Moisture management properties and drying behaviour of knitted fabrics for inner layer applications

The present research work is focused on moisture management properties and drying behaviour of various knitted fabrics for inner layer application. Nineteen knitted samples have been prepared by changing the blend percentage of wool/acrylic, number of filaments in polypropylene yarn and structure of knitted fabric. Yarns of different blend ratio of wool/acrylic fibre are used to knit fabrics of different structure. Polypropylene yarns having different number of filaments are also used to knit samples of different structure. These fabrics are tested for moisture management properties and drying behaviour. Wetting time, absorption rate, spreading speed, wetting radius, accumulative one-way transport index (AOWTI), overall moisture management capacity (OMMC), drying time and drying rate of the fabrics have been studied. It is observed that the overall performance of polypropylene knitted fabric and cotton knitted fabric are better as compared to the wool/acrylic having same structural parameters. The OMMC index of polypropylene plain knit, pile knit and cotton knit fabric is found as 0.70, 0.60 and 0.75 respectively. The polypropylene and cotton knitted fabrics shows better results than others in terms of the parameters, like maximum wetting radius, AOWTI, etc. Polypropylene knitted pile structure fabric shows minimum drying time (0.228 h) and zero residual moisture after wash at 90 min under standard conditions. So, it is found that the higher wool content in fabrics gives better moisture management and drying behaviour. Polypropylene fabrics having high number of filaments in the constituent yarn show better moisture management and drying behaviour than the wool/acrylic fabrics. Moisture management and drying behaviour of pile fabrics are better than the plain and rib fabrics.