Characterization of sensory comfort of apparel products

Abstract

The purposes of research are to develop a system of objective evaluation methods to characterize the sensory comfort of clothing by designing test methods and apparatuses, and to predict clothing sensory comfort performance from fabric physical properties by carrying out a series of physical, physiological and psychological sensory studies. A set of new evaluation methods and instruments have been developed to measure fabric thermal-mechanical properties (i.e. the Fabric Tactile Tester, FTT); multidimensional dynamic liquid water transport behaviour (i.e. the Moisture Management Tester, MMT); infrared radiation management properties (i.e. the Fabric IR Radiation Management Tester, FRMT); and fabric dynamic coupled heat and moisture transfer behaviour (i.e. the Bionic Skin Model, BSM). A series of psychophysical sensory comfort studies were carried out to measure the subjective fabric-skin touch sensations in steady and relaxed conditions and the perception of various wearing sensations and comfort during intensive exercises. The relationships between the individual fabric-skin touch sensations and the fabric physical properties under the condition of steady and insensible perspiration were investigated. All subjective fabric-skin touch sensations (i.e. smooth, soft, prickle, warm, damp) are associated with the measurements with the FTT. The psychosensory intensity during the upper measuring head's descend (PSIdown) is negatively related to the warm sensation, and the fabric compression capacity (FCmean) is positively to the smooth, soft and prickle sensations. The warm and damp sensations are also related to the fabric IR direct reflection property (IEdr) and the time needed to achieve IR steady state on the fabric transmission surface (tdst). Statistical methods were applied to study the relationships between the wearing sensations of the tight-fitting sportswear and the fabric physical properties during intensive exercises and found that: - The perceptions of prickle, scratch and tight sensations are correlated with the measurements with FTT, but the perceptions of cool and sticky sensations are only predictable during the process of insensible perspiration and at the beginning of sweating; - OMMC (Overall moisture management capacity) and OWTC (Oneway transfer capacity) of the MMT are related to thermal and moisture related sensations after liquid sweat accumulated in the clothing; - The total IR intensity difference between fabric two surfaces (lEdms) is related to the perception of overall comfort; - Meanwhile, the measurements with BSM showed that the perception of overall comfort is correlated with intensity of fabric upper surface humidity changes (IRHful) during the dynamic contact process; and is related to skin humidity (RHs2) in the process of insensible perspiration. After heavy sweating, the intensity of fabric bottom surface humidity change (IRHfb34) plays an important role in overall comfort perception. To predict overall clothing comfort on the basis of these new apparatuses, statistical and neural network models have been developed and the results show that the mean values of sensory comfort factors and the overall comfort are predictable from the physical factors abstracted from the measurements with all the instruments developed. In summary, four new evaluation methods and instruments with predictive models have been developed to characterize the sensory comfort of clothing, which can be utilized to design and develop textiles and apparel products with superior functional and comfort performances, also can be used for quality control and certification of high-tech functional polymeric porous materials.