COMFORT AND HANDLE

PROPERTIES
 Comfort and handle Quality Parameters
• Absorbency
• Air Permeability
• Static behavior
• Drape
• Stiffness
• Crease recovery
• Durable Press
 Drape
• Fabric drape is defined as the extent to which
a fabric will deform when it is allowed to
hang under its own weight.
• It is one of the subjective performance
characteristics of fabric and contributes
considerably to its aesthetic appeal.
 Drape

• Drape is the ability of the fabric to assume a

graceful appearance.

• Drape is measured by ‘Drape meter’ .

 Drape meter

A circular specimen of 10
inch dia is supported by
circular disk of about 5
inch dia and the
unsupported area drapes
over the edge.
With fabrics, the material
will assume some folded
configuration and the
shape of the projected
area will not be circular.
A value known as the drape
coefficient, F, is
determined by
considering areas.
 Drape meter

Drape Coefficient is measured by the ratio of the

projected area of the specimen to its undraped
area, after deduction of the area of the
supporting disk.
Let AD = the area of the specimen,
Ad = the area of the supporting disk, and
As = the actual projected area of the specimen.

F = As -_ Ad
AD _ Ad

Maximum Drape coefficient value is 1.

Drape measurement-IS 8357
 Crease/Wrinkle resistance
Crease/Wrinkle resistance is the property that enables a fabric
to recover from being folded and from forming undesirable
wrinkles. The wrinkle recovery of fabrics depends on various
factors, as follows:
Fiber content: Some fibers such as wool and polyester have an
inherent resiliency.
More twisted yarns reduce the tendency of fabrics to wrinkle
because there is little fiber displacement.
A closely woven fabric (many yarns per square inch) shows
wrinkles more than one that is loosely woven – there is less
yarn mobility to relieve the strain.
A plain weave fabric (many interlacings) wrinkles more than a 4
X 4 basket weave (few interlacings).
Thick fabrics do not wrinkle as much as thinner ones because
there is more mass to absorb the strain.
 Crease/Wrinkle resistance
• When fabrics are deformed by load and load is released,
• Color on a fabric, such as a print, often makes wrinkles less
noticeable.
• Finishes also can be used to improve the resiliency of the
fabric, especially materials containing cellulose fibers such as
cotton, flax, lyocell, and rayon.
• Rough surface fabrics are less likely to show wrinkles than
fabrics with smooth surfaces.
 Crease resistance
• When fabrics are deformed by load and load is released,
• Cellulosic fabrics are more susceptible to creasing.
• Wool has excellent crease resistance.
• Fabrics of Linen are very bad creasing property i.e. more rigid
because of high degree of orientation of cellulose in this fiber.
• Crease resistance can be improved by resin treatment.
• Easy-care and durable press finishes are generally applied to
cellulose and cellulose blends fabrics, but other fibers can
benefit from these finishes. There are many words and phrases
available to describe this application;
• Easy-Care
• Durable press
• Minimum care
• No-iron
• Wash and wear
• Crease resistant
• Permanent press
• Shrink proof
• Wrinkle resistant
• Wrinkle free
• A fabric that has good wrinkle resistance also resists a crease
being pressed into it.
• Therefore, a sharp crease usually cannot be pressed into a
pair of woolen trousers, but can be pressed into a garment
made of cotton that has poor wrinkle resistance.
• By heat-setting process, articles made with thermoplastic
fibers can have sharp and permanent creases even though
they may be highly resilient.
TEST METHODS
Two types of tests recommended determining wrinkle resistance
of fabrics:
• Recovery angle method: Measures the angle at which the
fabric remains bent after being creased and compressed.
• Appearance method: Checks the appearance of the fabric
after induced wrinkling.
 Recovery angle method

• The ability of textiles to recover from creases is

determined by measurement of its creases recovery
angle.
• In this test, the test specimen is first creased under
500 gm weight for specified period of time (5
minutes) and is then transferred to the angle
measuring device where one of its ends is held in a
spring loaded clamp while the other end is allowed
to fall freely under its own weight.
• This clamped end is slowly rotated till the free end
becomes vertical.
Crease recovery tester
Appearance Method:
• In this a larger specimen is wrinkled using the AATCC wrinkle
tester. The specimen is hung for 24- hour period, after which
it is evaluated for wrinkle appearance.
• The specimens are rated by comparing them to AATCC three
dimensional wrinkle recovery replicas.
The ratings are reported as follows:
• WR5 - no wrinkling
• WR4 – slight wrinkling
• WR3 - noticeable wrinkling
• WR2 – considerable wrinkling
• WR1 – severe wrinkling
 Resiliency
• Resiliency is the ability of a fibre to return to original
shape after bending, twisting, compressing, or a
combination of deformations.
• Polyester and Wool fabrics have excellent resiliency.
• Thicker fibers possess greater resiliency because there is
more mass to absorb the strain. Also, fiber shape affects
fiber resiliency; round fibers usually possess greater
resiliency than flat fibers.
• Fiber properties are also a factor. Polyester has
outstanding resiliency; cotton has poor resiliency.
• A resilient fiber creates a problem if a sharp crease is
desired in a garment. Easy to make a sharp crease on a
cotton or rayon fabric, but not on a dry wool material.
 Durable Press evaluation of fabrics and apparel
“Durable Press” is a term used to describe a fabric
or garment that will retain its original shape and
smoothness and sharpness of crease through wear
and repeated laundering and not require ironing.
A Durable press/permanent press, garment should
retain its special features throughout its lifetime.
These include the following fabric and garment
properties:
Smooth fabric appearance: Fabric should be highly
wrinkle resistant – garment may be worn after
being washed and dried without need of ironing.
 Durable Press evaluation of fabrics and apparel
Flat seams: The garment seams should not pucker from
either cleaning or wearing. They should remain smooth
in appearance.
Crease retention: The fabric creases or pleats should
remain sharp and not become less defined after being
washed or worn.
Durable press/permanent press: This term applies to
fabrics or garments requiring no ironing after laundering.
Wash and wear/minimum care: This term applies to
fabrics or garments requiring touch up or minimum
ironing after laundering.
 Durable Press evaluation of fabrics and apparel
Test method
The test specimen (garment or fabric) is laundered five
times in an automatic home washer and a dryer at
durable press setting, using one of the washing conditions
mentioned in the test method followed.
After the test specimen is taken out of the dryer, it is
allowed to hang in the standard conditions for testing
(65% RH and 21+/- 1 degree celcius) for at least 2 hrs.
Then, the test specimen is given a rating of 1 through 5 by
visually comparing it with the photographic standards.
 Durable Press evaluation of fabrics and apparel
Test method
The rating of 5 indicates the best or almost perfect (smooth
and sharp) appearance while the rating of 1 indicates the
worst or most wrinkled fabric, puckered seam, and flat
crease appearance.
The test specimen is rated on a scale of 5 to 1 by three
observers independently, and the average of these three
ratings is reported as the final rating for that garment or
fabric.
Generally, anything with a rating of less than 3 is not
considered acceptable.
 Absorbency
• Absorbency: Ability of a fibre to take up moisture
from the body or from the environment.
It is measured as moisture regain where the
moisture in the material is expressed as a
percentage of the weight of moisture-free
material.
Regain = (moist weight – dry weight) × 100
dry weight
• Hydrophilic fibres absorb moisture readily. Eg:
cotton, flax, wool, viscose
• Hydrophobic fibres have little or no absorbency.
All synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon, acrylic
and spandex are Hydrophobic in nature
 Absorbency
• More important for the fabrics such as terry towels,
bath robes, beach robes etc.
• Fiber absorbency affects many conditions of use:
- Skin comfort
- Static build-up
- Dimensional stability in water: Hydrophobic fibers
shrink less when washed than hydrophilic fibers. Little
fiber shrinkage occurs.
- Stain removal
- Water repellency: A more durable repellency finish
occurs with hydrophilic fibers (chemicals react better
with these fibers).
- Wrinkle recovery: Better in case of hydrophobic fibers.
 Water absorption
Following test are used to determine the water
absorbency.
1. Static immersion
2. Drop absorption test (wettability of textile
material)
3. Sinking time
 1- Static immersion
• Four specimens each 80 mm x 80 mm are cut at 45⁰ to the
warp direction.
• The first step is to condition the sample and weigh them.
• They are then immersed in distilled water at a temp. of 20±
1⁰C to a depth of 10 c.m.
• The samples are left in this position for 20 minutes.
• Samples are taken from the water, the surface water is
removed.
• Following formula is used to measure the water absorbency.
Absorption= mass of water absorbed x100
original mass
 2- Drop absorption test
By Drop test
• The specimen is clamped onto the embroidery frame.
• A burette with a standard tip size is clamped 6 mm above the
horizontal surface of the fabric.
• A drop of liquid is allowed to fall from the burette and a stop
watch is started as soon as the drop falls on the fabric and
stopped no sooner the image of the reflected light disappears
at the edge of the drop i.e. the water drop is completely
absorbed by the fabric.
This is termed as ‘drop absorbency time’. A drop absorbency
of about 5 sec. is generally considered satisfactory for well-
prepared Cellulosic materials.
 3-Sinking time

• At least 4 samples of the size 1”* 1” are cut.

Each sample is kept on the surface of water
taken in 500ml glass beaker.
• Time taken by the piece to sink just beneath
the water surface is measured.
• A sinking time of about 5 sec is generally
considered satisfactory for well prepared
Cellulosic materials.
 Water vapour transmission

• The water vapour permeability of fabrics is an

important property for those used in clothing
systems intended to be worn during vigorous
activity.
• The human body cools itself by sweat production
and evaporation during periods of high activity.
• For instance, the clothing must be able to remove
this moisture in order to maintain comfort and
reduce the degradation of thermal insulation
caused by moisture build-up in cold
environment.
 Water repellency

Water repellency treatment modifies the

surface tension properties of fibre or fabric so
that they repel water drops.
Water resistance is needed in outdoor clothing
for protection against rain.
 Water repellency
• There are various methods of evaluating the water
repellency properties of fabric.
• One of the most realistic principles is to subject a
specimen of fabric to an artificial shower of rain for a
short period of time.
• The repellency properties of the tested specimen can
be assessed subjectively or objectively in various ways:
- By subjective assessment of wetting on appearance;
- By measuring the percentage absorption calculated
from the difference in original and final masses;
- By measuring the amount of water which penetrates;
or
- By measuring the speed at which water penetrates.
• It is also possible to measure the pressure required to
force water through the fabric.
 Waterproof/ water resistance
test
Hydrostatic Head
 Scope

 The waterproof/ water

resistance test (Hydrostatic test)
is to determining the resistance
of fabric to penetrate by water
using a hydrostatic head
tester. The result will be
interpreted in how many mm
water pressure the fabric can
resist. DENSE FABRICS, TARPAULINS,
 Test methods involved: AATCC TENTINGS
127,EN 20'811, ISO 811,
 Spray Rating
 BSEN 24920 or ISO
4920
 A sample of fabric is
mounted at 45° and
250mL of water
“sprayed” over the
surface.
 Appearance of fabric
(“wetting”) is assessed
in comparison with
standard photographs
Grading in MMT
 Static behaviour
Static electricity:
• It is a frictional electric charge caused by the rubbing
together of two dissimilar materials.
• The effects, such as clothes clinging to the wearer or lint
being attracted to the fabric,
occur when the electric charge is retained and builds up on
the surface.
• Hydrophobic fibers usually are a problem because they
contain very little moisture.
• It is the moisture contained in the fibers that acts as a
conductor to remove the charge and prevents the above-
mentioned effects from occurring.
• Because of the danger of static electricity in certain work
environments, carpets made of fibers containing a low static
propensity are especially important in hospitals, in work
areas near computers, and near areas of possible exposure to
flammable or explosive liquids or gases.
Clothing comfort

Today comfort is considered as fundamental

property when a textile product is valued.
The comfort characteristics of fabrics mainly
depend on the structure, types of raw
materials used, weight, moisture absorption,
heat transmission and skin perception.
Air permeability
• Interaction of variables, such as fiber crimp,
yarn size and twist, fabric yarns per inch or
stitches per inch, finish, and fabric thickness.
• Products: curtains – high air flow is desired.
• Products: cold weather clothing – low air
permeability is desired.
• Device used to measure Air permeability is the
Air permeability tester.
Air permeability
• Air permeability of a fabric is a measure of how
well it allows the passage of air through it.
Generally, the air permeability of a fabric can
influence its comfort behaviour in several ways.
• In the first case, a material that is permeable to
air is in general, likely to be permeable to water,
in either the vapour or the liquid phase.
• Thus, the moisture-vapour permeability and the
liquid-moisture transmission are normally closed
related to air permeability.
 Air Permeability
• Air Permeability /Air porosity of a fabric is the
volume of air measured in cubic centimeters
passed per second through 1 cm2 of the fabric
at a pressure head of 1 cm of water.
• Air resistance of a fabric is the time in seconds
for 1 cm3 of air to pass through 1 cm2 of the
fabric under a pressure head of 1 cm of water.
Air Permeability Tester
 Measurement of Air Permeability
‘Shirley’ Air Permeability apparatus
Air at 20+/-2 deg C and 65 +/-2% R.H. is drawn
from the laboratory through the test
specimen S by means of a suction pump A, the
rate of flow being controlled by means of by-
pass valve B and the series valve C.
Measurement of Air Permeability
‘Shirley’ Air Permeability apparatus
The rate of flow is adjusted until the required
pressure drop across the fabric is indicated on
a draught gauge D, graduated from 0 to 25
mm head of water.
• For fabrics of high resistance, the rate of flow of air
through the specimen is inadequate for proper
operation of the suction pump; this is overcome by
opening the by-pass valve B which supplies air to the
pump directly.
• For fabrics of low resistance, when high rates of flow
are attained, valve B is closed or permitted to supply
only a small volume of air; fine control is obtained by
adjusting valve C.
• E is a reservoir which smoothes out any disturbance
due to the varying velocities of the streams of air
drawn through the various paths by the pump.
• When the required pressure drop, which is normally
1 cm of water, is attained and the indicator of the
draught gauge is steady, the rate of flow of air is read
off one of the four Rotameters R, selected according
to the permeability of the test specimen.
• The Rotameters are calibrated, at 20 deg. C
and 760 mm of mercury, to indicate air flow in
cubic centimetres per second and they cover
the following ranges: R1 0.05-0.5, R2 0.5-3.5,
R3 3-35, and R4 30-350.
• It is easy to select the most suitable
Rotameter for any fabric.
• The test area is 5.07cm2. From the readings
on the Rotameter, either the air permeability
or the resistance can be computed.
• The average rate of flow from the five
specimens is calculated and by dividing by
5.07 we obtain the air permeability of the
fabric in cubic centimetres per second at 1 cm
head of water.
 Thermal comfort
• Clothing has a large part to play in the maintenance of heat
balance as it modifies the heat loss from the skin surface and
at the same time has the secondary effect of altering the
moisture loss from the skin.
• However, no one clothing system is suitable for all occasions.
• A clothing system which is suitable for one climate may not
be suitable for another climate.
 Thermal properties of fabrics
• Measurement of ‘warmth’ of fabrics.
• The warmth of a fabric is largely a function of the
airspace and its distribution in the structure.
• The ‘Thermal Insulation Value’ is the percentage
saving in heat loss from a surface due to covering
it with the fabric:
• T.I.V. = 100 (HO – HC)
HO
HO = the heat lost per second from the uncovered surface
Hc = the heat lost per second from the covered surface
 Thermal properties of fabrics
• In practice, the warmth value of a fabric is
appreciated most in windy conditions.
• Marsh tested many types of fabrics and
plotted their ‘Thermal Insulation Values’
(T.I.V.) against their thickness and obtained a
fairly linear relationship, thus showing that
the air in the fabrics plays the most important
part.
Guarded Hot Plate – views
Fabric hand
• A fabric hand or handle depicts the way a fabric
feels when it is touched by human hand and gives
an indication of texture of the fabric.
• Aside from the color and design characteristics,
there are a number of physical attributes of a
fabrics that primarily affect their aesthetic and
comfort quality.
• It will appreciated that a term such as smooth
may have several connotations for example, the
smoothness of a high quality worsted suiting is
different type of smoothness to that of a cotton
satin.
 Stiffness

• Stiffness of the fabric is the rigidity of the fabric and

associated with the drape or bending behaviour of the fabric.
• The draping qualities of fabrics are related to fabric stiffness.
Stiffer the fabric less the drape and less stiffer the fabric,
more the drape.
• A highly drapable fabric is one hat can be arranged in folds
when hung. A fabric may drape poorly but be desirable for a
certain garment - it has some stiffness (e.g., suiting fabric).
• Fabric stiffness is affected by several factors: fiber content – a
dress of 100% acetate has better drapability than one made
of 100% polyester.
• Yarn twist: highly twisted spun yarns usually reduce the
draping qualities of fabrics.
 Stiffness

• Yarn size: fine filament yarns are more pliable than thick-
filament yarns, which are stiffer;
• Fabric thickness- a coating on women’s winter suiting is quite
stiff compared to that of a blouse.
• Finish – fabric finishes often reduce the drapability, especially
the resin finishes used on cotton cloth.
• One indication of a fabric’s drapability is how it bends under
its own weight when pushed over a horizontal edge. Another
is to measure the fabric’s resistance force to bending.
• An average of the length-wise tests and of the width-wise
tests are each given as the result.
Two procedures are provided.
• Cantilever Test, employing the principle of cantilever
bending of the fabric under its own mass.
• Loop Test, employing the principle of a loop formed in a
fabric strip and hung vertically.
This test method applies to most fabrics including woven
fabrics, air bag fabrics, blankets, napped fabrics, knitted
fabrics, layered fabrics, pile fabrics. The fabrics may be
untreated, heavily sized, coated, resin-treated, or
otherwise treated.
• The Cantilever Test Option is the preferred
procedure because it is simpler to perform. It is,
however, not suitable for very limp fabrics or those
that show a marked tendency to curl or twist at a cut
edge.
• The Heart Loop Test Option is suitable for fabrics
that show a tendency to curl or twist.
 Shirley stiffness tester
The horizontal platform of the
instrument is supported by two side
pieces made of plastic.
These side pieces have engraved on
them index lines at a standard angle of
deflection of 41.5 at which angle
f(41.5)
To carry out a test the specimen is cut
to size with the aid of the template
and then both template and specimen
are transferred to the platform with
the fabric underneath.
Both are slowly pushed forward.
The strip of fabric will commence to
droop over the edge of the platform
and the movement of the template
(i.e. the scale) and the fabric is
continued until the tip of the specimen
viewed in the mirror cuts both index
lines.
 Shirley stiffness tester
The bending length can
immediately be read off
from the scale mark
opposite a zero line
engraved on the side of the
platform.
Each specimen is tested
four times at each end and
again with the strip turned
over.
Mean values for the
bending length in warp and
weft directions can then be
calculated and if required,
values for flexural rigidity.
 Stiffness

• Bending Length, C :
Length of the fabric that will bend under its own weight to a
definite extent .
It is a measure of stiffness that determines the draping quality
also.
The calculation is as follows.
C= l f1 (θ)
f1 (θ)= (cos ½ θ/ 8 tan θ)
Flexural rigidity, G. This is a measure of stiffness associated with
a handle.
G =3.39 w1 C 3 mg/cm or
G= w2 C3 X10 3 mg/cm
Where w1 = Cloth weight in ounces per square yard.
w2 = cloth weight in grams per square centimeter.
Tests done to check the comfort properties of activewear
For thermophysiological comfort:
- Air permeability
- Wicking
- Moisture absorption
- Moisture vapour permeability
For tactile comfort: pilling