Dynamics of elastic knitted fabrics for tight fit sportswear

Abstract

Elastic fabrics and their garments have instant response and return to their original size and shape due to physical exertion by any organ of the human body. It is an objective evaluation of the performance of the elastic fabrics for tight fit sportswear. The analysis of this dynamics will help to engineer new products for improving the stamina and speed of the sportsmen, as one particular type of garment doesn t serve the purpose of all kinds of sports events. The research work mainly deals with the effect of material variables, machine variables and processing treatments on dynamic elastic behavior of cotton / spandex knitted fabrics. Two commercial production methods such as spandex back plated cotton knitted (SBPC) fabric and spandex core cotton spun yarn knitted (SCCS) fabric production methods exist to produce elastic knitted fabrics. The comparison of the dynamic elastic behaviour of SBPC fabric and SCCS fabric was made, in order to analyse the suitability of the fabrics for tight fit sportswear. The effect of yarn structure on dynamics of the fabrics was analysed by comparing the dynamic elastic behaviour of cotton / spandex knitted fabrics made from ring and rotor yarns, and ring and compact yarns. In order to study the effect of machine variables on dynamics of the elastic fabrics, analysis of spandex input yarn tension, spandex linear density and cotton yarn loop length have been studied. The study of laundering effect on dynamic elastic behaviour of cotton / spandex knitted fabric was carried out, in order to improve the laundering cycle which in turn leads to increase in the economics of the elastic garments usages. In the Instron test, analysis of DWR test results for the knitted fabric is difficult due to the directional effect. In order to overcome the effect, pressure sensing device for analyzing the pressure comfort of elastic garments have been designed and developed. Pressure values obtained from the new pressure sensing device and the Instron tester has given good correlation. newline newline newline