Water vapour and air transmission of multilayer fabric ensembles

Abstract

The present study is aimed at finding out an optimum combination of various fabric layers, so that the fabric ensemble will show maximum water vapor permeability along with lowest air permeability. Yarns of different blend ratio of wool/acrylic fibre are used to knit fabrics of different structures. Polypropylene yarns having different number of filaments are also used to knit samples. These fabrics are then layered with cotton fabric and breathable fabrics. Various fabric ensembles are formed and tested for water vapour and air permeability. The results conclude that the fabric having 70:30 wool/acrylic blend with pile knit structure, layered with cotton and breathable fabric shows maximum (303.46 g/m2/24h) water vapor transmission rate and zero air permeability. Fabric ensemble produced by layering polypropylene fabrics (plain knitted with yarn having 24 filaments), cotton fabrics and breathable fabric shows maximum water vapour transmission rate (527.87 g/m2/24h) along with zero air permeability.