Effects of sewing thread filament fineness on moisture management properties of seams

To study the impact of micro-denier filament on seam comfort properties, five different micro-denier polyester filament threads with different fibre fineness (from medium-fine to micro fibres) have been studied. Sewing threads of 150 deniers are made of textured micro-denier polyester filaments with five different filament numbers, viz 3.94 dpf, 3.1 dpf, 1.38 dpf, 1.04 dpf, and 0.52 dpf; calculated based on the number of filament within the specified fibre diameter. The stitch density 10 stitches/inch is used. It is concluded that wetting time, absorption rate, and spreading speed have improved when the filament fineness is varied from 3.94 dpf to 1.38 dpf and dropped from 1.38 dpf to 0.52 dpf. The seam constructed with 1.38 dpf shows the optimum level of moisture management capacity. OMMC values are also indicating the same results. Increasing filament fineness brings about an increase in air permeability and moisture vapour transmission from the seam made with 3.94 dpf to the seam made with 0.52 dpf, attributable to enhance the availability of free air in the seam structure.