Influence of selected production parameters on the hand of mattress knitted fabrics assessed by the Fabric Touch Tester

Abstract

The overall comfort of a bedding system is, among others, the result of moisture and thermal management capabilities of its components including mattress ticking fabrics. The hand of mattress ticking fabrics, their smoothness, softness, flexibility and thermal properties in particular, partially contribute to the sleep quality. Manufacturers pay a great deal of attention to this aspect and make efforts to improve fabric hand as customers always touch and squeeze the fabric and the perceived fabric hand will partially influence their buying decision. In this study the hand of twelve mattress fabrics was investigated by the Fabric Touch Tester (FTT), which is a relatively new characterization method of fabric hand. FTT measures simultaneously thirteen fabric indices related to four categories of fabric physical properties such as bending, compression, thermal and surface properties. These fabric indices are subsequently used by the FTT software to predict three primary comfort indices (i.e. smoothness, softness, warmth) and two global comfort indices (i.e. total hand and total feel). The fabrics were differentiated by three production parameters namely fabric mass per unit area, concentration of softener and fiber composition. Relevant tactile properties for mattress ticking fabrics such as smoothness, softness, warmth and flexibility were assessed by an expert panel and the average scores given by the assessors were correlated with the fabric indices measured by FTT. Among the selected variables, fabric mass per unit area has the greatest influence on all FTT fabric indices. Due to the large fabric set, considerable variances were observed between the scores assigned by the panels. That resulted in poor correlations between tactile properties and selected production parameters, although the trend seems to be correct and all the factors were found statistically significant. Strong correlations were found between the FTT fabric indices and tactile properties assessed by the panels, except warmth, which suggests that FTT is suitable to assess mattress ticking fabrics with elevated mass per unit area and uneven texture.

A comprehensive approach for human hand evaluation of split or large set of fabrics

“…There is a concern reported by previous researchers when using a high number of samples for human assessment as that has created more disagreement on the results amongst panel members. 19,20 This might be associated with fatigue or lack of focus in dealing with the samples thus the panel were unable to perceptually recognize each of them. Hence, it was recommended to limit the number of samples tested in one session to 10 samples.…”

“…Hence, it was recommended to limit the number of samples tested in one session to 10 samples. 19,20 This limitation impedes the potential of this type of assessment in giving meaningful results. Therefore, in addition to the available protocols, we improve to make them also suitable and useful for split testing (geographical or in time) as well as generally for large number of samples, i.e.…”

“…The selected fabrics are in the typical range of apparel clothing fabrics. 20 and those with no fabric handassessment experience. General guidelines exist for selection, training and monitoring of sensory assessors 21 .…”

Comparative Analysis of Thermophysiological Comfort-Related Properties of Elastic Knitted Fabrics for Cycling Sportswear

“…Qmax (W•mm −2 ) is the maximum (thermal) energy transmitted during compression through the sample. Thermal conductivity (10 −3 W•m −1 • C −1 ) represents the energy transmitted per degree per meter per second when the specimen is under compression (TCC) and under recovery (TCR) [45]. The FTT calculates active and passive warmth, which represent the warmth that would be perceived by humans when squeezing the fabric with fingers and when passively worn on the skin, respectively.…”

Fuzzy clustering analysis of comprehensive hand of polyester fabric based on the CHES-FY system

“…[7][8][9][10] The second is the Fabric Touch Tester, developed to measure physical properties, to characterize softness, smoothness, and warmth, as well as tactile properties. 11 However these two systems highlighted the importance of objective characterization of hand of fabric, and were not concerned with the mechanical properties of fabric. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an apparatus that can be utilized to measure mechanical properties and hand of fabric objectively and simultaneously.…”