Novel device to measure multi-directional wicking of elastic knitted fabric for active sportswear

Multi-directional liquid spreading behaviour of polyester/elastane knitted fabrics under various stretches has been studied. A novel device has been developed to measure the liquid spreading behaviour of elastic fabrics under various stretches using image processing techniques. An attempt has also been made to understand the trend of the stretch behaviour of elastic knitted fabrics under different loads and the relationship between extension percentage and the liquid spreading of fabrics. Polyester fabric shows high transverse wicking rate and longer saturating time than the other two samples. Also the result shows that the area of transverse wicking of polyester/elastane knitted fabric is directly proportional to the time and inversely proportional to the load and elastane content.