Thermo physiological comfort of single jersey knitted fabric derivatives

The main aim of this study is to determine the thermo-physiological comfort properties of single knit fabrics and their derivatives. As the Single Jersey knitted fabrics are the most widely used fabrics in the apparel sector, they have been selected for the analysis purpose. Derivatives of single jersey are developed and compared in order to understand the influence of structural variations. Physical properties e.g. thickness and areal density were evaluated for all knitted fabrics with 100% cotton yarn having three different yarn linear densities and after different stages of relaxation. Various thermo-physiological properties have been studied by changing the combed cotton yarn linear density as well as the structure of single knit fabric. Air permeability, thermal insulation and relative water vapor permeability of the fabrics were observed and investigated under wet relaxed states. It is determined that fabric physical properties are affected by changing yarn linear density and by the dry or wet relaxation stages. The percentage/number of tuck stitches (NTS), location of tuck stitches (LTS) and ratio of tuck to knit stitches (RTKS) have strong influence on physical and thermo-physiological properties of single knit fabrics, even though other knitting parameters remained the same.