Comparison of Total Hand of Single Knitted Fabrics Made from lincLITE® and Conventional Wool Yarns

Abstract

Two sets of single wool weft-knitted fabrics made from conventional yarn and lincLITE®, which was developed by the Wool Research Organization of New Zealand in an effort to make a softer and bulkier wool, are used to analyze a total hand evaluation model for outerwear knitted fabrics. Mechanical properties and total hand value are measured on the KES-FB system, and three kinds of fuzzy membership functions (a decreasing halfCauchy equation and two linear functions, increasing or decreasing) are used to calculate fuzzified overall hand values of the knitted fabrics. The weighted factor vectors surveyed by a Korean panel are strongly related to those of a New Zealand panel. Based on these surveys, we calculate the total hand value of the KES-FB and the fuzzy model. The latter results show that the bulkiness of single wool fabric knitted from lincLITE yarn is a little higher than the same fabric knitted from conventional yarn. Furthermore, the fuzzy total hand evaluation from the Korean panel is highly correlated with the result of the New Zealanders.Previous papers [20. 21 have reported on measurements and fuzzy models for double weft-knitted fabrics on the basis of seven mechanical properties. The hand of knitted fabrics can be affected by fiber type, yarn size, fabric structure, fabric geometry, and finish [1, 7. 9].There has been a great interest in hand evaluation due to the introduction of various kinds of knitted fabrics [ 1, 5, 6, l 1 ] and technical improvements of new synthetic or natural fibers [1, 6]. As new fibers and blends have developed, considerable work has focused on the physical and mechanical properties of fabrics, such as hand and drape [t. 6, 12, 14]. Considering the standardization of hand evaluation, a more effective link for hand is needed to predict the overall hand of knitted fabrics made from conventional and newly developed yarns.The Kawabata fabric evaluation system (KES-FB) provides an objective specification of hand value and total hand value on the basis of mechanical properties, but the system is not appropriate for knitted fabrics that have comparatively high flexibility and stretchiness [ 19]. However, mechanical properties such as bulkiness, flexibility, stretchiness, distortion, weight, and smoothness are recognized as important components for good comfort and quality knits [5,8,9,12,16,23]. Thus, an objective hand technique is needed for better evaluations of knitted fabrics.In this paper, we measure the mechanical properties of two knitted fabrics and then calculate the total hand value using the KES-FB system. We also analyze a fuzzy transformation function [20-23, 25, 26]. We focus on a fuzzy hand evaluation model and a comparison of total hand values by two evaluation methods for plain wool knitted fabrics of HncUTE~ and conventional yams. Experimental SPECIMEN PREPARATIONFor the study, single plain fabrics were knitted from two kinds of raw materials. lincLITE and conventional yam. Figures I is a representation of lincLITE yam. which was made from 100~c merino wool. A...

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