Compressibility of polyester woven fabric: A novel approach to compute the incompressible volume of woven fabric

The compressibility of nine dobby woven fabrics with different construction parameters was studied based on Van Wyk’s equation and image analysis. Like earlier works, it used van Wyk’s equation to approximate the experimental results. The main difference from previous contributions is in determining the limiting volume at large pressures. The three ways to determine the incompressible volume of fabric are introduced. The incompressible volume is presented by yarn-to-yarn contact in the binding point. The corrected model fits the experimental data perfectly. The main objective is to predict the thickness under given loads based only on the structural parameters of the yarn. Without the need to obtain input data through difficult to access experimental equipment. Fabric packing density, as one of the basic parameters, also changes during fabric compression. Thus, the work also proves the influence of compression on fabric packing density as the parameter in the compression equation.