Thermal Absorptivity Model of Knitted Rib Fabric and its Experimental Verification

Thermal absorptivity is an indicator of warm and cool feeling of textile materials. An equation based on thermal absorptivity of polyester in solid form, porosity of a fabric, and relative contact area of human skin and fabric surface has been developed to characterize thermal absorptivity of fabric. For verification of suggested model, 15 knitted rib fabrics were produced using 100% polyester yarn and having different surface profile. ALAMBETA semiautomatic non-destructive instrument has been used for measuring the effective thermal absorptivity of knitted rib fabric. It was found that the suggested simple theoretical model exhibits significant agreement with the measured thermal absorptivity values of knitted rib fabric, which endorsed the approach applied.