The Effect Of Finishing Treatment On Thermal Insulation And Thermal Contact Properties Of Wet Fabrics

Comfort properties of textiles became important part of marketing of clothing with high added value in last decades. The most important parameters characterizing thermo physiological comfort of sport and protective garments are thermal resistance and water vapour permeability. Contrary to common textiles, protective and functional garments and some technical textiles are also used in wet state, which affects their comfort properties. However, these properties can be improved by application of special finishing agents. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of moisture on thermal comfort properties of 3 different cotton fabrics which were subject to 5 different finishing treatments. Thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, thermalabsorptivity and water vapour permeability of fabrics in dry and wet state were measured. Wet state of the studied fabrics was achieved by means of the so called "sweating impulse". The achieved results were treated by means of advanced statistics and displayed in diagrams. It was found the presence of moisture affected substantively all thermal-insulation and thermal-contact properties