Novel device to measure multi-directional wicking of elastic knitted fabric for active sportswear

Abstract

Multi-directional liquid spreading behaviour of polyester/elastane knitted fabrics under various stretches has beenstudied. A novel device has been developed to measure the liquid spreading behaviour of elastic fabrics under variousstretches using image processing techniques. An attempt has also been made to understand the trend of the stretch behaviourof elastic knitted fabrics under different loads and the relationship between extension percentage and the liquid spreading offabrics. Polyester fabric shows high transverse wicking rate and longer saturating time than the other two samples. Also theresult shows that the area of transverse wicking of polyester/elastane knitted fabric is directly proportional to the time andinversely proportional to the load and elastane content.