Moisture-responsive fabrics have great potential in the development of smart clothing which can respond to changes in the physiological conditions of the wearer and environmental conditions so as to achieve maximum comfort. In this research, the reversible dimensional changes of hygroscopic yarns are utilized to develop responsive fabric structures which widen or narrow their openings depending on moisture content. Experiments showed that these novel fabrics exhibited improved air permeability at higher moisture content, which may be associated with body sweating or a hot, humid climate. The improved air permeability can enhance body cooling for better comfort.

An automatic method for characterizing the parameters of ring slub yarn is presented. Firstly, size parameters of slub yarn were measured by using a capacitance-type sensor, and data was expressed as voltage signals through a data acquisition card (DAQ) installed in a PC. Then the voltage signals of the slub yarn were transferred to a two-dimensional (2D) image. Consequently, the repetition pattern of the slub yarn was determined by analyzing the 2D image using cluster analyses with an amended similarity-based clustering method. The samples were produced using a practical slub yarn production system. Results were validated by comparison of measurement parameters with set parameters.

Diallyl disulfide (DADS) was covalently bonded to a layer of poly(acrylic acid) grafting on the surface of polysulfone (PSF) membranes. The effects of DADS bonding on oxidative stress, removal of cholesterol, triglyceride and endotoxin, and the ability of thrombus prevention were then evaluated. The surface was characterized with contact angle measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Thrombus, platelet aggregation, and oxidative stress were evaluated using human blood. Coagulation times (CT) were evaluated in vitro for hemocompatibility. The production of reactive oxygen species was measured by the chemiluminescence (CL) method to evaluate the oxidative stress. Furthermore, the removal of cholesterol, triglyceride and bacterial endotoxin by DADS-bonding PSF was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results showed that the DADS-bonding PSF membrane exhibited longer CT, and less adsorption of plasma proteins than the unmodified PSF membrane. In addition, the CL counts of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide values for the DADS-bonding PSF membrane were more stable than those for the unmodified PSF membrane. In addition, the DADS-bonding PSF membrane exhibited ability to remove cholesterol, triglyceride and endotoxin. These results demonstrate that DADS bonding can improve the blood compatibility of PSF membranes. The DADS-bonding PSF membrane could offer protection for patients against oxidative stress and could also reduce the dosage of anticoagulant required during hemodialysis.

In this work, the antibacterial and other properties of polyester fabrics previously functionalized by corona and/or silver nano particles have been studied. Corona air plasma was used as a pretreatment of raw, washed and washed-thermostabilized polyester fabrics to increase the adhesion of nano silver particles resulting in an excellent antibacterial effect. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was applied to analyze the surface composition and chemical bonding of the surface atoms on untreated and treated fabrics. The surface morphological changes of polyester fibers were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The quantity of silver on the polyester fabrics was determined by the use of the inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry method. The antimicrobial properties of functionalized polyester fabrics were tested according to American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM Designation: E 2149-01. Additionally, the dyeing of polyester fabrics with selected disperse dye as well as capillary action tests were performed to confirm the chemical and morphological changes of polyester fibers after corona treatment. Considerable differences in surface composition were found between the raw and washed or washed-thermostabilized fabrics. The surface of raw fabrics is richer in carbon and the concentrations of the C–O and O–C=O groups are lower than on the other samples. An opposite effect is observed for washed and washed thermostabilized fabrics. SEM analyses show that the plasma treatment also affects the surface morphology. The chemical surface composition and morphology are highly related to the hydrophobicity and hydrophylicity, and the achievement of better nano silver adhesion and enhanced dyeing and antimicrobial properties of differently prepared corona plasma-treated polyester fabrics. Therefore, corona air-treated raw polyester fabrics demonstrated optimum antimicrobial properties due to the excellent adhesion of nano silver.

As the basic theory for color mixing in intensely light-scattering materials, the Kubelka–Munk single-constant/two-constant theories have played an important role in color science and technology. However, in practice there are some shortcomings. This paper checked the theories with a series of systematical experiments, data processing and analyzing, and has revealed several disagreements with the experimental evidence in the case of the additivity color-mixing law for turbid materials. Explanations on some of these problems are given, which are different from the conventional views.

In order to design and develop novel-spun yarns with good functionality, we investigated how to construct a core-sheath structure adapted from a multilayered structure of triplet-spun yarn and/or made from a twin-spun yarn with core-staple fibers using an experimental ring-spinning frame. The results were follows: (1) staple-core twin-spun yarn, a new yarn, could be made by applying the production method of triplet-spun yarn and/or combining the production methods of core-spun yarn and twin-spun yarn into one twisting process; (2) by adopting three rovings made from fibers of differing length and fineness, the resulting triplet-spun yarn had the core-sheath structure within an adequate spinning condition; (3) for the construction of core-sheath structure, it is important that there be a difference between spinning tensions at the center and the two sides of the drafted fiber strands or drafted strand lengths from the front roller nip to the point of yarn formation by controlling the distance of the supply rovings and the yarn's twist factor.

An advantage of braided fabrics is that the fiber bundle orientation angle, called the "braiding angle," can be changed. Because the braiding angle affects the fabric's mechanical properties, changing the angle is an important means of adjusting the stiffness distribution as required. However, when the braiding angle is changing from an initial braiding angle to a targeted braiding angle designated by the longitudinal velocity of the mandrel, some delay occurs before the actual braiding angle reaches the targeted braiding angle. Previously, several models have been developed in order to predict braiding angles, although a prediction method for a temporal change in braiding angle caused by the mandrel velocity change has not been presented. In order to obtain the temporal change in braiding angle under unsteady-state conditions, this paper presents a step response model in braiding angle on a cylindrical braided fabric. Furthermore, the method is verified with the experimental data. As a consequence, the model has proved effective for predicting fiber orientation on a cylindrical braided preform under unsteady-state conditions.

Polyrotaxane fibers prepared with wet spinning of polyrotaxane consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) and cyclodextrins were cross-linked with two different cross-linking reagents, i.e., divinyl sulfone (DVS) and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE), to improve the tensile properties of the fibers. By cross-linking with DVS, the values for the tenacity at break and the initial modulus were increased with cross-linking time, while the elongation at break was improved only moderately. On the other hand, drastic improvements in elongation at break were observed after EGDE cross-linking, up to 645% of its original length, although the tenacity at break and the initial modulus showed only slight improvements. After cross-linking, only minor changes in the degree of crystallinity of the fibers were observed by wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements.

This study focuses on evaluating the engineering properties of three types of geogrids (warp knitted, woven, and membrane drawn geogrid). Short-term tensile properties of the membrane drawn geogrid showed very low elongation results compared to the other types. However, estimated long-term creep deformation indicated that the 30 % of Tult loading level was the optimum value that satisfied the creep criteria in the case of membrane drawn geogrid (60 % in warp knitted geogrid and 65 % woven geogrid). The durability test results showed that the membrane drawn geogrid had good resistance to installation damage, chemical, biological and ultraviolet compared with the textile type geogrids. The total reduction factors that considered creep, installation damage and durability of the warp knitted, woven, and membrane drawn geogrid were estimated as 2.0, 1.9, and 3.6, respectively.

This paper presents a study of using weft-knitting technology to fabricate negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) knitted fabrics, which exhibit the unusual property of becoming wider when stretched. Based on a geometrical analysis of a three-dimensional NPR structure constructed with parallelogram planes of the same shape and size, a new kind of NPR weft-knitted fabric was firstly designed and fabricated on a computerized flat-knitting machine. Then the NPR values of these fabrics were evaluated and compared with those from the theoretical calculations. The results show that all knitted fabrics have the NPR effect, which decreases with increased strain in the course direction. This variation trend is consistent with the theoretical prediction. The results also show that the main structure parameter affecting the NPR effect of a fabric is the opening angle at its initial state. Fabric with a smaller opening angle will have higher NPR values. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating NPR-knitted fabrics by using weft-knitting technology if a suitable structure and parameters are selected.

The preparation of polyrotaxane fibers by wet spinning of polyrotaxane, consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and -cyclodextrins (-CDs), was examined using three different types of dope solvents: dimethylacetamide (DMAc) containing 8 wt% lithium chloride (LiCl), dimethylformamide (DMF) containing 8 wt% LiCl, and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). In DMSO, polyrotaxane concentrations of 20 and 30 wt% were favorable for the smooth spinning of fibers with sufficient tenacity, while other polyrotaxane concentrations (10, 15, and 40 wt%) were unsuitable for the wet spinning of durable fibers. All of the fibers had nearly identical scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and X-ray diffraction patterns. Although the values for tenacity at break and initial modulus also were similar for all fibers, elongation at break of fibers from DMSO was higher than the values for the other two fibers. The poorer physical properties of the latter two fibers may be affected by the slight amount of lithium salt remaining in the fibers.

This paper is the second part of a series reporting the recent development of a computerized method for the automatic measurement and recognition of yarn wet snarls from an image of snarled yarn samples captured in a water bath. In our earlier work, a digital image-signal approach for fully computerized yarn-snarl measurement was developed and the effects of various influencing factors on the recognition algorithms were numerically examined. In this paper, the feasibility and accuracy of the fully computerized method on the measurement of actual yarn wet snarls are evaluated through laboratory experiments. One hundred percent cotton ring spun single yarns of 7, 10, 16, and 20 Ne are prepared and used for the evaluation. In addition to the number of snarl turns per unit length, the snarl height and width of the yarn samples are also objectively measured by using the computerized method. The measurement results obtained by the computerized method are analyzed and compared with those measured manually by using a twist tester and an interactive computer method.

The fibers for specific textile end-use applications will be selected basically through their mechanical properties. They are key elements in fiber selection for successful applications. The way a single fiber behaves when it breaks is a good indicator of the mechanical properties whereby the results can be correlated to their microstructure. In this respect, our research concerned four types of cotton provided by the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI), Lubbock, TX. Their length and their degree of maturity are different. The thickness and the maturity have first been defined by a microscopic analysis, which is completed by a macroscopic scale analysis. The measurement of characteristics, such as the fiber length distribution, has also been investigated. Two different types of cotton have been chosen for advanced mechanical studies: the single-fiber breakage with both tensile and fatigue testing has been carried out and the fiber morphology has been observed using a scanning electron microscope. The aim of our study is the morphological investigation of the cotton fiber by specifying the breaking mode of a single fiber.

This paper reports two experimental studies wherein the combustion process of flame resistant (FR) thermal protective textiles is characterized in terms of thermal decomposition and heat release parameters before and after contamination and in terms of heat release parameters after contamination and decontamination. Aramid and FR cotton/nylon decomposed at higher and aramid/FR viscose at lower temperature in the presence of oil. Oil interferes with thermally induced interactions between aramid and FR viscose, altering the thermal decomposition rates and formation of char, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of the flame retardant present in the viscose. It is apparent that oily contaminants present in FR fabrics affect the initiation of the thermal degradation and formation of char. All contaminated FR fabrics showed significantly higher peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR) and effective heat of combustion (EHC) compared to uncontaminated ones. Oily specimens laundered with no detergent or pre-wash product had higher PHRR, THR and EHC compared to other treatments regardless of the fabric type or number of contamination/decontamination cycles. Heat release increased with increased number of contamination/decontamination cycles for most laundry treatments for all FR fabrics. FR cotton/nylon had the highest and aramid had the lowest PHRR and THR whether specimens were uncontaminated, contaminated or decontaminated. In this study heat release from FR fabrics increased with increased oily contamination.

The development of halochromic textile materials could lead to interesting end-use applications as it offers the potential for flexible pH-sensors with a first warning signal. Research on halochromic textiles, especially on the development of these materials using a simple and economic beneficial dyeing process, is however very limited. Therefore, we studied color-changing textile materials with a pH-sensitivity based on the dyeing of conventional textiles with standard water-soluble pH-indicator dyes. In a first broad screening, a set of pH-indicators is evaluated on their dyeing performance and their color change with a change in pH. After this, some promising indicators (Brilliant Yellow and Alizarin) are selected and studied in more detail. It was found that the indicators show different characteristics on the textile materials compared with the solution due to dye–fiber interactions. The properties of the pH-indicator dyes are also dependant on the fiber type. Moreover, in case of Brilliant Yellow this thesis was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. Generally, it can be concluded that it is feasible to develop a pH-sensor with pH-indicator dyes and conventional textile materials using a standard dyeing process.

Wearable electronic knitwear has recently been gaining the attention of both researchers and industrial sectors. Combining knitting technology with electronics may become a dominant trend in the future. There is a need to develop an analytical equation to model the complex resistive network for a given set of conductive stitches in order to meet the high demand for rapid prototype designing of smart knitwear. Currently, a matrix equation with high dimensionality must be solved, which is impractical and requires high computational power, retarding the growing demand for smart knitwear design with resistive routing paths. The routing network embedded into smart knitwear with conductive knitting stitches is a critical element for connecting different electronic devices, such as textile electrodes, sensors, and heaters. The knitting stitch made with conductive yarn is one of the essential building blocks for textile-based circuitry and controls the power distribution in the wearable electronic knitwear. Knitwear exhibits high flexibility and comfort, making it a good candidate for applications in sports, medicine, and other areas that incorporate electronic devices. Textile-based electronic circuits have become a key element in recent developments in intelligent textiles. Different manufacturing processes for textile-based electronic circuits have been reported, such as embroidery, weaving, printing, and coating. However, few studies have given an analytical equation and a systematic approach to obtaining the equivalent resistance of the conductive knitting stitch network. This paper describes work done to derive analytical equations to model a given resistive network of conductive knitting stitches, built with conductive yarn, and based on the common intarsia knitting and jersey knitting techniques. The experimental results revealed that the derived equations could accurately model the equivalent electrical resistance of conductive stitches of knitwear and could greatly simplify existing models.

The protective power of typical aramid-based ballistic fabrics, when assembled into multi-layered panels designed to defeat high-velocity ballistic impacts, can be improved if wool is incorporated into the weave structure. Although the synthetic is still the primary energy-absorbent material, the wool plays a complementary role by increasing resistive interactions between the yarns and filaments. Wool restricts the lateral separation of the synthetic yarns and ensures that more directly impacted yarns are held in place to dissipate the impact energy. Wool increases the energy-absorption mechanism of yarn pull-in by increasing the longitudinal friction along the yarns/filaments, in particular near the free edges of the fabric layers. The wool absorbs water that may otherwise lubricate synthetic filaments and so improves the wet performance. Ballistics tests have shown that synthetic fabrics blended with wool can at least match the dry or wet ballistic performance of an equivalent pure Kevlar fabric when tested under National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Ballistic Standard Level III A. The inclusion of the wool can significantly improve the tear strength of pure synthetic ballistic fabrics.

A semi-implicit particle-based method is widely used for fabric simulation because of its calculation speed and realistic wrinkle expression. However, it is mechanically less accurate than a finite element method because basic mechanical terms such as Poisson's ratio are not included in the formulation. We propose a new force term to emulate the Poisson effect in a particle-based cloth simulation. The new model was verified via the simulation of a uni-axial tension test and compared with the results of finite element analysis.

In this paper, the active photovoltaic fibers consisting of nano-layers of polymer-based organic compounds are presented. A flexible solar cell, including a polymer-based anode, two different nano-materials in bulk heterojunction blends as the light absorbing materials, and a semi-transparent cathode to collect the electrons, was formed by coating these materials onto flexible polypropylene (PP) fibers layer by layer, respectively, to produce electricity. Photovoltaic performances of the fibers were analyzed by measuring current versus voltage characteristics under AM1.5 conditions. The maximum value obtained as the short-circuit current density of photovoltaic fibers was 0.27 mA/cm². The fabrication issues and also possible smart textile applications of these photovoltaic fibers were discussed.

Biomimetics of the branching structure of a plant can improve the water absorption and one-way transport property of the fabric. The present work focused on the development of a branching network in knitted fabrics to improve liquid water transport properties. Fabrics developed with such a branching structure and made from different combinations of yarns exhibited faster water absorption and improved moisture management property, as measured on the Transplanar Water Transport Tester and Moisture Management Tester. Furthermore, the novel structure also improved the air permeability of the fabric. The improved water absorption rate, moisture management property and air permeability are beneficial to clothing comfort.

Socks need to perform better in comfort properties than other garments, as less air circulation occurs in socks in shoes than in garments on other parts of the body. In this paper, we studied the comfort properties of socks made from new fibers, such as modal, micro modal, bamboo, soybean, and chitosan. In order to compare their properties with conventional fibers such as cotton and viscose, these fibers were also included in the study. Water vapor transfer, air permeability, wicking, wetting and heat transfer – properties which are related to comfort – were evaluated. In order to conduct thermal conductivity measurements, a special experimental setup was designed according to the hot plate method (ISO 8302). The results suggested that the fiber type, together with regain and fabric properties such as thickness, appears to affect some comfort-related properties of the fabrics. It is suggested that for certain end uses, various combinations of fiber blends can be used.

A quantitative photometric screening method for the measurement of the degradation of formaldehyde by photocatalytic fibers and fabrics was developed. For quick screening, formaldehyde was chosen as an analyte because of its environmental relevance in indoor air pollution, its easy handling, common use and clear degradation pathway. The degradation of formaldehyde was measured quantitatively by a sensitive photometric method after irradiation in the presence of fibers or fabrics. This method allows a fast screening of produced fibers and fabrics with respect to their odor reduction capability. It is able to reveal the differences in the formaldehyde degradation capabilities of, for example, fibers with different titers as well as fibers or fabrics with various contents of the photocatalyst, titanium dioxide.

A dynamic model of the infinitesimal element of the flexible fiber is proposed, which describes the flexible fiber trajectory in the condensing zone of compact spinning with lattice apron. Based on the flow simulation in the condensing zone, the flexible fiber trajectory is simulated by a specially designed Matlab program routine. The trajectories of the fibers of different initial positions can explain the pneumatic condensing mechanism in the condensing zone. The results show that fiber trajectories of different initial positions in the condensing zone gradually converge, and the condensing process of the fiber bundle is divided into three parts: the rapid condensing region, the adjustive condensing region and the steady condensing region. The fibers of different initial positions will be interlaced for position change in yarn cross-section, caused by the airflow in the condensing zone. Moreover, fibers will gradually close the surface of the lattice apron when fibers are delivered from the rapid condensing region to the steady condensing region.

Fundamental theories governing the number of fiber intersections in random non-woven fiber webs were developed based on the planar geometry of fiber midpoints distributed in a two-dimensional Poisson field. First, the statistical expectation and variance for the number of fiber intersections in unit web area were obtained as functions of a fixed number of fibers with equal lengths. The theories were extended to the case of a two-dimensional Poisson field by assuming that the number and locations of the fibers are random. The theories are validated by a newly developed computer simulation method employing the concept of "seeding region" and "counting region." Unlike all previously published papers, it was shown for the first time that the expectations and variances obtained theoretically matched that from computer simulations almost perfectly, validating both the theories and simulation algorithms developed.

In this paper we report on an experimental investigation into the performance of textile eye-patch protectors for jaundiced infants nursed in neonatal units which are routinely used to protect their eyes from strong light during phototherapy. With the view of practical application, the main factors affecting the light protection performance of an eye-patch protector, including the light transmission level of the fabric, the irradiance level, location of the light unit, the head directions of the infant, and the design components of eye-patch protectors, were examined in a simulated clinical environment of phototherapy light treatment. It was found that textile eye-patch protectors are able to shield the strong phototherapy light effectively. However, the light protection performance of the eye-patch protector is greatly affected by its fabrication and the level of the eye-patch displacement. Results from the current work confirmed that fabric constructional parameters and structure both had a significant impact on phototherapy light protection. Fabric that was black in color could give effective protection from different light sources. Results also revealed that the selection of light units, the positions and the head directions of the infant, and the infant’s distance from the light unit are major factors affecting the irradiance level and the efficacy of the treatment. Uniquely, non-linear regression models have been applied and demonstrated to predict the safety performance of eye-patch protectors.

Fiber cross-sectional shapes can influence many physical properties of fibers. Automated identification of shaped fibers is critically important for fiber quality inspection. This paper presents a distance-based skeletonization algorithm used for reliable identification of shaped fibers. The skeleton of a fiber cross section, which is generated from fiber distance maps and maximal disks, is ensured to be continuous and insensitive to edge noise, and therefore can be used as abstract representations of fiber topology for shape analysis. A set of shape descriptors are defined from fiber skeletons and a support vector machine method is used to classify fibers based on the shape measurements. The experimental results show that the presented approach can be used to recognize shaped fibers based on the analysis of skeleton structures.

The influence of water vapor plasma on chemical, morphological and mechanical properties of bleached and mercerized cotton fabric was studied. Reactive exhaust dyeing was used for loading of nano silver. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy results show that plasma treatment enhanced nano silver adhesion to the fabric, which also contributed to antimicrobial effectiveness to Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. Surface changes of plasma treated cotton were observed with scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show the decrease of C–C bonds in favor of C–O, O–C–O, C=O, and O=C–O bonds and higher O/C atomic ratio in plasma treated fibers. Mechanical properties of cotton yarn after plasma treatment remained unchanged.

In this paper, we evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of a method of detecting fabric defects that have been classified into different categories by case-based reasoning (CBR). It shows significant promise for improving the effectiveness of complex and unstructured decision making. Four kinds of fabric defects most likely to be found during weaving were learned by CBR, which is both a paradigm for computer-based problem-solvers and a model of human cognition. The method used for processing image feature extraction is a co-occurrence-based method, by means of which six feature parameters are obtained. However, the design of appropriate case-retrieval mechanisms is still challenging. This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA)-based approach to enhance the case-matching process. The results show that fabric defects inspected by means of image recognition in accordance with the CBR agree approximately with initial expectation.

No satisfactory technology has emerged for routine rapid measurement of fiber linear density at commercial speed for the cotton industry. This paper introduces the Cottonscan^TM instrument, a new technology designed to undertake this task. An inter-laboratory trial of the Cottonscan^TM system to ascertain the performance of the technology is described. Overall, the 95% confidence limit for a single measurement was estimated to be ±10.4 mtex. Further, spinning trial results have confirmed that unlike the Micronaire value, average fiber linear density obtained from the Cottonscan^TM correlate well with measured yarn properties. These data indicate that the Cottonscan^TM instrument can be usefully employed to determine average fiber linear density, an important fiber quality parameter which can be a useful additional tool for the spinner in predicting yarn properties.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images are an essential tool for identifying the microstructures of fibrous and polymeric materials. Useful information, including fiber orientation and radius distributions, can be retrieved from the SEM images. However, the image is two dimensional and its manual measurement is inevitable for acquiring volumetric information. This paper reconstructed the three-dimensional shape of the fibers by approximating the fibers with spheres known as metaballs. Image analysis techniques were used to generate metaballs and the volumetric information was calculated from the sizes and positions of the metaballs. The proposed method was tested with nano-scale polymer SEM images and automatic statistical measurements were compared with the manual measurements.

All textile materials, having periodic surfaces, show horizontal and vertical repetitive unities. For this reason, different length scales have to be taken into account by interpreting topographic data measured. In this study, a topographical characterization method for textile materials at different length scales is presented and justified. The topographical study of textile materials using different length scales permits us to characterize the surfaces considering their specific morphologies due to the type of weave, yarn and filament/fibers separately. The use of a scale concept to characterize textile surfaces seems to be a new skill that helps to correlate textile parameters, topography, and topographical changes with interface phenomena such as spreading, wetting, capillary penetration, and soil release.

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable material that can be used to make meltblowns (MBs, which are fabrics made by the meltblowing method) using direct melt spun. PLA MBs were successfully produced in a 20 cm laboratory meltblown line. The relationships between the processing parameters and the filtration performance of PLA MBs were explored in this study. The key parameters regarding the filtration performance of PLA MBs, including the PLA chip drying process, the melt temperature, the hot air temperature, and the width of the air gap, were thoroughly investigated using scanning electronic microscopy, filtration efficiency, and breathability tests. It was found that the processing parameters were significant to the structure, thus the filtration performance of PLA MBs. PLA turned out to be a favorable material for meltblowing. The preferred spinning temperature was 220°C for optimal web quality. The diameter of PLA MB fibers became larger with the increase of hot air temperature. With the increase of air gap width, the diameter of PLA MB fibers went up, whereas the crimp level went down. This information may be useful for the future development of a commercialized production line of PLA MBs.

This paper presents a general method for modeling a 3D photorealistic single yarn for the construction of a fabric structure composed of the yarn with different types of cross sections. Various types of cross sections can be designed by using a quasi-uniform quadratic B-spline curve. The central line of the yarn is designed by a sequence of key control points to form a shape-preserving quasi-uniform cubic B-spline curve. The control grid of the B-spline surface for the single yarn is based on the combination of the quadratic and cubic curve. With random turbulence and proper assemblage of the cross sections, a realistic 3D twist effect for the single yarn is achieved. The simulated pictures of the yarns and fabrics indicate that this general and flexible model can be applied to the simulation of various 3D geometrical structures of yarns and then extended to fabrics.

In this study, the influence of stitch bonding on the tensile strength and tensile modulus in plain woven Twaron T-750/vinyl ester composites in the direction of thickness was examined. The effect of stitch density was investigated in longitudinal (warp) and transverse (weft) directions as a parameter. The space (opening) geometry and the deformation caused by the stitching process around stitch points were investigated. The stitching tension, stitch thread type and diameter were kept constant throughout the study. An increase in the tensile strength was observed for low stitching densities while there was no change in the tensile strength for medium stitching densities. A decrease in the tensile strength was observed for high stitching densities. It is especially noted that the tensile strength, which is on the transversal direction perpendicular to stitch direction, decreased with stitching density and tensile deformations initiated much earlier in this direction. It was understood that fiber deviations and resin rich areas were much more effective on these decreases compared with fiber deformation.

An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) allows a level of flexibility over traditional mathematical models in defining and evaluating constraints. This flexibility is very important in modeling complicated non-linear processes, where the system behavioral characteristics cannot be defined precisely. This paper introduces an ANFIS for predicting initial load–extension behavior of plain-woven fabrics. Input values defined as combination expressions of geometrical parameters of fabric and yarn flexural rigidity, which were extracted from Leaf's mathematical model. The results show that the neuro-fuzzy system can be used for modeling initial modulus in the warp and weft directions of plain-woven fabrics. Outputs of the neuro-fuzzy model were also compared with results obtained by Leaf's models.

This study comprises investigations of the effect of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) POY (poly oriented yarn) production parameters on the crystallinity degree, which is involved in the structure of the yarn and performing prediction equations based on a non-linear regression mathematical model. Although there are many production parameters which affect the yarn properties, quenching air temperature, quenching air speed and winding speed were selected for the POY process. Yarn samples were produced in three different levels of each of selected parameters and tested to investigate how the crystallinity degree changes. Measured properties of PET POY were tensile strength, tensile strain, draw force, crystallinity degree based on differential scanning calorimetry technique, dye uptake (K/S), brightness and boiling water shrinkage. In order to obtain empirical formulas for predicting the change of POY properties with respect to selected production parameters, the yarns were produced in 27 different combinations. The starting point of the empirical equation is based on a completely randomized variance analyses model. The coefficients of the curves fitted were computed by means of non-linear regression analysis. R² values for these curves were observed to be highly reliable being about 0.8.

In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) model of a yarn pullout test for plain woven fabrics is introduced. The main focus of the study is on the realization of a 3D fabric geometrical model, the incorporation of anisotropic material properties and the validation of yarn and fabric finite element meso-models using experimental results. The material properties of yarn and fabric were assumed to be linear orthotropic. The required engineering constants were obtained from experimentally-measured tensile, compression and shear diagrams. The accuracy of the applied engineering constants was investigated by finite element (FE) modeling of yarn pure bending. The yarn pullout test was modeled with the Abaqus FE package. The fabric sample was modeled with solid elements for the weft and warp yarns in the interlacing points, which are directly involved in the yarn pullout, plus shell elements for the parts of the fabric that undergo only shear deformation. The effects of the geometrical model and material anisotropy were investigated and the predicted force–displacement profiles of the yarn pullout test were compared with experimental measurements.

In this research, the kinetics of adsorption of madder on scoured wool and mordanted wool with aluminum sulfate was studied. First the madder solution was prepared and the main compounds, alizarin, purpurin and quinizarin (1, 4 dihydroxyanthraquinone) of madder were identified by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The values of CIELAB of samples dyed with madder at different temperatures and times were measured and the results confirmed that the adsorption of madder on wool is an exothermic process. The kinetic study of adsorption of madder on scoured wool and mordanted wool fiber was fitted by pseudo first order, pseudo second order, Elovich and intra-particle diffusion models at different temperatures. The results show that the kinetic study of adsorption of madder on scoured wool and mordanted fiber was fitted by the pseudo second order model. The activation energy and adsorption kinetic of the dyes extracted from madder on scoured wool and mordanted wool were also determined by the pseudo second order model. The results indicated that increase in temperature leads to a decrease in dye adsorption on both scoured and mordanted wool fibers. The HPLC analysis of dye effluent for scoured wool confirms that decrease in dyeing temperature leads to a decrease in remaining dye compounds in the effluent.

Ultraviolet resistant cotton fabrics were developed by coating with ZnO and TiO₂ nanoparticles. The ZnO nanoparticles applied on cotton yarns were found to withstand the knitting operation. Meanwhile, the TiO₂ nanoparticles applied on the bleached as well as reactive dyed cotton fabrics by the sol-gel and linking agent methods were found to be intact after various cycles of domestic washing. Knitted fabrics containing ZnO nanoparticles showed moderate to high ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) values, whereas 50+ UPF values were measured for the TiO₂-coated samples. Further it was found that the rutile phase was better than anatase phase in blocking UV rays. The developed process can be easily adapted to the existing textile machinery, making it industrially viable.

In this study, the effects of splicing parameters, fiber and yarn properties on the tenacity and elongation of spliced yarns were investigated in detail. For this purpose, yarns from eight different cotton types, having three different counts (29.5, 19.7 and 14.8 tex) and three different twist coefficients (_tex 3653, _tex 4038, _tex 4423) were produced. Fiber properties measured using an Advanced Fiber Information System fiber tester were evaluated. Artificial neural network and response surface models were used to analyze spliced yarn tenacity and elongation as dependent variables. As independent variables, fiber properties together with the machine settings such as opening air, splicing air and splicing time, yarn twist and yarn count were chosen. As a result of the study, equations and neural network models that predict the tenacity and elongation of the spliced yarns were obtained. The obtained equations and models are statistically important and have high coefficient of multiple determination (R²).

Limited studies exist related to the short-staple spinning of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense) blends. The purpose of this study was to determine if various surface chemical treatments, including water, salt solution, and a suspension of polymer encapsulated silica nanoparticles applied via rotor spraying techniques were either detrimental or beneficial to spinning. Results indicate that neither yarn processing efficiency nor yarn quality appears to be significantly influenced by any of the spray applications in the case of 100% cotton. However, in the case of the flax blend yarns studied, processing efficiencies were impacted with fewer ends-down in the case of the nanoparticle solution in conjunction with significant yarn quality improvements. In addition, the application of a potassium malate salt solution also appears to significantly impact the amount of foreign matter present in the sliver, possibly due to anti-static effects. The beneficial effects produced are such that the application of chemical oversprays appears to be a viable option for textile mills wanting to spin flax more efficiently. Results also indicate that chemical overspraying can be beneficial to yarn properties, but additional research is needed for the optimization of this practice.

In this study, argon plasma treatment was added to the traditional pad-dry-cure process between dry and cure treatment. This new process was assign as pad-dry-plasma-cure. The crosslinking agent was a mixture of dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU) and acrylic acid (AA). The results showed that argon plasma treatment could increase the bonded crosslinking agent (nitrogen content). Dry crease recovery angle (DCRA), wet crease recovery angle (WCRA) and tensile strength retention (TSR) of pad-dry-plasma-cure-finished fabrics were higher than that of traditional pad-dry-cure finished fabrics at a given value of nitrogen content. Additionally, it was found that the number of crosslinks per anhydroglucose unit (CL/AGU) and the length of crosslinks of pad-dry-plasma-cure-finished fabrics were higher than that of traditional pad-dry-cure-finished fabrics at a same resin concentration in the pad bath. DCRA, WCRA and TSR values of pad-dry-plasma-cure-finished fabrics were higher than that of pad-dry-cure-finished fabrics at a same CL/AGU value. The pad-dry-plasma-cure process is thought to be excellent for improving the physical properties and decreasing the formaldehyde release of the finished cotton fabrics.

A series of reactive navy dyes was synthesized by structure modifying, and their dyeing property parameters were assessed. The relationships between the molecular structure and the dyeing properties of these reactive navy dyes are discussed here. It was found that the location of the substitution group in the dye molecule essentially affected the color, and the solubility and steric effect of the substituents affected the dyeing properties. Better planarity of the dye molecule led to a higher substantivity and fixation of the dye. On the contrary, better water-solubility led to a lower substantivity and fixation. The fixation ratios of the synthesized navy dyes were 15–25% higher than that of C.I. Reactive Black 5. Several environment-friendly reactive black dyes were formulated from these reactive navy dyes, and they were found to provide about a 20% higher fixation ratio and reduced the amount of color in the dyeing waste water by 70–80% compared with current reactive black dyes.

This paper reports an experimental study wherein the quantity and distribution of oily contaminants present in flame-resistant fabrics (FR) after contamination and decontamination was determined using radiotracer analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The experimental variables were fabric type, laundry treatment, and number of contamination/decontamination cycles. Laundry treatments involving a pre-wash product were the most effective in removing oil from all FR fabrics regardless of the number of contamination/decontamination cycles. Accumulation of oily contaminants was noted after five contamination/decontamination cycles regardless of the fabric type or laundry treatment. FR cotton/nylon retained the most residual oil for all laundry treatments. No oil remained in the interior of the aramid, viscose, and nylon fibers, but rather remained on the surface so that it was removed easily during decontamination. A significant quantity of oil was located in the interior of the cotton fibers, making it difficult to remove during decontamination.

The presence of microcapsules has increased in the textile field. They have been applied as a possible means of introducing new products to textiles, such as fragrances, antibiotics, skin hydrants, etc. This work studied the influence of resin on the adhesion of microcapsules to cotton fabrics. To paste microcapsules to fabrics, they should be in contact with a bath which contains microcapsules, resin and water. Different concentrations of resin were applied to a fragrance microcapsule bath by impregnation. This research focuses on determining the influence of resin quantity on the microcapsule resistance to washing out of the fabrics during washing treatments. Two experimental techniques, scanning electron microscopy and counter apparatus, were used to determinate this influence. We conclude that with a higher quantity of resin, more microcapsules remain on the fabric surface. It was shown that longer microcapsules are washed out of the fabric faster than smaller microcapsules.

Presently polycarboxylic acids are being used for cellulose crosslinking. Among these, 1,2,3,4-buthanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) is the most effective in combination with a corresponding catalyst. In this research, a comparison of crosslinking effects on mercerized cotton fibers and viscose was identified using certain physical–chemical methods. The extent of crosslinking was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The crosslinking of cellulose increases wrinkle resistance and reduces the mechanical properties, therefore, for this purpose the wrinkle recovery angle and the breaking force, was evaluated together with breaking elongation. When considering the crosslinking mechanism, those additional free BTCA carboxyl groups that are accessible in the cellulose polymer reflect the effectiveness of cotton-fiber crosslinking. The evaluation of accessible carboxyl was performed using the methylene blue method, where the adsorption of methylene blue dye on the cellulose material was monitored spectroscopically. The purpose of this research is mainly (i) to evaluate how different types of cellulose matrices/substrates influence the crosslinking of fibers crosslinked with different mass fractions of BTCA and (ii) to establish the most appropriate mass fraction of BTCA in the impregnation bath for sufficient crosslinking of mercerized cotton fibers, as well as viscose.

Knitted medical stockings destined for the treatment of venous diseases must fulfill proper functions during wear, with some restrictions of criteria demanded by the raw material and the design parameters (including gradual compression and size). As the end use of the knitted stockings implies a complex of stresses applied in more than one direction, the grab method was used in an original way to assess the fabric behavior in three directions (wale, course and bias), with a few seconds time delay between tests. This testing method was applied in order to determine the capacity of medical compression hosiery to retain its designated gradual compression after repeated wearing–washing cycles. Additionally, the study revealed the manner of preservation of the gradual compression following the wearing–washing process, in connection with the patients’ physical dimensions for panty hosiery.

Raw wool fibers were extracted with CO₂ with different organic modifiers (acetone, ethanol and methanol) at constant pressure and temperature. The influence of experimental extraction conditions on the properties of extracted wools was studied to determine the suitability of the fibers for textile applications. Suitable wool wax removal from raw wool fibers was qualitatively evaluated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy observation as well as by whiteness, yellowness and brightness measurements. Moreover, the possible bulk fiber modification as a consequence of internal wool lipid extraction belonging to the cell membrane complex was assessed by determining the bursting resistance and dyeing behavior. The results suggest that both CO₂/ethanol and CO₂/methanol extraction methods provide well-scoured wool fibers with an acceptable dyeing behavior, the bulk modification being negligible.

In this paper, a novel method is proposed to extract the yarn positional information for the structure analysis of a textile fabric from its three-dimensional (3D) image obtained from its X-ray computed tomography (CT) images. In this paper, the sequence of the points on the yarn centerline is defined as the yarn positional information. The sequence is extracted by tracing the yarn. The yarn is traced using the yarn direction obtained by estimating the directions of its filaments and averaging the estimated filament directions. The filament direction is estimated by correlating the filament part in the 3D CT image with a 3D filament model. The trajectory of the yarn tracing corresponds to the yarn positional information. The validity of the proposed method is discussed by experimentally applying the proposed method to a 3D CT image of a plain knitted fabric. Furthermore, the usefulness is discussed through an experiment, in which the proposed method is applied to a 3D CT image of a plain woven fabric, which is made of a two-folded yarn.

In this paper, the relaxation modulus of a single spun yarn is modeled in terms of the relaxation modulus of the constituent fibers of the yarn. A generalized Maxwell model is employed to describe the viscoelastic characteristic function of individual fibers subject to a given step function of tensile strain. The thermal history is considered by a temperature-related reduced time by assuming a thermo-rheologically simple material. The physical ageing process of textile fibers is considered by introducing an ageing related reduced time for glassy semi-crystalline polymer fibers. The effect of humidity is ignored. The model is extended to consider relaxation moduli of fibers undergoing different initial strain levels. With this general relaxation model of fiber, the response of the yarn to a step function of the yarn tensile strain is calculated using a force analysis method and a discrete fiber modeling approach. Experimental validation shows that the prediction agrees reasonably well with the experimental data.

In this study we focus on some key problems encountered in the processing of bast fibers from hemp for the production of textiles. These problems include the high content of pectin, the excessive rigidity and the poor "spinnability" of hemp fibers. The results of a thorough analysis of the physical and chemical properties of the fibers at each step of the process are presented. The parameters measured include the length, fineness, surface appearance, tensile properties, moisture absorption, flexibility and crystallinity of the fibers. The refinement of the processing described here results in fibers that are thinner, cleaner, more flexible and more uniform in length, all of which contributed to an improved spinning performance of the hemp fibers.

Nano ZnO crystal in-situ growth on SiO₂ nano sol-coated cotton fabric via a reaction between Zn(NO₃)₂ and (CH₂)₆N₄ through a low-temperature hydrothermal method was studied. The effects of hydrothermal reaction conditions and SiO₂ nano sol coating on the size and crystalline perfection of nano ZnO, and the UV protection property of the fabric were investigated. The optimal treatment conditions for the highest Zn content and the best ZnO crystalline perfection on the fabric surface were obtained. Under optimal conditions, the cotton fabric was covered with 25 to 30 nm diameter ZnO crystallites and had an excellent UV-blocking property.

We have performed the electrospraying process via a conventional configuration for the application of nanoparticles, used for water and oil repellency of textile fabrics, onto the surface of the textile to avoid undesirable agglomeration of those particles. This approach shows by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images that such an application (electrospraying) would avoid agglomeration by using the electrostatic forces produced and gave acceptable oil repellency, which also points to commercial market interest.

The next generation of garments is sensorized, and therefore requires an adapted wireless communication tool such as a textile antenna. However, when integrating this flexible antenna into clothing, stable and reliable functioning in the operating frequency range is required. Climatic changes, especially altering relative humidity, might influence the textile antenna performance. This effect has to be taken into consideration when selecting the textile materials that comprise the antenna. A variety of antenna substrate materials has been investigated in this paper. It was found that antennas based on materials with a small moisture regain (less than 3 %) provided a more stable antenna characteristic, and can therefore preferably be applied as antenna substrate.

In compact spinning with inspiratory groove, the computational fluid dynamic model, computed with parallel technologies and Fluent 6.3, was developed to simulate the flow field in the compact zone with 3D computational fluid dynamic technology. Flowing state, distributions of static pressure and velocity in the compact zone were characterized and analyzed. The results showed that the compact principle of compact spinning with inspiratory groove consists of compact by airflow and compact by the shape of the inspiratory groove, and the static pressure in the condensing zone is negative, as well as the velocity of airflow in the compact zone is not zero. The fluctuation of the static pressure and velocity near the bottom of the inspiratory groove is relatively bigger and the number of the fluctuation is equal to the number of the round holes in the compact zone.

The aim of the experiment was to analyze the corona discharge films (CDF) taken from fingertips of human subjects who had contact for a long period of time with two sets of clothes, and find out in what way a long period of contact with textiles influences life's parameters: heart beat, blood pressure, and volunteers’ level of comfort. Three volunteers took part in the experiments. They placed a fingertip in the area of a strong electrical field of high voltage (10 kV) and high frequency (1024 Hz) to register a CDF. A digital camera placed within the area of corona discharges recorded this phenomenon. The analysis showed that there were no statistical differences between parameters of CDF taken from fingertips of volunteers after five hours of wearing two sets of clothes.

Cotton fiber continues to be the most important textile fiber in the world; however, in contrast to its excellent attributes of comfort, knit fabrics produced in cotton have a high degree of dimensional instability. In this study, a knowledge database of the relaxation process of cotton knit fabrics, during all phases of their production up to the finished textile, has been developed. To obtain cotton knit fabrics with dimensional stability, apart from controlling the manufacturing process, a development system is required which simulates all of the process variables. This can be used to select the characteristics of the raw material, machines and processes which best attend to the quality needs of the client. This procedure allows the final quality of the product to be determined in advance without the need to generate costs and wastages with experimental lots.

In this paper we present a new approach to the problem of textile surface quality evaluation. The approach is based on the capture and analysis of the profile of protrusions. The specific methods of image processing for protrusion detection and parameterization have been elaborated. New algorithms for the grading of four types of fabric defect – pilling, fuzziness, snagging, and hairiness – have been suggested, realized, and tested. The testing results have demonstrated a high level of coincidence between the obtained grades of all types of defect with expert grades.

Knitting needles are the main elements for the knitting process and they are continuously in contact with fibers, yarns and contaminants existing in the structure of the yarns. In this study, the wear occurring inside latch needle hooks was examined empirically to explain how it is affected by the type of yarn and the machine parameters. The wear of the needle hook was represented numerically based on the technique of the comparison of local surface heights. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) stereoscopy was used for the evaluation of the hook surfaces. The average surface roughness parameter (Ra) was utilized for evaluating the wear inside the needle hooks, depending on various machine parameters such as yarn tension, knitting speed, etc., and on various yarn properties such as fiber type and yarn type. The results of this study showed that SEM stereoscopy can be used to understand the wear mechanism of the surfaces of needles. Both the statistical analysis of Ra measurements and SEM images supported the results.

This paper describes work directed at forming nanoparticle-populated titanium surfaces on man-made cellulose fibers that facilitate photocatalysis. One of the techniques placed a spacer of silica (SiO₂) between the tethered titanium nanoparticles and the underlying cellulose. While the latter treatment provided the best protection of the cellulose from the damage facilitated by the titanium particle when exposed to sunlight, the former provided better photocatalysis. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed particle morphology of TiO₂ nanoparticles captured by the silica network. In that way silica is used as a binder between TiO₂ nanoparticles and cellulose fibers. The differences in surface morphologies between TiO₂ and TiO₂–SiO₂ coatings were detected using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the results of streaming potential measurements (U_S) clearly indicate changes of the fibers' surface properties, which confirmed the presence of TiO₂ and SiO₂ particles, respectively.

This is the second paper in a series devoted to the problem of textile fabric quality evaluation. The statistical evidence, basic principles of objective evaluation, and different approaches for the grading procedure are described in Part 1. The second part of the paper contains implementation of the results for all types of test methods and testing results for the SET Opti-Grade device that were elaborated on the basis of this research. High level correspondence between the expert and the SET machine grades has shown the effectiveness of the conception that is based on an analysis of the fabric profile and probability neural networks for hologram/picture, pills, and fuzzy grading. Furthermore, it has shown that the threshold approach has good results for hairiness and snagging grading.

Anaerobically grown cells of Shewanella strain J18 143 were able to bio-bleach the color from cotton fabric that was dyed with Remazol Black B (C.I. Reactive Black 5), a common diazo reactive dye. This bio-bleaching process, involving a bacterial catalyst, offers potential benefits to the color industry as the removal of color from dyed fabric opens up the potential for fabric re-use. Growing cells removed the color with greater efficiency than that achieved using pre-grown "resting" cells. Assays of resting cells were used to determine the effect of cell concentration and depth of shade of the dyeing on the color removal process. Further resting cell assays were carried out to ascertain if an electron donor was required for the color removal process, and suggested that the cotton substrate could supply some reducing power to the biocatalyst, although dye reduction rates were maximal with added electron donor (formate). The Shewanella cells were also able to remove the color from dyed cotton fabric that was isolated inside a dialysis membrane to prevent contact with the cells. This indicates that Shewanella strain J18 143 is able to synthesize and excrete endogenous extracellular electron shuttles, eliminating the need for direct contact between the intracellular electron transport components and the extracellular terminal electron acceptors. The dyed cotton fabric was assessed visually, and by reflectance spectroscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy.

The reducing effects of fluorescent whitening agent-treated cotton under the action of chlorine dioxide were studied. Various factors were studied, including pH value, temperature, ClO₂ concentration, and treating time. Furthermore, a simple method to evaluate the effect of fluorescence-reducing agent (ClO₂) was proposed. By measuring the spectral radiance factor of the samples, the total absorption energy, total emission energy, and fluorescence quantum efficiency were calculated. It is demonstrated that fluorescence quantum efficiency could be used as a criterion to judge the fluorescence-reducing effect of ClO₂.

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of fiber tension distribution within a ring spun yarn without relaxation. Yarn residual torque is determined on the basis of the translation of fiber tension at the spinning triangle, as presented in the first part of this series of papers, into the fiber tension within the yarn. The results from numerical simulations indicate that, with fiber buckling, the yarn exhibits a lower average fiber tension and, thus, a much reduced yarn residual torque than that without fiber buckling. Comparison with experiments confirmed that fiber buckling exists in ring yarns while the assumption of no fiber buckling is not realistic. Generally, a low yarn twist results in low average fiber tension in the yarn and, thus, a reduced yarn residual torque. A symmetrical spinning triangle leads to a slightly higher yarn residual torque than a right-angle spinning triangle when the yarn counts and twists are identical and fiber buckling occurs.

Electrospinning was used to make activated carbon nanofibers with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as the precursor. The applied voltage was found to be more influential on electrospun PAN fiber diameters than the flow rate and needle tip-collector distance. Tensile load and tear strength of electrospun PAN membranes increased with thickness, accompanied with a decrease in air permeability; however, burst strength was not significantly influenced by the thickness. Electrospun PAN nanofiber membranes were stabilized in air and then activated at 800 °C with KOH as the activating agent to make activated carbon nanofibers. Stabilized PAN membranes showed different breaking behaviors from those before stabilization. The maximum tensile stress of the stabilized PAN membranes from different concentrations was affected differently by the stabilization process. The resulting activated carbon nanofibers had no C N bond. The activation process generated micropores which contributed to a large surface area of 936.2 m²/g and a micropore volume of 0.59 cc/g. Pore size distributions of electrospun PAN and activated carbon nanofibers were analyzed based on the Dubinin-Astakhov equation and the generalized Halsey equation. The results showed that activated carbon nanofibers had many more micropores than electrospun PAN, increasing their potential applications in adsorption.

The propensity of wool knitwear to form entangled fiber balls, known as pills, on the surface is affected by a large number of factors. This study examines, for the first time, the application of the support vector machine (SVM) data mining tool to the pilling propensity prediction of wool knitwear. The results indicate that by using the binary classification method and the radial basis function (RBF) kernel function, the SVM is able to give high pilling propensity prediction accuracy for wool knitwear without data over-fitting. The study also found that the number of records available for each pill rating greatly affects the learning and prediction capability of SVM models.

A mathematical model is established for a stable rotor-spun composite yarn spinning process based on force balance and mass conservation. From the established model, we can easily determine the position of the convergent point, the section area and the line density of the composite yarn.

Six well-known color difference formulae CIEL*a*b*, CMC(l : c), BFD(l : c), CIE94, LCD and CIEDE2000 were investigated in this study with a series of visual color-difference data integrated from the experiments conducted under various conditions with changes in illumination and in separation between specimens made of woolen serge. The results indicated that the separation between specimens had a significant effect, with the largest decreasing percentage about 44 % among those for all the experimental conditions used on the magnitude of visual color difference for the pairs of specimens having the color difference larger than three CIEL*a*b* units as juxtaposed. Furthermore, the larger the separation between specimens, the worse the performance of all the color difference formulae tested in estimating visual color differences was, with the exception of those originally visual matching each other under a specific light source. In addition, the color difference formula CIE94 had the best total performance in predicting the visual color difference under all three light sources D₆₅, A and OFF, as well as the conditions of the separation between the specimens used, while the CIEDE2000 and CIEL*a*b* had the worst.

Microcapsules containing phase change material for textile thermal insulation were synthesized and characterized. Prior to the encapsulation, the formation, the stability and phase change behavior of paraffin mixture were studied to define an optimum formulation with a wide temperature range. The addition of approximately 4 wt-% tetraethyl orthosilicate in n-hexadecane-n-eicosane mixture was found to improve latent heat of phase change. Microcapsules with approximately 70 wt-% paraffin in core material were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy.

In this study, two bacteria and three odorous chemicals were employed to assess the anti-bacterial activity and the odor elimination abilities of fabric samples finished with nanometer titanium dioxide/nanometer silver/water-borne polyurethane (nano-TiO₂/nano-Ag/WBPU) composite emulsions. It was found that the value of odor elimination, ultraviolet light transmission, and anti-bacteria for the mixture of nano-TiO₂ and nano-Ag was higher than the summed value for the individual nano-TiO₂ and nano-Ag. The odor elimination ability for individual nano-TiO₂ was better than that for individual nano-Ag, but the anti-bacterial activity was found to follow the opposite trend. The mechanisms of the free radical formation for nano-TiO₂-Ag+ have been discussed, suggested and confirmed with the investigation of the energy gap and conductivity values for the individual and the mixed particles of nano-TiO₂ and nano-Ag. The loss of the anti-bacterial activity for the fabrics finished with the mixture of nano-TiO₂ and nano-Ag was less than 6% and 13% after 15 times' washing and 3000 times' abrasion, respectively. The practicability of the fabrics finished with nano-TiO₂/nano-Ag/WBPU composite emulsions was strongly supported by the excellent properties of odor elimination, anti-bacteria, washing fastness and abrasion resistance.

The primary environmental variables which influence the water vapor transmission rate of fabrics include air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The combined quantitative effects of air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed have been explored. The air temperature varied from 10 °C to 30 °C in 5 °C-intervals. The relative humidity ranged from 0% to 50%. The wind speed was from 0.1 m/s to 0.4 m/s. A new test method was employed to measure the water vapor transmission rate of four typical fabrics exposed under 120 conditions of combinations of relative humidity and wind speed with air temperature. The results showed that high air temperature, low relative humidity, and high wind speed led to high water vapor transmission rate. The exponential equations were obtained from the whole database based on the multiple nonlinear regression analysis, resulting in a generalized quantitative description of various effects on the water vapor permeability of fabrics. The prediction quality was good, as the regression equations provided high correlation coefficients and low standard errors of the estimate. The prediction values from the regression equations agreed well with the experimental results.

This paper is a detailed study of the influence of various design parameters on the performance properties of woven polyester/cotton fabrics for professional wear end use. The design parameters studied were the polyester content, the effect of introducing elasticity on the weft (weft stretch) and the use of fabric treatments and, more specifically, the use of a stain repellency treatment. The comfort elements studied here were the fabric thermal and moisture management properties (thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, water buffering, and wicking and drying rates) and the tactile attributes (four selected Kawabata mechanical properties, three Primary Hand parameters and the Total Hand). Fabric mechanical properties were also investigated. All properties were modeled using multivariate correlation techniques. The results obtained showed that the weft stretch has a significant influence on tactile comfort as well as on mechanical properties and fabric thermal resistance. The results also showed that polyester content and the application of the functional treatment are the key design elements in controlling fabric performance.

Appearance is an important property of textiles, and in specifying textile appearance luster should be taken into account. There are many problems involved in defining and measuring the luster of textile surfaces, so luster and its measurement have been the subject of extensive investigation, in both theoretical and practical aspects. Many types of surface have been studied and many methods of assessing luster have been devised. There are several devices which are designed to measure luster and gloss, some designed specifically for textiles. However, there is still a lack of information regarding measurement and evaluation of luster of textile surfaces. Current methods investigate fabric via one or more directions and are not capable of providing a general view of fabric luster with regard to appearance, in particular for uneven fabrics. This study reports on a new methodology to obtain an index for the luster of fabric, which compares the luster of fabrics via image analysis. The method produces results consistent with human evaluation of luster, whereas in previous methods the lighting and procedures used in luster calculation have differed from the real-world situations of fabric usage. The method presented in this research, for all samples, takes photographs of fabrics in various directions under constant conditions, and derives the luminance of images. An index is obtained for the luster of fabrics by analyzing the luminance of fabrics.

This paper is devoted to the formulation of new analytical solutions and exploration of physical interpretation for yarn twist propagation in staple yarn spinning. The wave equation governing the twist propagation is solved by using the complex exponential representation of the rotating angle of a yarn cross-section. Provided that the influence of twist blockage is allowed to be ignorable, the solution of the wave equation can be formulated by the superposition of two counterpropagating waves: one twist wave propagating in the positive s direction with a velocity of v₀ + v and the other one traveling along with the negative s direction with a velocity of v₀ – v. The Doppler effect could be found in the twist propagation process. Further, the proposed method is applied in a false twisting process and a modified low-torque ring spinning frame. Finally, the corresponding twist distribution and the torques of twisting devices are derived.

Based on conventional ring spinning, the aim of compact spinning as an innovative spinning technology is to produce superior yarns. In this paper, according to the airflow rule in the condensing zone of compact spinning with a perforated drum, the dynamic model for simulating the fiber motion trajectory in the condensing zone is constructed and is solved by a specially designed MATLAB program. The motion trajectories of fibers placed at different initial positions have indicated the pneumatic condensing mechanism and condensing effect of compact spinning with a perforated drum.

This study focuses on the theoretical and experimental creep behavior of plain woven fabrics using the yarn creep property and the structural–mechanical parameters of the fabric. For this purpose, two viscoelastic models, i.e. the Kelvin model in series with a spring and the Eyring model, were developed as a theoretical analysis to predict the fabric elongation while subjected to a constant load. Then, the theoretical results from these models were compared with experimental results for fabrics of different weft densities. It was obtained that the later model shows closer results to the experimental creep than earlier model. It was also found that an increase in weft density leads to a decrease in fabric creep.

Indigo carmine can be used as model for a blue natural colorant for wool and hair dyeing in a one-bath procedure. The sorption and dyeing properties of indigo carmine on wool are studied as a prerequisite for the successful application in combination with natural dye. To evaluate the suitable conditions for the dyeing process, different pH, dye concentrations and temperatures were studied. The dyeing and sorption characteristics on wool were determined on the basis of spectrophotometry and color measurement. Both high dye sorption and color strength were obtained when dyeing at elevated temperature, e.g. 80°C, and lower pH, e.g. pH 3. However, there is significant potential to apply the dyestuff also at temperatures in the range of 40–60°C and pH values of 4–5. Depending on the dyebath pH the sorption isotherms follow the Langmuir- or Freundlich-type isotherm. At pH 3 and 4 Langmuir isotherms are observed, while at pH 5, 6 and 7 sorption on wool follows the Freundlich isotherm behavior. From the dyeing isotherms the standard affinity (µ) of the dyeing step was determined. At pH 3 the heat of dyeing (H) and entropy of dyeing (S) were calculated as 40.22 kJ mol^–1 and 0.19 kJ mol^–1 K^–1, respectively.

Non-mercerized and mercerized knitted cotton fabrics were dyed with the copper-containing reactive dyes, C.I. Reactive Blue 237 and C.I. Reactive Blue 71, and pre- and post-mordanted with copper (II) sulfate. We investigated the effects of the type and concentration of dye, the type of cotton fabric, and the difference in mordanting methods on ethanethiol deodorizing ability. The deodorizing abilities conferred by pre-mordanting with copper sulfate (pre), dyeing (D), dyeing after pre-mordanting (pre-D) or post-mordanting with copper sulfate after dyeing (D-post) were in the order D < pre-D < D-post < pre. The deodorizing abilities of the sample fabrics with higher copper ion uptakes were not necessarily higher. The abilities of the mordant-dyed non-mercerized cotton samples were higher than those of the mordant-dyed mercerized cotton samples. The mordant-dyed non-mercerized knitted cotton samples adsorb larger amounts of copper ions directly bound to cotton during pre-mordanting. The ability of the copper ions bound to cotton and to the dye during pre- or post-mordanting is higher than that of the copper ions contained in the dye molecule. In addition, mordant-dyed cotton fabrics exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA, and thus had potential as deodorizing/antibacterial fabrics.

The fine structure of kapok fiber was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The walls of the fibers contained five layers, observable both in lateral and in longitudinal cross-sections: the cuticle, S; primary wall, W1; secondary wall, W2; tertiary wall, W3; and inner skin, IS. W1, with a thickness of about 200 nm, was characterized by an interlaced fibril-like network. The fine structure of kapok fiber showed that there was an obvious fibril structure. The fibrils of W2 were arranged at a certain angle to the fiber axis; and those of W3 were closely packed and aligned parallel to the fiber axis. The thicknesses of W2 and W3 were the same, about 500 nm. The highest packing density lay in the cuticle, which is the protective layer of the fiber, while the structures of W1 and W3 were more compact than that of W2. Fibrils were easily separated from the relatively loose IS, and dispersed in the lumen. Moreover, there was a transition layer of low-packing density between adjacent layers. The interactions between the fibrils in the transitional layers were weaker than those in the individual layers. The sizes of the smallest visible structural units were not the same for the different walls and the geometric scales were in the range between that of protofibrils and fibrils. The smallest fibril size was 3.2-5.0 nm, which is near the dimensions of the protofibrils of the cotton fiber. Some larger fibrils of different sizes were also observed in the different walls.

Cotton fibers are trichome cells composed primarily of cellulose. Mature fibers have more cellulose and a greater degree of cell wall thickening, and perform better than less mature fibers during textile processing. An automated polarized light microscope instrument called SiroMat that measures cotton fiber cell wall thickening was employed to assess the maturity of developing fibers from single cotton fruit. Fruit were taken from the first fruiting branch and position on glasshouse grown Gossypium hirsutum L. (Upland) and G. barbadense L. (Pima) plants, sequentially harvested from 24 days postanthesis (dpa) at approximately four-day intervals up until approximately 50 dpa. The instrument assessed an average of 13,000 fiber snippets per fruit. Upland fibers matured at a slower rate than Pima fibers up to 35 dpa. However, after 45 dpa Upland fibers had achieved a higher average maturity (i.e. 0.99 birefringence maturity index (BMI), cf. 0.79 for Pima). For both species the uniformity of fiber maturity increased as fibers matured up until 35 dpa for Upland and 29 dpa for Pima (i.e. the BMI coefficient of variation decreased as BMI increased during fruit development). It is envisaged that SiroMat will be a useful tool in helping to understand and manage fiber maturity by characterizing the maturation dynamics of cultivars with different inherent fiber properties, and for cultivars subjected to different environmental and agronomic conditions.

A key cotton fiber quality property is micronaire, which acts as an indicator of the fiber's maturity and fineness. Previous studies have demonstrated the ability of Near Infrared (NIR) instrumentation to measure these cotton properties with varying degrees of success, but these studies did not provide conclusions on the capabilities of NIR spectroscopy as a general technique for these analyses. Recent advances in NIR technology could result in improved measurements of these cotton properties. A comparative investigation was implemented to determine the capabilities of modern commercial bench-top and portable NIR systems to monitor cotton fiber micronaire, maturity, and fineness in order to gain insight as to the "universality" of the NIR measurements for these fiber properties. Cotton samples were analyzed on five commercial systems and an older, custom-built system. Very good spectral agreement was observed between the portable and bench-top NIR units. The rapid and simultaneous measurement of cotton micronaire, maturity, and fineness by multiple commercial systems was demonstrated and compared favorably to the custom system, but without the delay and cost in building custom units. For the bench-top NIR systems, all end-state criteria were successfully meet. The "universal" nature of the NIR measurement of these cotton fiber properties was validated for commercial NIR systems. As expected, the NIR results for the portable NIR units were normally not as good as those for the bench-top instruments, but they were very acceptable for demonstrating the potential for the portable units to measure these cotton fiber properties.

Digital image processing techniques have been applied to perform an automatic method for the objective measure of woven fabric's cover factor. Based on a frequency domain analysis, digital images of woven fabric samples, obtained with a camera assembled to a microscope, were cropped to enclose the maximum integer number of warp and weft periods and leveled for non-uniform illumination. Posterior thresholding, designed to perform satisfactorily for both high and low cover factor fabric samples, gave rise to the objective value. The method was applied to three different sets of samples manufactured in plain weave, with known yarn numbers and thread counts. Cover factors obtained by this method showed good correlation with those obtained by a set of visual observers and were consistent with woven fabric parameters: yarn numbers (tex) and thread counts (yarns/cm). The procedure could be useful to monitor mean cover factor as well as cover factor variability in fabric batches. It does not require sophisticated equipment and could be straightforwardly implemented in a textile analysis laboratory.

The aim of this work is to explore a new method for producing spun yarn on a modified ring spinning system which is called "cluster-spun yarn". Here, we describe the effects of the clustering of polyester multifilaments on the internal structure and properties of a composite yarn. Cotton fibers and polyester multifilaments were spun into 19 Ne cluster and core-spun yarns at five different twist levels. These yarns were then tested to compare their properties, including tenacity, elongation, and evenness. Surface morphology and structural variations of cluster and core-spun yarns were studied by scanning electron microscopy. Microtome and image-processing methods have been used to study the structure and packing of fibers in the cross-section of yarns. The results show that the special structure of a cluster-spun yarn results in pronounced enhancement in the structural mechanics and yarn properties. The statistical analysis results indicate that the tenacity and breaking elongation of cluster-spun yarn is significantly more than that in core-spun yarn. The results show that the twist factor at about 3.9(_e) gives the optimum properties. In addition, lower twist is needed to produce quality yarn in cluster-spun yarns as compared with normal core-spun yarns.

At textile mills, the fiber fly generation is a big concern almost at every stages of the production including knitting and weaving operations. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the fiber fly generation is still getting the attention of many workers for decades for either production efficiencies or for health reasons. In this study, the fiber fly generation during the blanket weaving has been studied. Among all of fiber properties, the fiber mean length has the greatest effects on the amount of the fiber fly generated during the weaving processes. Additionally, loom speed and package conicity have also a significant effect on the fiber fly generations during the weaving of blanket fabrics. It was found that the open end yarns with high twist coefficients were generating the minimum amount of the fiber fly during the weaving while the woolen yarns were giving the higher fiber fly generation during the blanket weaving processes.

A multiaxis three-dimensional (3D) flat woven preform and a weaving method have been developed. The structure has five yarn sets, which are bias(+) and bias(–), warp, filling and Z-yarns. The weaving method has been introduced to form the structure. An experimental prototype was constructed to trial the method. In this technique, called "tube-carrier weaving", bias(+) and bias(–) yarns are closely laid all over the surface. The preliminary study shows that the structure and weaving method seem feasible under the test conditions.

Atmospheric-pressure plasma treatment of wool fabric produced a significantly higher level of adsorbed fiber-reactive dye when applied at 50 °C (pH 3.0–6.0) in the absence of any organic leveling agent. In addition, color yields indicated that dye was more uniformly adsorbed by the plasma-treated fabric compared with the untreated material. When untreated fabric was dyed in the presence of a leveling agent (Albegal B), the extent and levelness of dye sorption were enhanced. These enhancements were, however, relatively small on the plasma-treated wool compared with those on untreated wool. A ‘surface’ mechanism, similar to that proposed when plasma-treated wool is dyed in the absence of leveling agent, can explain the leveling ability of Albegal B under adsorption conditions. Increasing the dyebath temperature to 90 °C resulted in dye penetration of the fibers. Under these conditions, any enhancements of dye uptake produced by the plasma treatment, as well as the use of Albegal B, were relatively small, in contrast to the behavior at 50 °C. Improvements in the uniformity of dye sorption observed at 50 °C were, however, maintained at the higher temperature. It is concluded that the inability of reactive dyes to migrate (and so promote leveling and uniformity) once they have reacted with the fiber, means that differences in the uniformity of dye sorbed at 50 °C are still apparent at equilibrium.

Noil is waste fiber generated during combing of staple fiber, the level of which is generally a concern due to the associated economic loss. Strategies to reduce noil have not developed because there has not been a reliable, comprehensive, and accurate method of measurement in a combing plant. We describe here a new method for the continuous, automatic monitoring of the total noil without any interference with operator procedures or production. The noil monitoring system was installed on eight combs in a commercial topmaking plant and tested for 24 hours a day for six months. The data obtained from this trial revealed important performance details of the combing operation, such as noil level and noil production, linear density of the prepared and combed slivers, the number of slivers in the feed, production rate of each comb, the feed rate to each comb, machine operating speed, run-time and down-time for each comb, and comb process efficiencies. The data confirmed that this system could be used as a tool for improving management and control of combing.

In order to obtain a criterion of liquid cleaning power, a textile washing test was carried out in water and various organic solvents. Cotton and polyester clothes soiled with particulate, oily and water-soluble contaminants were used. The soiled clothes were cleaned in various liquids with stirring and the detergency was evaluated from the change in the surface reflectance of the soiled cloth due to cleaning. The detergency was largely dependent on contaminant, cloth and liquid species, and showed good agreement with common and well-known knowledge about textile washing; the particulate contaminant was difficult to remove in any liquid. In contrast, the oily and water-soluble contaminants were readily removable in the organic solvents and water, respectively. By adding alkali and surfactant to water, the removal of any contaminant considerably increased. In comparison with the stirring, the ultrasonic washing was carried out with the aqueous solutions, but unexpectedly the detergency of most soiled clothes did not increase. For any artificially soiled clothes, a certain relation was successively found between the detergency and the relative dielectric constant.

For the purpose of realizing fast and effective detection of defects in woven fabric, and in consideration of the inherent characteristics of fabric texture, i.e., periodicity and orientation, a new approach for fabric texture analysis, based on the modern spectral analysis of a time series rather than the classical spectral analysis of an image, is proposed in this paper. Traditionally, a power spectral estimated by a two-dimensional Fast Fourier transformation (FFT) is usually employed in the detection of fabric defects, which involves a large computational complexity and a relatively low accuracy of spectral estimation. To this effect, this paper makes a one-dimensional power spectral density (PSD) analysis of the fabric image via a Burg-algorithm-based Auto-Regressive (AR) spectral estimation model, and accordingly extracts features capable of effectively differentiating normal textures from defective ones. A support vector data description is adopted as a detector in order to deal with defect detection, a typical task of one-class classification. Experimental results for the detection of defects from several fabric collections with different texture backgrounds indicate that a low false alarm rate and a low missing rate can be simultaneously obtained with less computational complexity. Comparison of the detection results between the AR model and the FFT method confirms the superiority of the proposed method.

The dynamic, thermal, bending and abrasive loading of thread during sewing process has a negative influence on the properties of sewing threads. In this study, the individual and interactive effect of the number of fabric layers, stitch density and needle size on the loss in tenacity, breaking elongation and initial modulus of four types of thread has been studied using Box-Behnken design. Response surface regression equations of loss in tensile properties on the above parameters were developed. The predicted equations agreed well with the experimental data. Contrary to the general expectation, the loss in tenacity and breaking elongation was found to decrease initially or remain unchanged as the number of fabric layers increased. Initial modulus loss decreased with the increase in number of fabric layers for all threads. Except for cotton thread, stitch density did not show any significant influence on tenacity and breaking elongation loss. As the needle size increased, the loss in tenacity and breaking elongation increased for all polyester threads, whereas these properties remained unchanged for cotton thread. Analysis of variance was carried out to find out the contribution of parameters in loss in tensile properties. The number of fabric layers was found to have the highest contribution on tenacity and breaking elongation loss of cotton threads, whereas needle size contributed substantially to the loss in these properties of polyester threads.

The anti-wrinkle properties of silk fabrics dyed with four reactive dyes and three crosslinking dyes were investigated. Compared with the undyed silk fabrics, the wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) of silk fabrics dyed with C.I. Reactive Red 195 and C.I. Reactive Red 141 was increased by 14.9–15.3% when the dye concentration was 0.67 g/L. With the same concentration of synthesized crosslinking dyes PAD1, PAD2 and PAD3, the WRA of dyed silk fabrics was increased by 17.9–21.3% with high dye reactivity. The anti-wrinkle properties of silk fabrics dyed with the crosslinking dyes were as good as those finished with 1,2,3,4-butaneteracarboxylic acid. Moreover, the anti-wrinkle properties of silk fabrics were improved with the increase of the crosslinking dyes and crosslinker XLC concentration, and the handle of these silk fabrics was still satisfactory. The increment ratio of the WRA of the silk fabrics dyed with crosslinking dyes was about the same as those finished with glyoxal or epoxide EPSIB. It may be concluded that these crosslinking dyes could lead to not only high dye fixation, but also excellent wrinkle-resistant properties of silk fabrics; in addition, it is feasible to dye and finish silk fabrics with crosslinking dyes simultaneously as demonstrated in this study.

Wool is a natural fiber that is mainly composed of protein. It has an external lipid content widely used in cosmetics (lanoline) and minor internal lipid content (1.5%), which could be of added value given its high content of ceramides. Internal wool lipids (IWL) were mostly extracted at laboratory level and the lipid composition was quantitatively analyzed. The hydrophobic character of both extracted and non-extracted fibers was evaluated. These wool fibers were dyed with two acid dyes with a different degree of hydrophilic character. Dyeing behavior and washing fastness tests were assessed to study whether the lipid extraction could affect fiber dyeing. The results obtained showed the different behaviors of extracted and non-extracted wool fibers when dyes with different hydrophilic character were used. Given the absence of surface hydrophobic differences between the two fibers, the different dyeing behavior may be attributed to the interaction between IWL and the dyestuff, highlighting the importance of dye penetration through the cell membrane complex. A lipid extraction could therefore modify wool dyeing strategies and reduce the final dyeing temperature without impairing the washing fastness of the fibers.

The aim of this work was not only to estimate a model based on the variables of motivation and emotion that underlie the process of interest in new trends, but also to explore the moderating role of socio-demographic characteristics. An empirical work was conducted based on structural equation modeling with a sample of 341 individuals, using path modeling with a multigroup analysis. It was demonstrated that involvement with new fashion is not only a personal more than social need, but also that it is addressed more from an emotional than a cognitive perspective. Moreover, it was demonstrated that involvement with new fashion shows a negative emotional valence when social need is working on the consumer adoption model. In addition, it was shown that there are different ways in which consumers become interested in fashion according to their socio-demographic characteristics. This research lead to recommendations that may serve to improve fashion houses' plans, by considering the consumer from an ethical perspective. This is a heterodox paper that contradicts the dominant paradigm of the diffusion of fashion since it does not recognize and accept the predominant role of personal influence on social influence but also the antecedent role of emotion on cognition to develop the involvement with new trends.

A wool fabric has been subjected to an atmospheric-pressure treatment with a helium plasma for 30 seconds. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry confirmed removal of the covalently-bound fatty acid layer (F-layer) from the surface of the wool fibers, resulting in exposure of the underlying, hydrophilic protein material. Dye uptake experiments were carried out at 50 ºC to evaluate the effects of plasma on the rate of dye uptake by the fiber surface, as well as give an indication of the adsorption characteristics in the early stages of a typical dyeing cycle. The dyes used were typical, sulfonated wool dyes with a range of hydrophobic characteristics, as determined by their partitioning behavior between water and n-butanol. No significant effects of plasma on the rate of dye adsorption were observed with relatively hydrophobic dyes. In contrast, the relatively hydrophilic dyes were adsorbed more rapidly (and uniformly) by the plasma-treated fabric. It was concluded that adsorption of hydrophobic dyes on plasma-treated wool was influenced by hydrophobic interactions, whereas electrostatic effects predominated for dyes of more hydrophilic character. On heating the dyebath to 90 ºC in order to achieve fiber penetration, no significant effect of the plasma treatment on the extent of uptake or levelness of a relatively hydrophilic dye was observed as equilibrium conditions were approached.

This study used nonwoven fabrics as the matrix of a composite dressing and coating with different gelatin-anthocyanin ratios (10/0 wt%, 10/5 wt%, and 10/10 wt%). The anthocyanin reduced gelatin degradation rate, epithelialization rates increased, and deposition of collagen in the wound dermis was well organized by the composite wound dressing. This composite containing gelatin and anthocyanin can be employed as a wound dressing.

The effects of spinning conditions on shape changes in the trilobal-shaped fiber spinning of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polypropylene (PP) fibers were studied with a focus on spinning parameters such as mass flow rate, spinning temperature and take-up. Extrudate at the die-swell points along the spinline was obtained to investigate shape change. Extrudate shape at the die-swell points affected the shape factor of as-spun PP fibers. Surface tension affected the fiber cross-section of the PET trilobal fibers, whereas die swell was more important in the PP trilobal fibers. The shape factor of the PP trilobal fibers decreased with increasing mass flow rate, spinning temperature and take-up speed, whereas that of the PET trilobal fibers increased with increasing mass flow rate and take-up speed.

Nanofiber web produced via mass production electrospinning has many potential applications due to its large specific area, very small pore size, and high porosity. Despite such potential, the application of nanofiber web has been limited on account of its poor mechanical properties. In our previous study, the mechanical properties of laminated nanofiber web were investigated, and it was found that the mechanical properties of nanofiber web are sufficient for use as cloth in outdoor wear if a laminating process is used in its production. In this study, we focus on the use of nanofiber web as a breathable fabric. The purpose of this study is to measure the functional properties of mass-produced nanofiber web, and then to investigate any change of those functional properties that may occur as a result of laundering. The measured functional properties include the water transfer properties of waterproofness and vapor permeability as well as the thermal transfer properties of warm/cool feeling and thermal conductivity. We conclude that the maintenance of nanofiber web morphology despite repeated laundering allows for the retention of the water and thermal transfer properties of the material.

As a new textile fiber produced from Neosinocalamus affinis, the structures of the bamboo fiber were studied thoroughly in this research. Using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) (using a Micro-FTIR Spectrometer), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we investigate the chemical composition, crystalline structure, molecular and morphology structure, respectively. Results show that the chemical composition of bamboo fiber is the same as all bast fibers, that is, cellulose constitutes the majority and lignin needs to be reduced further for textile applications. The bamboo fiber belongs to cellulose I crystalline structure as flax, cotton and ramie, while has a small molecular mass and a low degree of polymerization. The cross section of the single bamboo fiber is round with small lumen. It can be predicted that bamboo fiber has high breaking strength, but low elongation and has good water absorption properties. The structural characteristics of the bamboo fiber are different from those of other textile plant fibers.

Cotton fabric was bleached with equilibrium peracetic acid in an exhaustion process and in cold pad-batch, hot pad-batch, and pad-steam bleaching processes. Exhaustion bleaching proceeded for 40 minutes at 60 °C and pH 7.5 with different concentrations of Persan S15 (peracetic acid produced by Belinka, Slovenia). Pad-batch processes were conducted with storage for different times at room temperature or at 60 °C. Two bleaching baths with 15 and 60 ml/l of Persan S15 were used for the impregnation processes. Pad-steam bleaching was also performed; the samples were steamed immediately after padding with bleaching solution or after cold/hot storage. The degree of whiteness achieved with elongation of storage time was measured. The influence of different bleaching conditions on damage to the cotton fabrics was evaluated by measurements of the degree of polymerization and the breaking strength of the fabrics. It was established that the achieved whiteness values depend on the concentration of the bleaching agent, temperature, and time of treatment. The exhaustion bleaching and both types of pad-batch bleaching with low concentration bleaching solution are very convenient processes for bleaching of cotton fabric with peracetic acid. The pad-steam process did not prove appropriate. The breaking strength of the fabric did not deteriorate remarkably with any of the processes, but the degree of polymerization of the fibers revealed that damage occurred at high concentrations of bleaching agent.

This study focused on the use of subjective and objective evaluation methods to determine the peak-trough threshold of the drape fabric node. Nineteen different dynamic drape images of fabric, obtained using a dynamic drape instrument with a maximum rotation speed of 450 rpm, were used to evaluate the fabric node number and the fabric drape coefficient. After the ANOVA and the Duncan analysis, 13 consistent evaluators for determining the subjective fabric node number were selected from 19 candidates. The mean values of the subjective node numbers were then used as a basis for determining the peak-trough threshold of the drape fabric node. The fabric drape image plot was obtained by a self-devised dynamic drape instrument for fabric, and then converted to a drape waveform diagram. When the mean value of the drop-height between the outward protruding and adjacent dent positions on the drape waveform diagram at rotation speeds from 175 rpm to 450 rpm was taken as the test value, then the 1 % confidence lower limit of the mean drop-height could be used to obtain fabric node numbers which were subjectively and objectively consistent. This meant that the difference in the distance from peak and trough to the center point in the drape profile was 0.30 cm, which was defined as the peak-trough threshold of the node of a fabric drape image plot. The greater the rotation speed, the greater the drape coefficient of wool woven fabric. The smaller the distance from the peak and trough to the center point, the smaller the node number.

The thermal, bulk and compression properties of two types of kapok/down blended wadding made by our patent technology were investigated in this paper. By studying the relationship between the wadding properties and the content of specific combinations of kapok, divergent down and down fibrils, it was concluded that the comprehensive ability of the wadding to retain warmth increased with the increasing content of kapok, with resultant higher bulkiness. From our observations, the lumen of kapok collapsed gradually during multiple compressions, which compromised some performance aspects of kapok. Further investigation revealed that the performance attenuation of divergent down was less than that of kapok and the fibrils cut from divergent down.