaporation action of the plant is utilized for transporting the water in the soil to the stem with leaves against gravity to realize the rapid water transfer function. Specifically speaking, the water transport mechanism in plant branches is mainly manifested as the evaporation of water on the leaves, which causes the water pressure difference among branches, stems, and roots, and promotes water transport.¹⁷ The water transport of plants from root to stem or stem to branch belongs to a bifurcated divergent structure.¹⁸ In addition, the same bifurcated structure is found in animal bones, river courses, and ocean currents. The bifurcated structure makes the water pressure difference between the multiple layers more efficient, that is, the transfer path of the first branch to the second or multiple branches makes the water transport and circulation more efficient. In other words, the principle is mainly to achieve the maximum flux transport of water through the multistage bifurcation structure.^19,20

In this work, we provide a novel method of moisture conduction fabric, which is a structural design based on the fabric with a special yarn configuration, to achieve the above goals. We knitted the 75 dtex/288 f yarn and 50 dtex/14 f yarn together into a fabric. The 75 dtex/288 f yarn has low linear density and no moisture conduction. In contrast, the 50 dtex/14 f yarn has high linear density and fast moisture conduction, forming a differential capillary effect of the fabric. Subsequently, the up and down positions of the two yarns were flipped through the structural design of the fabric, causing the expansion of the fabric loop structure, and the fabric presents a multistage bifurcation structure. The synergistic effect of the two schemes makes the fabric superior in moisture conduction, air permeation, heat dissipation, and water repellence. Moreover, the sweat on the skin is rapidly delivered to the outer surface of the fabric via multiple routes of transmission and isolates from the skin. On the other hand, the 50 dtex/14 f yarn on the outer surface of the fabric is able to disperse sweat remaining on the fabric, making sweat nonagglomerative and impermeable. Therefore, the special optimization of the single functional jersey with moisture comfort renders good properties to assist the human body in achieving a superior and perfect moisture-comfortable sensation.

Methods

Materials

The preparation of single jersey used in the sportswear can be carried out on many single side machines. A single side jacquard circular machine (Santoni SM8-TOP2 MP2; Shanghai Knitting Machinery Limited, China) with number E28 was prepared to knit samples of this experiment, and the diameter of the machine is adapted to knit women’s or men’s tight clothing.²¹ Moreover, two polyester fibers used in this work were 75 dtex/288 f and 50 dtex/14 f (Lerune (Qingdao) Textile Technology Co., Ltd., China). Under the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM, Regulus 8100; Hitachi High-Tech, Japan) magnified 30 times, the 75 dtex/288 f yarn has a small linear density and small pore between fibers, while 50 dtex/14 f yarn has a large linear density and large pore structure formed between both fibers.

In this study, the two fibers were selected to build a moisture conduction effect, whereby the liquid water automatically flowed from one fiber to the other fiber, as illustrated in Figure 1(a). Then, it was verified by adding a drop of red reagent (prepared by 0.9 g sodium chloride (NaCl) and 100 ml red water) on the inner surface of the fabric (50 dtex/14 f yarn). The reagent transferred to the outer surface of the fabric (75 dtex/288 f yarn) was observed after 1 s, which could also better indicate that liquid water flowed automatically from one fiber to another. So, the mechanical, physical, and other basic properties of the yarn are not considered. This phenomenon is part of the differential capillary effect.²³ It derives from the power of the significant additional pressure difference made up of the fine capillary of the 75 dtex/288 f yarn and the thicker capillary of the 50 dtex/14 f yarn.²² Meanwhile, the differential capillary effect is more remarkable with the higher linear density difference of yarn combination.²³ Furthermore, the frequently used fibers of 75 dtex/72 f and 50 dtex/36 f polyesters of the same thickness as the previous materials were selected for comparison.

Figure 1.

Schematic diagram of the fiber material structure and performance characteristic. (a) Schematic diagram of the fiber material structure. The red arrow drawing indicates the direction of sweat transmission and (b) Schematic illustration of the diffusion performance test of four materials.

After that, the diffusion properties of the four fibers were tested. At first, the waterproof tape was used to fix both ends of the fiber, and 0.05 ml red liquid (prepared by 0.9 g NaCl and 100 ml red water) was added to one end of the fiber. Then, the movements of red liquid were observed in the fibers in the 30 s. 50 dtex/14 f polyester, 50 dtex/36 f polyester, 75 dtex/72 f polyester, and 75 dtex/288 f polyester were successively labeled 1–4 in Figure 1(b). The test results of 1–4 fibers are 7.25 cm, 6.20 cm, 3.45 cm, and 0.15 cm successively, showing a huge difference. Above all, the inability of liquid to diffuse across the 75 dtex/288 f polyester fiber surface is due to the lack of hydrophilic groups on the PET fibers.²⁴ Nevertheless, the rapid diffusion of liquid on the 50 dtex/14 f yarn originates from its advantage of the large pore structure formed between both fibers, which makes it easier for liquid water to diffuse.²⁵ Here, the 75 dtex/288 f yarn with low linear density and no moisture conduction and the 50 dtex/14 f yarn with high linear density and fast moisture conduction is applied to match the structural design of a moisture comfort functional single jersey.

Fabric preparation

In this work, the 50 dtex yarn and the 75 dtex yarn were applied as ground yarn and face yarn, enabling the knitted fabric to form a superior differential capillary effect.²⁶ Meanwhile, the ground yarn was threaded into the no. 2 yarn feeder of the machine, and the red face yarn was threaded into the machine no. 6 yarn feeder for the more distinct effect of fabric appearance, as shown in Figure 2(a). It is important to note that the yarn feeder of the knitting machine holds multiple different angles and height positions on the working platform h₁, including tucking height h₂, and knitting height h₃, as shown schematically in Figure 2(b) and (c). Supplementally, the no. 2 yarn feeder can knit different stitches and patterns via three working positions, A, B, and C, while the no. 6 yarn feeder has six working positions A, B, C, D, E, and F. Position B is the conventional working position of the no. 2 yarn feeder, satisfying the requirements of all working heights of stitches and also preventing the occurrence of reverse yarn. In addition, the yarn at position D of the no. 6 yarn feeder is fully able to be ticked by the needle at the knitting height h₃. On the contrary, it is impotently ticked by the needle at tucking height h₂. The stitch diagram is designed in an orderly arrangement of the hexagon, with the blue area knitting the plain structure and the gray area knitting the special structure, as shown in Figure 2(d). Among them, the needle track of the knitting height h₃ in the blue area could hook the yarns at the working position of no. 2 yarn feeder B and no. 6 yarn feeder D to knit the yarns into a loop structure. However, the needle track of the tucking height h₂ in the gray area, which only hooks the yarns at the working position of no. 2 yarn feeder B. In contrast, the yarns at the working position of no. 6 yarn feeder D formed a floating structure on the fabric back. Ultimately, the structural design of the functional fabric is realized through the above method.

Figure 2.

Schematic diagram of the machine knitting operation. (a) Schematic diagram of the yarn feeders. The yarn feeders are 1–8 in turn in the clockwise direction of the machine. (b) Schematic diagram of the no. 6 yarn feeder working state. (c) Schematic diagram of the no. 2 yarn feeder working state and (d) Schematic diagram of the fabric stitch and formation principle.

Fabric characterization

The effect of the fabric appearance is revealed and simulated by Cinema 4D in Figure 3(a), and the large loop structure appears at the fabric surface as the area is knitted with the single yarn. It is well understood that the elastic recovery of the single yarn is less than that of the double yarn, making the loop structure of the single yarn easily stretched and enlarged, which contributes to the breathability and heat dissipation of the fabric. Generally speaking, the face yarn of plain structure fabric is invariably covered by the ground yarn, forming a fixed upper and lower layer relationship. This causes sweat to move only in two dimensions, which results in moisture spreading merely within the fabric or leading from the inner layer to the outer layer. Therefore, the positional relationship between the ground yarn and the face yarn of the fabric structure designed in this paper is changed.

Figure 3.

Appearance effect of fabric, the schematic diagram of the fabric structural model, and function simulation. (a) Appearance effect of fabric, and the schematic diagram of the fabric structure and (b) Schematic diagram of the simulation and comparison of sweat transmission across the fabric. The brown, green, and blue arrowed in the drawing express the three sweat conduction pathways on fabric.

During the first phase, sweat diffuses directly to the outer surface of the fabric through the ground yarn with diffusion performance, as well as via the vertical track of ground yarn–ground yarn–face yarn and ground yarn–face yarn, forming three effective pathways for the fabric to transmit sweat outward. Among them, the transmission path of the ground yarn–ground yarn–face yarn creates multilevel connecting channels here. It is a complex transport system imitating a branch bifurcation structure. As the bottom ground yarn is formed by a single yarn, its low tension makes it more relaxed, and the pores formed between the fibers are larger. While the second ground yarn is knitted together with the top face yarn, which allows the yarn tension to be high and the pore size is reduced, forming the multilevel bifurcation structure to accelerate the transmission of sweat on the fabric, as shown in Figure 3(b).

In phase two, the face yarn acts to insulate moist and cold fabric from the skin due to the yarn relationship flipping over after the structural design such that the face yarn comes into contact with the skin and sets up the fabric. Therefore, the special structure designed and mentioned in this study is defined as the tree frame structure. Then, the ground yarn, with diffusion performance and other transmission paths, conducts sweat to the outer surface of the fabric so that the sweat is not in contact with the skin to achieve the separation effect of the clammy feeling from the sweat. The water bead on the outer surface of the plain structure cannot diffuse in time and will slowly penetrate through the loop pores into the inner layer, causing uncomfortable feelings to the skin. However, the outer surface of the tree frame structure contains the loop of ground yarn, which quickly delivers water beads and allows the fabric not to cause a penetration phenomenon in the third phase, as illustrated in Figure 3(b).

Test method

Fabric basic properties tests

The weight of the fabric was measured according to GB/T 4669-2008 standard. A fabric thickness tester (YG141; Wuhan Instrument Factory, China) was used to test the fabric thickness according to GB/T 3820-1997 standard. Moreover, the ordinary plain structure and yarn were selected for the performance comparison experiment of the fabric, and four groups of test samples were designed, labeled as F1, F2, F3, and F4. F1: the tree frame structure of 75 dtex/288 f polyester and 50 dtex/14 f hydrophobic polyester; F2: plain knit structure of 75 dtex/288 f polyester and 50 dtex/14 f hydrophobic polyester; F3: the tree frame structure of 75 dtex/72 f polyester and 50 dtex/36 f polyester; F4: plain knit structure of 75 dtex/72 f polyester and 50 dtex/36 f polyester. F3 and F4 were used as control experiment samples (group B), and compared with F1 and F2 (group A). It was beneficial to obtain the influence of the differential capillary effect between different yarns on fabric properties. In addition, F2 and F4 were taken as control experiment samples, compared with F1 and F3, to obtain the moisture comfort of the fabric of the tree frame structure.

Fabric porosity test

The fabric porosity was measured with a biomicroscope (Nikon Eclipse E100; Shanghai Puhe Optoelectronic Technology Limited, China) which was connected to a microscope camera and computer, as detailed in Figure 4(a). In this test, the fabric was tested 25 times in an area of uniform distribution, and the distribution interval of the loop size values for both plain structure and tree frame structure was plotted.

Figure 4.

Fabric porosity and air permeability performance test of four samples. (a) Schematic diagram of fabric porosity measurement experiment. (b) Fabric porosity of samples F1 and F2. (c) Fabric porosity of samples F3 and F4 and (d) Air permeability performance of four samples.

Air permeability performance

The computerized air permeability meter (YG461E; Ningbo Textile Instrument Factory, China) was utilized in this measurement. Based on the standard of GB/T 5453-1997, the pressure difference of the instrument was set to 100 Pa, and the test area (setting ring) was 20 cm². In addition, eight air permeability tests were carried out for each group of samples, followed by the average value being calculated.

Water vapor resistance measurement

Here, a water vapor resistance measurement is performed by the evaporative heat-plated method based on GB/T 11048-2018. The test instrument of water vapor resistance (YG606G; Ningbo Textile Instrument Factory, China) was turned on, and preheated for about 60 minutes, and adjusted the system's microclimate temperature to 35°C, humidity to 40%. During this period, distilled water was added to make the water level meet the test requirements, and a test film was placed. Subsequently, the sample was put into the test room with the inner layer facing down until the cold machine had finished preheating and the wet vapor resistance test of the fabric was started.

Fabric wetness measurement

The fabric wetness was distinguished by touching the wet and cold feeling of the inner and outer surfaces of the fabric with absorbent paper. First, a piece of paper was placed on the surface, and the sample was placed on the absorbent paper with the inner surface of the sample facing up. Then, 0.2 ml of red liquid, which was made up of 0.9 g NaCl and 100 ml of red water, was dropped on the inner surface of the sample to simulate human sweating and waited for 3 s. After the liquid was added, another piece of absorbent paper was pressed on the sample immediately. Finally, the fabric was turned over, along with absorbent paper, and observed the changes in absorbent paper after 10 s were to measure the backflow of sweat.

Moisture management performance

Based on the AATCC 195–2009 standard, a moisture management tester (G290 MMT; Standard International Group (HK) Limited, China) was used to measure the overall dynamic performance of the liquid in knitted fabrics. A test solution of 0.9% NaCl was prepared into the storage tank, followed by the fabric sample placed horizontally with the inner surface facing up on the lower sensor of MMT equipment. Afterwards, the test solution as sweat was dropped onto the inner surface of the sample, and the movement of the sweat on the fabric was measured and recorded.

Results and discussion

Aiming at the analysis of functions and principles of the tree frame structure as outlined above, we selected a variety of experiments to test the porosity, sweat transmission, and infiltration of the fabric. And the comparative analysis and error analysis of the experimental data were presented.

Fabric basic properties

The basic parameters, such as the thickness and weight of the fabric easily affect the properties and application scenarios of the clothing. Hence, the basic properties of the fabric were measured, as shown in Table 1. There is no significant difference in weight and thickness between the four samples. This is because the specifications of materials are the same, and the change of fabric stitch has little effect on the fundamental properties of the single jersey. Compared with the plain knitted fabric, the weight and thickness of the fabric designed with a tree frame structure are slightly increased. Yet, the influence of this difference on the fabric performance test is negligible.

Table 1.

Sample basic parameters

Group	Fabric no.	Structure	Material		Weight (g/m²)	Thickness (mm)
Group	Fabric no.	Structure	Face yarn	Ground yarn	Weight (g/m²)	Thickness (mm)
A	F1	Tree frame structure	75 dtex/288 f polyester	50 dtex/14 f hydrophobic polyester	115.6	0.55
A	F2	Plain structure	75 dtex/288 f polyester	50 dtex/14 f hydrophobic polyester	115.1	0.53
B	F3	Tree frame structure	75 dtex/72 f polyester	50 dtex/36 f polyester	116.9	0.56
B	F4	Plain structure	75 dtex/72 f polyester	50 dtex/36 f polyester	115.8	0.55

Fabric porosity

The unique loop structure of knitted fabrics largely contributes to the performance of the fabric, such as air permeability, heat dissipation, and water vapour permeability, which makes them irreplaceable in many places. Accordingly, the loop sizes are observed by microscopy, which suffices the collection of 40× to 1000× magnification images and ultimately transmit to the computer and record in Figure 4(a). As illustrated in Figure 4(b) and (c), the comparison of groups A and B shows similar variation tendencies of the loop structure. It mainly results from their identical fabric structure, and the difference in fiber materials has little effect on the loop pores of the fabrics. In addition, the tree frame structure, which can increase the size of the loop structure at the fabric surface, is verified by the fact that the loop size of the samples F1 and F3 is about 789.5 μm, approximately 1.98 times larger than that of the samples F2 and F4 (398.7 μm), and the measured error interval is small. It shows that the structure design of tree frame fabric provides a stable and slightly larger loop structure.

Air permeability of the fabric

The air permeation process of the fabric is accompanied by sweat penetration and heat dissipation. Hence, the air permeability measurement is worth investigating. Here, the samples F1, F2, F3, and F4 are measured eight times and plotted in Figure 4(d). It turns out that the tree frame structure exhibits overall higher air permeability than the plain structure. The average air permeability of the four samples is 881.7 mm/s, 675.4 mm/s, 873.8 mm/s, and 686.2 mm/s, respectively. In addition, the error of the four groups of air permeability is closely related to the variation of the error interval of the loop pore. This indicates that the air permeability of fabric is consistent with the changing trend of fabric loop size, for instance, the better air permeability performance as the loop pore gets larger. As a result, the tree frame structure with a large loop pore is capable of promoting water permeability, heat dissipation, and sweat exclusion of fabric, realizing the superiority of fabric in the moisture comfort performance.

Water vapor resistance measurement

To characterize further the sweat exclusion and water permeability of the special structural fabric and describe its advantages over the plain structure, a water vapor resistance test was utilized to verify the fabric’s performance. Subsequently, the water vapor resistance of the four samples is conducted in Figure 5(a). Comparing group A or group B to analysis the performance of the inner surface of the fabric tested, it can be observed that the water permeability of the tree frame structure is always higher than that of the plain structure. This is also because the change in the fabric’s water vapor resistance is closely related to the size of the pore structure.²⁷ However, the error of fabric water vapour resistance is smaller, even in the case that the loop porosity of the same sample varies greatly. It also indicates that the moisture conduction of sweat mainly depends on the multiple moisture conduction paths of the tree frame structure and the differential capillary effect between yarns. Furthermore, as a result of the enhancement effect of yarn combination and structure design on penetration prevention (penetration from outside to inside of the fabric), the penetration effect of tree frame fabric from outside to inside is much less than that of plain structure. Therefore, the water vapour resistance of F1 from the inner surface to the outer surface is the lowest, only 1.59 m²·Pa/W, and the water vapour resistance of F1 (from the outer surface to the inner surface) is the highest, 4.48 m²·Pa/W. It indicates that the structural and material optimization designs of the single jersey are helpful to improve water permeability and penetration prevention of the fabric.

Figure 5.

Water vapor resistance and fabric wetness measurement of the four samples. (a) Water vapor resistance and water permeability of the four samples. (b) Schematic diagram of fabric wetness measurement experiment. (c) Upper and lower absorbent paper changes of four samples and (d) Change of absorbent paper on the inner surface of sample F1 with time under the microscope.

Fabric wetness measurement

The wetness of the fabric’s inner surface is the most intuitive feeling of consumers on the water repellence of the garment. Here, the wettability of the fabric is characterized by the changes of absorbent paper attached to the inner and outer surface of the fabric, and the area size of the paper color change is calculated, as shown in Figure 5(b). Figure 5(c) illustrates that the variation difference of absorbent paper on the inner and outer surfaces of sample F1 is the most prominent. Then the photos containing the experimental results are imported into the Adobe Photoshop software, which calculates the change values of absorbent paper based on the two colors in the photo. About sample F1, the values of the colored area in the absorbent paper (inner) change only a little, with an area size of only 473 pixels (px). Yet, the change of the absorbent paper (outer) is the biggest among the four samples. It explains that the wet and cold faces mainly concentrate on the outer surface of the fabric, and the inner surface of the fabric is dry, which makes the wet faces of the fabric better separated from the skin. Another significant phenomenon is that the sweat on the inner surface of three samples, F2, F3, and F4, is perceived. It is attributed to the outer layer flowing back into the inner layer after the fabric is turned over. Or maybe it is because the single jersey is too thin to isolate the liquid on the outer surface. Thus, the sample can still feel wet on the inner surface. The change in the inner surface of the sample is considered the result of the poor isolation of sweat and the backflow of sweat over here. Therefore, the inner and outer areas of the F1 sample add up to 15,943 px, and the inner surface only accounts for 2.96% of the changes. Compared with other samples, the water repellence of sample F1 has been improved by at least 26.56%. Moreover, the liquid on sample F1 is certified to be transported rapidly from inside to outside with microscope observation, which realizes drying of the inner surface of the fabric within 3 s, as detailed in Figure 5(d).

According to the analysis, these excellent results of sample F1 are because the fabric design forms a variety of pathways to conduct moisture outward, which achieves the drying effect of the fabric’s inner surface very quickly. And the wet outer surface is set up by the face yarn and has less contact with the absorbent paper (inner), making the absorbent paper (inner) less colored. And then the outer surface of the fabric contains partial ground yarn with moisture conduction to transfer and diffuse the accumulated sweat, preventing the backflow of sweat. Moreover, this result proves that it is more challenging to keep the inner surface of the single jersey dry, and the structural and material optimization designs of the single jersey show better water repellent properties.

Moisture management properties

To elucidate the moisture comfort properties of the fabrics more completely and measure their numerical values, we utilize the moisture management tester to evaluate the moisture absorption and diffusion index in all directions of the fabric. Then, the values of maximum wetted radius (mm), overall moisture management capacity (OMMC), and accumulative one-way transport index (AOTI) were recorded in Figure 6.

Figure 6.

Moisture management measure of four samples. (a) Variation of fabric moisture content with time. (b) The maximum wetted radius of samples. (c) The water content of the inner and outer surfaces of samples. (d) Overall moisture management capacity of samples and (e) Accumulative one-way transport index of samples.

The changes in moisture content

Figure 6(a) presents the water content with time for four test pieces. It can be seen that the water content of the sample increases dramatically during this period as a result of the test solution dripping to the inner surface of the sample for 20 s. In addition, during the 20–60 s, the water content of the inside and outside surfaces gradually decreased through the moisture conduction and diffusion function of the fabric. Among them, the water content of the inner and outer surfaces of sample F1 reaches equilibrium at 60 s with a water content difference of 796.47%. The change time of the F1 sample’s water content, as well as the water content difference when it reaches equilibrium, is much larger than F2, F3, and F4, and the inner curve of the sample F1 reaches a small water content value. In summary, this indicates that sample F1 has a superior capacity to control moisture continuously and unidirectionally, thus making the water content on the inner surface of the F1 at a low level to guarantee the drying properties of the inner fabric layers.

Maximum wetted radius

Sample F1 is measured to contain the least inner surface wetted radius of only 5 mm. In contrast, the outer surface wetted radius is more significant. Meanwhile, the difference in wetting radius between the inner and outer surfaces of F1, F2, F3, and F4 decreases in turn, as shown in Figure 6(b). For a more vivid representation, the moisture wetted situation on the inner surface of the four samples is attained at the same wetted radius of the outer surface, as shown in Figure 6(c), and the comparison with Figure 5(c) shows that the two test results are similar. In particular, the primary trend of the solution diffusion on sample F1 is from inside to outside, and the inner surface of the fabric shows an excellent drying effect.

Overall moisture management capacity

The overall moisture management capacity (OMMC) is the comprehensive performance index that characterizes the dynamic transfer of liquid.^28,29 From Figure 6(d), it can be seen that the sample F1 measured (the highest OMMC) as 0.9256, which meets the mark’s requirements for the highest evaluation of moisture comfort function clothing (level 5, 0.81–1.00). It means that the optimal water transfer capacity is provided by F1. Moreover, from the error size of the OMMC, the fluctuation and change of the pore size of the loop structure have little effect on the moisture conduction of the fabric. This highlights that the multiple moisture conduction pathways of the tree frame structure play a role in strengthening the moisture conduction of sweat.³⁰ In addition, the water transfer capacity of F2 and F3 is higher than F4. It represents that the structural or material optimization designs of the single jersey are all revealed to improve the unidirectional moisture conduction function of the fabric.

The accumulative one-way transport index

The amount of liquid water transferred from the inner surface to the outer surface of the fabric changes with time as displayed in Figure 6(e). Generally, as the accumulative one-way transport index reaches a higher value, the fabric expresses better one-way moisture conduction.³¹ It is observed that the accumulative one-way transport index of F1, F2, F3, and F4 are 456.6378%, 179.7232%, 124.8542%, and 68.314%, respectively, in which the cumulative one-way transport index of F1 shows a surge curve. Apparently, sample F1 is superior to other test samples in terms of unidirectional moisture conduction function, and the moisture conduction is faster.

By comparing with the results of the moisture management measure, it is obtained that the knitted method of yarn combination has a slightly more significant influence on the unidirectional moisture conduction function of the fabric than that of the fabric structural design. However, as for the tree frame structure, the unidirectional moisture conduction function of the fabric exhibits huge improvement, and it reflects the feasibility of the fabric structure designed based on the special yarn combination to improve the moisture comfort of the fabric.

Conclusions

To improve the moisture comfort performance of the single jersey, 75 dtex/288 f polyester with no moisture conduction and 50 dtex/14 f polyester with rapid moisture conduction were selected to knit the tree frame structure on the single side jacquard circular machine. Subsequently, the moisture comfort and water repellent properties of the fabric were researched and discussed in an attempt to overcome the common problems of the single jersey, such as sweat backflow, penetration, and the poor isolation of sweat.

Through the combination optimization of raw material and structure, there are some loop structures on the outer surface of the fabric, and the aperture is about 789.5 μm, which is 1.98 times larger than that of the plain structure. This promotes the fabric’s air permeability, heat dissipation, and water permeability. Followed by the tree frame structure, formed inside the fabric, the transmission path of sweat is altered to the multistage moisture channel mimicking branch structure and other pathways. It produces a superior differential capillary effect and allows the fabric to transfer moisture faster and with less backflow. Moreover, the 50 dtex/14 f polyester with rapid moisture conduction floating on the outer surface of the fabric can quickly transfer the accumulated sweat, to prevent the sweat penetration phenomenon. While the non-wetting 75 dtex/288 f polyester descends into contact with the skin, supporting the fabric and isolating the skin from wet and cold surfaces. Therefore, the water repellence of the fabric is enhanced by 26.56%, compared with that of the plain fabric. The clammy outer surface hardly contacts the skin, while the inner fabric surface can achieve rapid drying almost within 3 s even in a profuse sweat state.

Owing to the above advantages, this technology can be accustomed to develop the fabric with moisture comfort function, and applied where requiring effective water repellence and moisture conduction are needed, such as socks, waterproof upper, waterproof outerwear, outdoor equipment, and intimate clothing.³² In summary, the structural and material optimization designs of the single jersey expose an efficient one-way moisture transport structure and wear comfort performance, and have a large number of applications with moisture conduction and permeability prevention requirements.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the foundation for basic research support from the National Science Foundation of China (11972172, 61902150) and Taishan Industry Leading Talents (tscy20180224).

ORCID iD

Honglian Cong

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