17—a Geometrical Assessment of the Thickness and Bulk Density of Weft-Knitted Fabrics

A general geometrical model, based on the assumption of a constant unit-cell configuration for a particular knitted construction and derived by the present author in a previous publication is applied to plain, interlock, and various rib-knitted constructions to enable simple relations to be derived for the effective diameter and specific volume of the yarn as it exists within the fabric, the fabric thickness, and the bulk density of the structure. The relations between these parameters and the fabric tightness factor are evaluated quantitatively for fabrics knitted from wool yarns. The knitted-fabric parameters evaluated in this paper are difficult to measure experimentally. The geometrical approach used gives an assessment that is independent of the problems encountered during experimental measurements of such parameters as fabric thickness and yarn diameter.