Water Vapour Absorption of Terry Fabrics with Linen and Hemp Pile Loop

Abstract

A textile material’s ability to pass water vapour greatly affects the comfort of the wearer. Terry fabrics are characterised by their high absorption ability acquired by an increased absorbing surface of the pile structure. In this study we set out to elucidate the effects of textile structure and finishing technology on the vapour absorption of material. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the water vapour absorption of linen/cotton and hemp/cotton terry woven fabrics with respect to pile height and finishing procedures. The terry textiles used in the experimental work were made with a pile height of 6, 9, and 12 mm. The research demonstrated that the character of the water vapour absorption of terry woven fabrics depends on the fabric structure and finishing applied. It was found that various finishing operations such as washing in water, washing with detergent and softening as well as washing with detergent, softening, and tumbling processes had an influence on the water vapour absorption of terry fabrics. The uniformity of dispersions was proved for the variants investigated. High informativity of the experiment was found by analysing the data of water vapour absorption of tumbled linen/cotton terry fabric with a 12 mm pile height. The polynomial regression showed a match with experimental data with a regression of R2 = 0.7687. From this empiric model, the effect of the tumbling period can be understood.