XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Article

Investigation of wicking, wetting and

drying properties of acrylic knitted fabrics

Textile Research Journal

0(00) 112
! The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0040517511435851
trj.sagepub.com

Meltem Yanlmaz and Fatma Kalaoglu

Abstract
In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between different knitted structures and some thermophysiological comfort parameters. Wetting, wicking and drying properties of single jersey, 1  1 rib, 2  2 rib and
interlock knitted fabrics made out of acrylic yarns were studied and experimental wicking height, wicking weight, transfer
wicking ratio, contact angle and WER (water evaporation rate) values were measured. Samples were produced in two
different tightness values to obtain slack and tight fabrics for all structures. Some comfort-related parameters were
correlated with structural parameters of fabrics such as fabric tightness factor, thickness, porosity, loop length and pore
size etc. The statistical analysis results indicate that the effect of the knitted structure is significant for wicking height,
wicking weight, contact angle values, transfer wicking ratios and WER values. Wicking height increases depending on
knitted structures namely, single jersey, 1  1 rib, interlock and 2  2 rib, respectively. Slack fabrics have longer loop
lengths with higher porosity values and higher pore sizes for all knitted structures. Slack structures of 2  2 rib, 1  1 rib,
interlock and single jersey knits have higher transfer wicking ratios when compared with their tight structures. WER is
inversely related with fabric thickness. It decreased with an increase of thickness due to increase of compactness and
decrease of air space. All tight knitted structures have higher contact angles than their slack forms due to compactness of
the surface.

Keywords
comfort, acrylic, knitted structures, wicking, drying

Introduction
Knitting structures are important due to several advantages such as comfort, high elasticity, conformity with
the shape of the body, softer touches, lightweight,
warmth, wrinkle resistance, and ease of care. etc. It is
well known that the physical properties of fabrics are
dependent on their yarn properties and fabric construction parameters. Construction parameters, such as neness of yarns, density and the type of knitted structure,
control the texture and surface topography of
fabrics.15
Thermo-physiological comfort is one of the considerations of clothing comfort. The thermo-physiological
comfort of a garment is related to several parameters:
lightness, thermal resistance, heat and water vapor
transport, sweat absorption, wind impermeability and
drying. Investigating the relationships between fabric
structure and permeability to water vapor/water (i.e.
sweat) is stimulating interest. The ability of clothing

materials to transport moisture vapor is important to

determine wear comfort. Absorption of sweat and its
transportation through and across the fabric are related
to clothing comfort properties of the fabrics.611
Drying time is another important aspect while determining a comfort level.12 There is a general agreement
that fabric thickness, density and porosity are critical
factors to determine comfort perceptions.1315 Yoon
and Buckley16 reported that steady state moisture
vapor transport through fabrics is controlled by a diffusion process that is inuenced by fabric structure,
fabric thickness and openness.

Textile Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Corresponding author:
Meltem Yanlmaz, Textile Engineering, Istanbul Technical University,
Gumussuyu 34437, Istanbul, Turkey
Email: [email protected]

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

Table 1. The properties of fabric samples

Short
code

Code

Fabric
structure

Thickness,
mm

Weight per
unit area,
g/m2

Loop
length,
cm

Stitch
density,
loops/cm2

Tightness
factor,
tex1/2/cm

Porosity,
%

Pore
size, cm

Stiffness
(Newton/
cm2)

SJ-Slack

SJ-S

Single jersey

1.72  0.07

326.8

0.890

4.42  6 26.52

9.494

0.702

0.101

0.438028

SJ-Tight

SJ-T

Single jersey

1.768  0.07

342.2

0.780

4.40  7 30.8

10.833

0.705

0.094

0.538221

R(1  1)-Slack

1  1R-S

1  1 rib

2.152  0.01

365.5

0.630

9  8 72

13.413

0.542

0.058

0.498561

R(1  1)-Tight
Int-Slack

1  1R-T
Int-S

1  1 rib
Interlock

1.934  0.07
2.45  0.08

394.5
429.1

0.477
0.300

11  11 121
11  8 88

17.715
28.167

0.352
0.766

0.042
0.051

0.567444
0.93273

Int-Tight

Int-T

Interlock

2.454  0.07

519.1

0.290

12.2  9 109.8

29.138

0.723

0.046

1.350201

R(2  2)-Slack

2  2R-S

2  2 rib

2.778  0.03

391

0.563

12  9 108

15.009

0.525

0.033

0.37332

R(2  2)-Tight

2  2R-T

2  2 rib

2.734  0.09

483

0.525

12.3  10 123

16.095

0.487

0.029

0.567444

0.11

30

1.4

0.10

1.2

0.09

20
15

1.0

0.08
Stiffness

Pore size

Tightness Factor

25

0.07
0.06
0.04

10

0.4

0.03

0.2

0.02
0.3

0.4

0.5
0.6
Loop length

0.7

0.8

0.8
0.6

0.05

0.3

90.4

0.5

0.6
0.7
Loop length

0.8

0.9

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6
0.7
Loop length

0.8

0.9

Figure 1. Correlation of loop length with tightness factor, pore size and stiffness.

Higher wicking properties oer a drier feeling by the

spreading of the liquid fast.1719 Fiber must be wetted
before wicking. If ber is not wet by a liquid, the liquid
does not wick into a fabric. Wetting is determined by
the surface properties of the bers and the wetting
liquid, whereas wicking is also aected by the way
and arrangement of the bers or yarns. To determine
wetting and wicking properties, pore size and number
of pores in the fabric structure is important.20,21
Porosity is one of the main physical parameters that
have a great inuence on thermo-physiological comfort
properties.1,22 The porosity of a knitted structure will
inuence its physical properties, such as its bulk density, moisture absorbency, mass transfer and thermal
conductivity. The yarn diameter, the surface formation
techniques and the number of loop counts per unit area
are the main factors aecting the porosity of textiles.2
Besides pore structure, the ber surface properties are
the main determinants of wicking properties.23 The
evaluation of contact angle between a liquid and a
solid surface indicates wettability, changes in the level
of surface energy, and changes in the chemical and
supermolecular structure of the surfaces. Textile surfaces are rough; depending on the structure of the interlace of yarn strands, the bers inll and their
arrangement in the product.24

Hasan et al.4 reported that topographical characteristics of the fabrics strongly depend on their construction parameters such as the type and neness of
laments, yarn neness, yarn density, warp and weft
density and the type of weave. Oglakcioglu et al.25
investigated thermal comfort properties of some knitted structures (single jersey, 1  1 rib, interlock) and
reported that each knitted structure tends to yield
rather dierent thermal comfort properties. Ucar
et al.26 investigated the eects of rib design on thermal
properties of rib fabrics by using three dierent rib
structures (1  1, 2  2, 3  3) and reported that with
increasing density, air permeability and heat loss
decreases. Ramachandran et al.27 investigated the
thermal behavior of ring and compact spun yarn
single jersey, rib and interlock knitted fabrics and
studied the relationship between thermal properties
and some physical characteristics such as thickness,
tightness factor, density and permeability. They concluded that the thermal properties show a decreasing
trend as the fabric thickness, tightness factor and
fabric aerial density values increase. Emirhanova
et al.28 investigated the eects of the knitted structure
on the dimensional and physical properties of winter
outerwear knitted fabrics. Crow and Osczevski29
reported that the amount of water that wicked from

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Yanlmaz and Kalaoglu

Table 2. Experimental wicking height, wicking weight, transfer wicking ratio, contact angle and WER values

Number

Code

Short
code

Wicking height at 10 min, mm

Wicking weight, g

Walewise

Walewise

Coursewise

Transfer
wicking
ratio, %

Contact
angle, 

WER at
75 min

Coursewise

SJ-Slack

SJ-S

12.07  0.09

10.63  0.07

3.013  0.11

3.004  0.08

14.77  0.17

73.6

0.876  0.05

SJ-Tight

SJ-T

11.20  0.08

10.93  0.18

2.932  0.12

2.930  0.25

10.78  0.2

88.93

0.869  0.05

R(1  1)-Slack

1  1R-S

12.37  0.04

9.62  0.07

3.384  0.08

3.039  0.14

14.98  0.17

75.69

0.847  0.08

R(1  1)-Tight

1  1R-T

12.13  0.09

9.67  0.07

3.042  0.05

2.793  0.05

4.65  0.28

96.4

0.841  0.03

Int-Slack

Int-S

12.53  0.17

11.67  0.07

4.268  0.08

4.212  0.07

6.81  0.20

71.14

0.784  0.07

Int-Tight

Int-T

12.27  0.12

12.40  0.07

4.238  0.07

3.392  0.06

5.53  0.21

76.79

0.710  0.08

R(2  2)-Slack

2  2R-S

13.10  0.09

10.40  0.57

4.068  0.12

3.248  0.07

32.25  0.28

99.01

0.693  0.06

R(2  2)-Tight

2  2R-T

12.90  0.09

10.30  0.07

3.917  0.04

3.340  0.09

28.40  0.18

118.26

0.705  0.02

Figure 2. Vertical wicking curves for wale-wise directions.

one layer to another depended on the pore sizes and

their volumes. Zhuang30 reported that the amount of
transferred water largely depends on the performance
of individual fabrics as well as the way in which they
contacted.
There are some reports in the literature about comfort properties of knitted structures, but there is no
detailed study about wetting, wicking and drying
properties of dierent knitted structures made of
acrylic yarns. In this study, acrylic yarns were used
to prepare four dierent knitted structures (single
jersey, 1  1 rib, 2  2 rib and interlock), with each
structure prepared at two dierent tightness levels
(slack and tight). Several fabric parameters were measured and comfort parameters were tested to investigate the correlations between fabric parameters and
comfort properties.

Experimental
The fabric samples were produced using 28/2 Nm
acrylic yarns. Single jersey, interlock, 1  1 rib and
2  2 rib fabric samples were knitted in two dierent
tightness levels, i.e. slack and tight, with the same
machine settings. The specimens were knitted with the
same yarn tension and cam setting by using 7 ne, 672
needle Shima Seiki SES 124S V bed at knitting
machine. Before the measurements and tests, the samples were conditioned in standard atmospheric conditions (20  2 C, 65  5% relative humidity) for two
days. All tests were carried out in standard atmosphere.
Fabric tightness factor were determined by the equation (TF T1/2/l; where T is the linear density of yarn
in tex and l is the loop length in cm) used by
Ramachandran et al.27 Porosity and pore size values

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

Figure 3. Vertical wicking curves for course-wise directions.

were calculated according to Benltoufas formula1 and

Ogulatas formula,2 respectively.
The porosity (" 1  (yarn volume/total volume)) is
calculated according to the formula below:
" 1  d2 1CW=2t
where t is sample thickness (cm), l is loop length (cm), d
is yarn diameter (cm), C is the number of courses per
cm, W is the number of wales per cm.1
The pore size is calculated by using rp [(t-Slpry2)/
ptS]1/2 where rp is pore radius, t is thickness, S is c  w,
l is loop length.2
To determine vertical wicking properties of the fabrics, a method stated in the literature31 was used. The
specimens were cut along the wale-wise and course-wise
directions (200 mm  25 mm). They were suspended in
a reservoir of distilled water. The bottom ends of the
specimens were immersed vertically at a depth of 3 cm
into the water. The wicking heights were measured and
recorded every minute for 10 min to evaluate the wicking ability. Transfer of wicking properties were measured according to the stated method.30 The
specimens were cut into 7.45 cm diameter circles. The
specimens were wetted and placed between two dishes.
The dry specimens were put on the wet specimens
and the specimens were weighed every 5 min up to
30 min. The wet specimens were weighed before each
test as mentioned in the literature.30
Drying capabilities were evaluated by calculating
water evaporating rates (WER) as mentioned in the
study of Fangueiro et al.31 The specimens were cut as
a 200 mm  200 mm square and weighed. The water
was used to wet the specimens. The amount of water
equals to 30% of the dry specimens. The specimens

Table 3. Correlation coefficients and p-values for wicking

heights
Dependent-independent
variables

Pearson
correlation
coefficient

p-value

Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking

0.781
0.798
0.838
0.859
0.686

0.022
0.018
0.009
0.006
0.003

height-pore size
height-porosity
height-stiffness
height-thickness
height-density

were weighed and the change of weights were recorded

to measure WER.
Information about wettability and solid-liquid contact geometry was obtained by measuring the deionized
water contact angle using a contact angle meter
(Attension theta optical tensiometer). First the specimen was placed on the sample stage. Then, a drop of
water was deposited on the fabric surface. The images
were recorded and analyzed by the software
(OneAttension Software). The measurements were
repeated three times for each sample. The loop
length, the number of wales per cm, the number of
courses per cm, the thickness and the weight of fabrics
were measured according to relevant standards (TS EN
14970, TS EN 14971, TS EN 7128, ISO 5084, TS 251).
Stiness of the specimens were measured according
to ASTM International, Designation D 4032-94:
The Standard Test method for Stiness of fabric
by the Circular Bend methods, (2001). Statistical analyses have been carried out by using SPSS 18 and
Minitab15.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Yanlmaz and Kalaoglu

Figure 4. Vertical wicking ability of the fabrics at 10 min, comparison of wale and course directions.

Figure 5. Vertical wicking weights.

Results and discussions

The properties of fabric samples are given in Table 1. It
can be seen that the fabrics diered in terms of the
knitted structure, the number of courses and wales
per cm and loop length. The thickness of the fabrics
varied with the loop length and course count.
Furthermore, tightness factor, porosity, pore size and
stiness were reported in the Table 1.
The dimensional, weight and comfort-related properties of knitted fabric are determined by the loop
length.3 As shown in Figure 1, there is an inverse

correlation between the loop length and the tightness

factor. The Pearson correlation coecient of loop
length and tightness factor is 0.943 and the p-value
is 0.000. The higher value of the coecient shows the
excellence of relationship, and the p-value must be
smaller than 0.05 to conclude that the result is signicant and meaningful.
There are also a correlation between loop length and
pore size with the 0.743 Pearson coecient
(p-value 0.000) and an inverse correlation between
loop length and stiness (Pearson correlation coecient 0.748, p-value 0.000) as shown in Figure 1.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

Measured wicking height, wicking weight, transfer

wicking ratio, contact angle and WER values are presented in Table 2.

Vertical wicking test results

Figures 2 and 3 show vertical wicking test results for
wale and course-wise directions, respectively.
Univariate analysis of variance results indicate that different types of knitted structures have statistically signicant eects on the vertical wicking ability of the
samples at a 95% condence interval for course-wise
directions (p 0.001) and wale-wise directions

Table 4. Correlation coefficients and p-values for wicking

weights
Dependent-independent
variables

Pearson
correlation
coefficient

p-value

Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking
Wicking

0.777
0.604
0.574
0.767
0.553
0.728
0.521
0.515
0.638
0.679

0.000
0.013
0.02
0.001
0.026
0.001
0.039
0.041
0.008
0.004

weight-loop length
weight-density
weight-tiffness
weight-tightness factor
weight-thickness
weight-tightness factor
weight-porosity
weight-stiffness
weight-loop length
weight-pore size

(p 0.018). For the wale-wise direction, the order of

wicking heights of dierent knitted structures is the
same for slack and tight forms. The order is 2  2
rib>interlock>1  1 rib>single jersey. Furthermore,
the slack forms of the dierent knitted structures
show better wicking ability than their tight forms.
According to Figure 2, wicking heights increase
depending on the knitted structure namely, single
jersey, 1  1 rib, interlock and 2  2 rib, respectively.
For course-wise direction, the order of wicking ability
of the dierent structures has changed (interlock>single jersey>2  2 rib>1  1 rib) and tight forms have
higher wicking compared to their slack forms.
The fabric structures such as single jersey, rib and
interlock, inuence the comfort properties of the knitted fabrics. It is, basically, because of fabric properties
such as fabric thickness, tightness factor, porosity, pore
size, loop length and density change according to knitted structure. Benltoufa et al.1 indicated that liquid
absorbency are closely related to pore size and distribution. Wong19 reported that according to the capillary
principle, smaller pores are lled rst and inuence the
liquid front movement. As the smaller pores are completely lled, the liquid then moves to the larger pores.
The distance of liquid advancement is greater in a smaller pore because of the higher capillary pressure. The
results obtained in our study were similar. There is an
inverse correlation between pore size and wicking
height. The Pearson coecients and p-values can be
seen in Table 3. Wicking height for course-wise direction are correlated with porosity and also correlated
with stiness. Thickness is also correlated with wicking
height for our samples (Pearson coecient is 0.859,

Figure 6. Transfer wicking ratios.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Yanlmaz and Kalaoglu

correlation is signicant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) due

to p-value of 0.006). There is also a correlation between
the wicking height for wale-wise direction and the density with the coecient of 0.686. Higher wicking heights
for tight fabrics might be related to the comparatively
shorter loop lengths of the tight fabrics.
Figure 4 shows the vertical wicking heights of the
samples at 10 minutes for course-wise and wale-wise
directions. Textile structure and construction are
dependent on the type of weave pattern, type of the
ber content, ber neness (ends/inch, picks/inch),
and the yarn parameters. Wicking properties of textile
fabrics is also inuenced by the surface roughness, the
heterogeneity, the diusion of liquid into the ber, and
the capillary action of the ber assemblies. A number of

Transfer wicking ratios

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2
2.4
Thickness, mm

2.6

2.8

Figure 7. The relationship between transfer wicking ratio and

the thickness.

factors, especially fabric structure (yarn count, fabric

density, weave design, porosity, ber content etc.)
also eect wicking height.32 The samples show shorter
wicking heights for all knit structures except for
Interlock-tight sample for course-wise direction than
for wale-wise direction. It might be related to dierent
loop shapes and densities of the structures for wale-wise
and course-wise directions. Arrangement of yarns and
volume fractions of bers per unit area change depending on directions so dierent trend was seen for dierent directions.
Figure 5 shows the vertical wicking weight values.
According to statistical analysis, there is a correlation
between vertical wicking weights and loop lengths for
wale-wise direction. For wale-wise direction, wicking
weights are correlated with tightness factor. For
course-wise direction there is a correlation between
the wicking weight and the tightness factor. Wicking
weights and loop lengths are correlated. There is also
an inverse correlation between the wicking weight and
the pore size with a Pearson coecient of 0.679. As
stated by Wong23 high liquid retention can be achieved
by having a large number of large pores or a high total
pore volume. Porosity can be correlated with wicking
weights for our samples (Table 4) as stated before by
Wong.

Transfer wicking test results

Figure 6 shows the transfer wicking test results. There
are signicant dierences between transfer wicking
ratios of the samples. 2  2 rib structures have the highest ratios (more than 25%). It can be seen from

Figure 8. WER curves.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

0.90

WER at 75 min, %

0.85

0.80

0.75

0.70
1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2
Thickness, mm

2.4

2.6

2.8

Figure 9. Regression plot of WER vs thickness.

0.90

0.90

b
WER at 75 min, %

WER at 75 min, %

a
0.85

0.80

0.75

0.85

0.80

0.75

0.70

0.70
0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06 0.07 0.08

Pore size, cm

0.09

0.10

0.11

20

40

60
80
Density, loops/cm2

120

0.90

0.90
WER at 75 min, %

c
WER at 75 min, %

100

0.85

0.80

d
0.85

0.80

0.75

0.75

0.70

0.70
0.3

0.4

0.5
0.6
0.7
Loop length, cm

0.8

0.9

10

15
20
25
Tightness factor, Tex1/2/cm

Figure 10. The relationship between (a) pore size, (b) density, (c) loop length, (d) tightness factor, and WER.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

30

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Yanlmaz and Kalaoglu

Figure 6 that transfer wicking ratio values of the samples increase depending on knit structure namely, 1  1
rib, interlock, single jersey and 2  2 rib, respectively.
As can be seen in Table 1, slack fabrics have longer
loop lengths with higher porosity values and higher
pore sizes for all the knitted structures. Slack forms
of 2  2 rib, 1  1 rib, interlock and single jersey structures have higher transfer wicking ratios compared to
their tight forms. Similar results were reported for
transfer wicking of slack fabrics comparing them with
their tight forms by Cil et al.33 who studied the eects
of the composition, the yarn number and the thickness
on some comfort properties of cotton-acrylic fabrics. It
was concluded in Ramachandrans study that the material which has good transverse wicking will increase the
wearing comfort21 and that the thickness of the material governs the transverse wicking. There is a correlation between the transfer wicking properties and the
thickness for our samples (Figure 7, correlation coecient 0.507 p-value 0.045) as reported before in the
study of Ramachandran.

Drying test results

Figure 8 shows the WER of the samples. ANOVA
results show that the dierence between the specimens
is signicant with a 0.013 of p-value at a 95% condence interval. WER values of the samples, at 75 min,
increase depending on knitted structure namely, 2  2
rib, interlock, 1  1 rib and single jersey, respectively.
Slack structures have higher WER values compared to
their tight forms. The drying is related with the loop
density of the knitted fabric and the drying time is
longer for tight fabrics with higher loop densities for
the same fabric construction. Density is higher for 2  2
rib fabric (for tight sample, the density is 123 loops/
cm2). 2  2 rib structure has the lowest WER because
of less air entrapped in the knit structure. It may be due
to the fact that the total contact area of bers holding
water is higher for 2  2 rib fabrics because of higher
ber volume fraction in their knitted structure than
other structures.
The WER values show decreasing trend when the
fabric thickness increases in all the cases. The statistical
analysis results indicate that WER is correlated significantly with fabric thickness as shown in Figure 9.
Pearson correlation coecient of thickness and WER
at 75 min is 0.946 with p-value 0.000. The regression
equation is WER at 75 min 1.190.177 thickness,
R2 89.4%, R2(adj) 87.7%. The inuence of thickness on WER is signicant because the correlation
indexes, R2 and R2(adj), are properly .89 and .87. The
high value of the correlation index shows that the inuence of thickness on WER is high and expressiveness

Table 5. Correlation coefficients and p-values for water

evaporation rates
Dependent-independent
variables

Pearson
correlation
coefficient

p-value

WER-thickness
WER-pore size
WER-density
WER- loop length
WER-Tightness factor

0.946
0.793
0.745
0.616
0.513

0.000
0.000
0.001
0.011
0.042

of the relationship is also high and meaningful

statistically.
WER decreases with the increase of the thickness
due to increase of compactness and the decrease of
air space. Univariate analysis of variance results
reveal that at the 0.01 level, thickness (0.946) has
the signicant eect on drying. The pore size and density were also correlated as shown in Figure 10 (a, b)
and Table 5. Univariate analysis of variance results also
indicates that loop length and tightness factor
(Figure 10 c,d) have statistically signicant eects on
the WER of the samples at a 95% condence interval.

Contact angle measurement results

Figure 11 shows the contact angle photos and microscopic views of the samples. Contact angle values are
reported in Table 2. The contact angle which occurs
between the fabric surface and water molecules
describes the geometry of solidliquid contact.
Contact angles are used for the study of the wetting
on a solid material. Interfacial tension can occur on
at, homogeneous surfaces by using liquids with dierent surface tensions. For heterogeneous structures like
textile fabrics, the contact angle is aected by interfacial
tension, surface roughness, chemical heterogeneity,
polar groups, sorption layers, suction, porosity, swelling, molecular orientation, yarn tension etc.34The contact angle also determines the wicking behavior. A
lower contact angle causes higher wicking rates.2,7
For our samples, all slack samples have lower contact
angle values and higher transfer wicking ratios with less
stiness values compared to tight samples. This result is
in attendance with the ndings of Fangueiro et al. and
Ramachandran et al.21,31
The wetting behavior of a solid surface is controlled
by both the surface tension and the roughness of the
surface.35 Textile bers do not have ideal surfaces and
their wetting phenomena are complicated by surface
roughness, heterogenity, and adsorption of liquids or
surfactants with a consequent change of surface energy.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

10

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

120

120

110

110
Contact angle,

Contact angle,

Figure 11. Contact angles and microscopic views of the samples.

100
90
80

100
90
80
70

70
0.3

0.4

0.5
0.6
Porosity,%

0.7

0.8

20

40

60
80
Density, loops/cm2

100

120

120

Contact angle,

110
100
90
80
70
0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06 0.07 0.08

Pore size, cm

0.09

0.10

0.11

Figure 12. The relationship between pore size, density, porosity and contact angle values.

Moreover, the geometrical features of fabrics such as

thickness and density of fabric, twist, yarn types, yarn
count, the internal volume and the pore size distribution make the structure non ideal.32 The fabric construction and tightness changes the surface roughness
of the fabric. In order to analyze the eect of the knitted structure on the surface tension, contact angle measurements are taken. Both fabric construction and

tightness of fabric have an eect on fabric surface

parameters. As it is seen in Table 2, all tight knitted
structures have higher contact angles than their slack
forms due to compactness of the surface. Similar results
were reported by Truong et al.36 They stated that
reducing the size of the openings between the yarns
by increasing densities makes the fabric tighter. The
increased tightness makes the fabric more resistant to

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:53pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

Yanlmaz and Kalaoglu

11

the hydrostatic pressures that produce surface wetting.

Also 2  2 rib fabrics have higher contact angles compared to all other samples. Dierent knit types cause
changes on fabric roughness due to the fact that knit
structures aect loop density and dimensions of loops.
Consequently the highest contact angle values of 2  2
rib samples and the higher values of tight samples compared to slack samples can be explained by the increment of the roughness of the surface. The roughness
and the contact angle relation may be established by
measuring the roughness of the knitted fabrics in future
studies. Furthermore, statistical analysis reveals that
there is also a signicant correlation between the contact angle and the density (coecient 0.527, pvalue 0.036), the porosity (coecient 0.671,
p-value 0.004) and the pore size (coecient 0.528,
p-value 0.035) as shown in Figure 12.

Conclusions
The statistical analysis results indicate that there is an
inverse correlation between pore size and wicking
height. Slack forms of 2  2 rib, 1  1 rib, interlock
and single jersey structures have higher transfer wicking
ratios compared to their tight forms. The statistical
analysis results also indicate that the WER is inversely
related to the fabric thickness. All tight knitted structures have higher contact angles than their slack forms
due to higher compactness of the surface. The test
results revealed that the parameters of comfort are signicantly aected by knitted structure.
Funding
This research received no specic grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.

References
1. Benltoufa S, Fayala F, Cheikhrouhou M, et al. Porosity
determination of jersey structure. Autex Res J 2007; 7(1):
6369.
2. Ogulata RT and Mavruz S. Investigation of porosity and
air permeability values of plain knitted fabrics. Fibres
Textiles East Eur 2010; 18(82): 7175.
3. Shahbaz B, Jamil NA, Farooq A, et al. Comparative study
of quality parameters of knitted fabric from airjet and ring
spun yarn. J Appl Sci 2005; 5(2): 277280.
4. Kane CD, Patil UJ and Sudhakar P. Studies on the influence of knit structure and stitch length on ring and compact yarn single jersey fabric properties. Textile Res J
2007; 77(8): 572582.
5. Hasan MMB, Calvimontes A, Synytska A, et al. Effects of
topographic structure on wettability of differently woven
fabrics. Textile Res J 2008; 78(11): 9961003.
6. Fohr JP, Couton D and Treguier G. Dynamic heat and
water transfer through layered fabrics. Textile Res J 2002;
72(1): 112.

7. Prahsarn C, Barker RL and Gupta BS. Moisture vapor

transport behavior of polyester knit fabrics. Textile Res J
2005; 75(4): 346351.
8. Li Y. The science of clothing comfort. Textile progress.
Vol. 31(1/2). The Textile Institute, 2001.
9. Hu J, Li Y, Yeung KW, Wong ASW, et al. Moisture
management tester: a method to characterize fabric
liquid moisture management properties. Textile Res J
2005; 75(1): 5762.
10. Supuren G, Oglakcioglu N, Ozdil N, et al. Moisture management and thermal absorptivity properties of doubleface knitted fabrics. Textile Res J 2011; 81(13):
13201330.
11. Bivainyte A and Mikucioniene D. Investigation on the air
and water vapor permeability of double-layered weft
knitted fabrics. Fibres Textiles East Eur 2011; 19(3):
6973.
12. Laing RM, Wilson CA, Gore SE, et al. Determining the
drying time of apparel fabrics. Textile Res J 2007; 77(8):
583590.
13. Laing RM, Niven BE, Barker RL, et al. Response of
wool knit apparel fabrics to water vapor and water.
Textile Res J 2007; 77(3): 165171.
14. Dent RW. Transient comfort phenomena due to sweating. Textile Res J 2001; 71(9): 796806.
15. Fourt L, Sookne AM, Frishman D, et al. The rate of
drying of fabrics. Textile Res J 1951; 21(1): 2632.
16. Yoon HN and Buckley A. Improved comfort polyester.
Part I Transport properties and thermal comfort of polyester cotton blend fabrics. Textile Res J 1984; 54(5):
289298.
17. Das B, Das A, Kothari VK, et al. Moisture transmission
through textiles. Part I: Processes involved in moisture
transmission and the factors at play. AUTEX Res J
2007; 7(2): 194216.
18. Yoo S and Barker RL. Moisture management properties
of heat-resistant workwear fabrics Effects of hydrophilic finishes and hygroscopic fiber blends. Textile
Res J 2004; 74(11): 9951000.
19. Troynikov O and Wardiningsih W. Moisture management properties of wool polyester and wool bamboo knitted fabrics for the sportswear base layer. Textile Res J
2011; 81(6): 621631.
20. Morent R, Geyter ND, Vansteenkiste CLE, et al.
Measuring the wicking behavior of textiles by the combination of a horizontal wicking experiment and image processing. Rev Sci Instrum 2006; 77: 093502.
21. Ramachandran T. A study on influencing factors for
wetting and wicking behaviour. IE (I) J TX 2004; 84:
3741.
22. Blaga M, Marmaral A and Mhai A. High comfort knitted fabrics for linings of orthopaedics footwear. In: The
6th Conference Management of Technological Changes
15 http://www.inventica.org.ro/fibtrico/art1.pdf.
23. Wong KK, Tao XM, Yuen CWM, et al. Wicking properties of linen treated with low temperature plasma.
Textile Res J 2001; 71(1): 49.
24. Goclawski J and Urbaniak-Domagala W. The measurement of wetting angle by applying an ADSA model of

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015

XML Template (2012)

{SAGE}TRJ/TRJ 435851.3d

[7.2.20123:54pm]
(TRJ)

[112]
[PREPRINTER stage]

12

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.
30.

Textile Research Journal 0(00)

sessile drop on selected textile surfaces. Fibres Textiles
East Eur 2008; 16(2): 8488.
Oglakcoglu N and Marmarali A. Thermal comfort properties of some knitted structures. Fibres Textiles East Eur
2007; 15(56): 6465.
Ucar N and Ylmaz T. Thermal properties of 11, 22,
33 rib knit fabrics. Fibres Textiles East Eur 2004; 12(3):
3438.
Ramachandran T, Manonmani G and Vigneswaran C.
Thermal behavior of ring and compact spun yarn single
jersey, rib and interlock knitted fabrics. Indian J Fibre
Textile Res 2010; 35: 250257.
Emirhanova N and Kavusturan Y. Effects of knit structure on the dimensional and physical properties of winter
outerwear knitted fabrics. Fibres Textiles East Eur 2008;
16(2): 6974.
Crow RM and Osczevski RJ. The interaction of water
with fabrics. Textile Res J 1998; 68(4): 280288.
Zhuang Q, Harlock SC and Brook DB. Transfer wicking
mechanisms of knitted fabrics used as undergarments for
outdoor activities. Textile Res J 2002; 72(8): 727734.

31. Fangueiro R, Filgueiras A, Soutinho F, et al. Wicking

behavior and drying capability of functional knitted fabrics. Textile Res J 2010; 80(15): 15221530.
32. Hossain M, Herrmann AS and Hegemann D. Plasma
hydrophilization effect on different textile structures.
Plasma Process Polym 2006; 3: 299307.
33. Cil MG, Nergis UB and Candan C. An experimental
study of some comfort-related properties of cottonacrylic knitted fabrics. Textile Res J 2009; 79(10):
917923.
34. Hossain MM, Hegemann D, Herrmann AS, et al.
Contact angle determination on plasma-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) fabrics and foils. J Appl Polym Sci
2006; 102: 14521458.
35. Ryan BJ and Poduska KM. Roughness effects on contact
angle measurements. Am J Phys 2008; 76(11): 10741077.
36. Truong Q and Wilusz E. Designing superoleophobic
chemical/biological (CB) protective clothing, 2010
Nanotechnology for Defense Conference, May 36 2010
Atlanta GA.

Downloaded from trj.sagepub.com at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia on April 5, 2015