THERMAL COMFORT PROPERTIES OF COTTON KNITTED FABRICS IN DRY AND WET STATES

In recent years the importance of clothing comfort properties became one of the most important feature of the fabrics and many of the studies are devoted to measurements of thermal properties. However in many of these researches, the thermal comfort characteristics of fabrics were investigated only in dry state. The aim of this study is to characterize thermal comfort properties of garments with analyzing thermal properties after sweating. For this aim thermal conductivity, thermal absorptivity and thermal resistance values of fabrics, knitted with different types of cotton yarn, were tested in both dry and wet states. The results indicate that there is not any significant difference between thermal comfort properties of the fabrics knitted with carded and combed yarns, whereas mercerization process affected to these properties significantly. After wetting, all fabric structures indicate cooler feeling and lower thermal insulation.