Study the relationship between UV protection and knitted fabric structure

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to study the relationship between the structure of knitted fabric and the ultraviolet (UV) protection of cotton fabrics. For studying the UV protection ability of cotton knitted fabric, a total of 7 types of knitted fabric were produced. The single knit fabrics were: (1) Cross Tuck (Knit + Tuck), (2) Cross Miss (Knit + Miss), (3) Double Cross Tuck (Knit + Tuck), (4) Double Cross Miss (Knit + Miss), (5) Lacoste (Knit + Tuck), (6) Weft Locknit, (7) Plain Knit (All Knit). All the fabrics were produced from combed cotton (CH series) and combed supima ESTex (MCG series) with yarn count 20Ne and FUKUHARA Circular knitting machine was selected. In this research, different kinds of testing methods were used to evaluate the performance of the knitted cotton fabric. Fabric weight measurement, fabric thickness measurement, fabric count (stitch density) measurement, fabric shrinkage, air permeability, Kawabata Evaluation System, and ultraviolet protection factor measurement, were studied in this research. The result revealed that the Double Cross Miss has the highest UPF value but its fabric weight was also the highest. The single knit fabric with knit and miss could perform a better UV blocking ability than the fabric with all knit or knit and tuck.