Investigation on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cotton Fabrics after Laundering with the Aqueous Extract of Vietnamese Soapnuts

In this paper, the aqueous extraction of saponins from Vietnamese soapnuts and evaluation of its washing effectiveness for cotton fabrics have been presented. The saponin content in soapnut extract was 40.82 g/l. The functional groups of saponin compounds refined from soapnut extract were confirmed by FTIR analysis. The washing performance of this natural surfactant has been evaluated by a bleached cotton woven fabric and 10 fabric samples of K’s closet joint-stock company. Two washing options were designed: washing with soapnut solution and washing with soapnut solution then softening. The laundry effects were evaluated by performing the shrinkage (TCVN 1755:1986), the drape (NF G07-109), the horizontal wicking (AATCC 198-2011) and the whiteness of the fabric (TCVN 5236:2002). The analysis results showed the washed fabrics using the first washing option had the shrinkage, drape coefficient and horizontal wicking values higher than those of the washed fabrics using the second washing option. The whiteness and yellowness of the washed fabrics were lightly influenced by the natural deep brown color of saponin in the soapnut extract. The successful application of the saponin extracted from Vietnamese soapnuts as a green laundry agent for washing fabrics could make it very promising in the textile sustainable development.

Strain-dependent wicking behavior of cotton/lycra elastic woven fabric for sportswear

The strain-dependent vertical and horizontal wicking of as-prepared cotton/lycra elastic woven fabric was systematically studied. The experimental results revealed that the fabric exhibited a strain strengthening effect. A higher tensile strain results in a higher equilibrium wicking height, and vice versa. Moreover, the results indicated that the proposed Laughlin–Davies model is capable of tracking well the experimental data and replicating the wicking characteristics of fabric under different levels of stretch. In addition, the wetting time and wicking area of fabric under different strains and height regimes were examined during horizontal wicking. It was found that the wetting time decreased with an increase of strain and/or water drop height. The strain-enhanced and height-weakened effects of wicking area were revealed. The spreading mechanism of water drop in elastic fabric was also proposed. Such fundamental work provides a basic support for the in-depth investigation of wicking behavior of complex stretchable textile structures.

Moisture Management Performance of Multifunctional Yarns Based on Wool Fibers

Blends of wool and moisture management fibres such as Coolmax and Finecool have been prepared to produce innovative yarns with specific functionalities. These yarns have been used to produce knitted fabrics and their performance was evaluated, including vertical and horizontal wicking. The influence of wool fibre proportion on the performance of each blend is analyzed. It is observed that the Coolmax based fabrics show the best capillarity performance, and the wool fibre based fabrics show lower water absorption performance.

Moisture Flow through Blended Fabrics – Effect of Hydrophilicity

Moisture flow through blended material is a complex phenomenon. Clothing should possess good water vapour as well as liquid moisture transmission property, for providing the thermophysiological clothing comfort. The clothing should take up the moisture from the skin as well as transmit it to the atmosphere. Higher hydrophilicity of a material is known for good absorption, but how it really helps to transmit the moisture, has been studied in the present work. Polyester and viscose have been chosen as the blending fibers and 8 fabrics with different blend proportions were developed. Water vapour transmission of the fabrics was measured using the PERMETEST. Liquid water transmission property of the fabrics was examined using a gravimetric inplane wicking tester and a vertical wicking tester. From the experimental result it has been observed that water vapour permeability and absorbency of the material increases with the increase in number of hydrophilic group in the material, but it has an adverse effect on the liquid moisture transmission behavior of the material. The vertical as well as horizontal wicking of the material decreases with the increase in viscose proportion in the polyester/viscose blended fabrics.