Effect of instantaneous compression responses of fabric on tactile textures

Abstract

Attempts have been made to characterize and interpret the instantaneous responses of various fabrics in terms of sensory and cognitive processes, based on the chosen mechanical parameters characterizing the static compression profiles of multi-ply fabric in six levels of force. The study also pertains to the instantaneous elastic responses and creep phenomenon over a short time comparable to sensing process. The results indicate that the instantaneous deformations, dependent on levels of force applied, whether compression or retraction, mainly occur in less than 1.0 s. This phenomenon is assigned with the reaction time of material discrimination by touching. Furthermore, the instant out-plane bending deformations of fabric probably contribute to softness/fullness sensation at higher force. Therefore, the elastic deformations of fabric in short time, whether compressing or bending, result in strong stimulus intensity to cutaneous low-threshold mechanoreceptors responsible for tactual textures and dominate the human subjective responses.