Determination of Coolness and Dampness Sensations Created by Fabrics by Forearm Test and Fabric Measurements

Abstract

Clothing is continuously in an interaction with the body both thermally and mechanically. Different sensations constituting the comfort status of a person arise as a result of this interaction. Coolness sensation perceived during skin-fabric contact is one of these sensations arising from the transient heat flow from skin to the fabric as skin is usually warmer than clothing. In this study, coolness to touch and dampness sensations created by knitted fabrics having different compositions and physical surface characteristics were investigated by forearm test conducted on seven males. Besides physical properties (weight, yarn count, thickness, density), surface roughness and friction properties of the inner surfaces of the fabrics touching the skin were also determined. Microscopic photographs were taken to have an idea about hairiness properties of the inner surfaces and optical porosity values were calculated by analysis of the microscopic images by using MATLAB software. It was found out that coolness and dampness sensations arise during skin-fabric contact are mostly related to the permeability and surface roughness characteristics of fabrics, and the effect of fabric material is more on dampness sensation than coolness sensation. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSIn the recent years, consumers pay attention more to the mechanical, thermal and visual sensations stimulated by the dynamic body-clothing

Psychophysical Measurement of Wet and Clingy Sensation of Fabrics by the Volar Forearm Test

“…In the published literature on subjective comfort perception of clothing materials, majority of the works have focused upon tactile or thermal aspects (Stuart et al 1989;Fritz 1990;Schneider and Holcombe 1991;Sukigara et al 1993;Bishop 1996;Cardello et al 2003;Hui et al 2004;Schutz et al 2005). Little research seems to have been carried out in the area of moisture-related sensation (Sweeney 1988;Sweeney and Branson 1990a,b;Sukigara and Niwa 1997;Kaplan and Okur 2009;Yokura and Sukigara 2010;Tang et al 2014b). Traditionally, the psychological scaling approach has usually been applied.…”

“…In studies conducted by Sweeney and Branson (1990a), Jeon et al (2011) andNiedermann andRossi (2012), a constant amount of water was supplied to the fabric prior to the touch. On the other hand, in studies by Plante et al (1995), Sukigara and Niwa (1997), Hu and Li (2000) and Kaplan and Okur (2009), the applied amount of water was based on the saturation level of the fabric (i.e., soaking the whole fabric into water bath). In practice, the degree of sweating depends on the activity level, ambient environmental conditions, permeability and absorbency of the fabric.…”

“…In the studies conducted by Kaplan and Okur (2009) and Plante et al (1995), it was found that the perception of wetness is a function of ambient relative humidity. The testing condition was, therefore, precisely controlled.…”

The Comfort Dimension; a Review of Perception in Clothing

“…Home Economists Kaplan and Okur () asserted that wearers looked for a cool or warm, and/or smooth feeling in clothing, compared to attention on care and laundry guides. The comfort preference is more to the physiological and physical feeling than it is for psychological fulfillment (Ruckman ; Kaplan and Okur , ).…”

Prediction of Human Psychophysical Perception of Fabric Crispness and Coolness Hand From Rapidly Measurable Low-Stress Mechanical and Thermal Parameters

“…The thermal component evidently contributes to the perception of touch by handling a fabric. For example, warm and cool feeling properties do form part of the definitions of Japanese FUKURAMI and SHARI primary-hand expressions defined by Kawabata and Niwa (1989), and were the subject of several investigations (Yoneda and Kawabata 1985;Schneider and Holcombe 1991;Li et al 1996;Pac et al 2001;Gunesoglu et al 2005;Kaplan and Okur 2009). Surprisingly, thermal-property measurements have not formed a part of FOM systems for fabric handle evaluation and have been treated separately as an essential aspect of clothing comfort (Bishop 1996).…”