Fabric Material Properties

1
Fabric Material Properties

• Aaron Packard
• Me En 340 Heat Transfer
• 16 April 2007

2
Introduction

• Body uses evaporative cooling for temperature
  regulation
• Jersey material influences the effectiveness of
  evaporative cooling
• Influential factors
• Material conduction coefficient
• Fabric weave and pattern
• Moisture wicking capabilities
• Compared Cotton to Polyester

3
Heat Transfer Problem

• Calculated convective heat coefficient for free
  convection
• Thermal conductivity of fabric varies with
• Material
• Weave and fabric pattern
• Moisture content
• Heat generation of body is dependent on current
  metabolic rate

4
Solution

• Difficulty of modeling
• Experimentation
• Measure body surface temperature
• Warm up with heart rate at 153 bpm
• Stop at steady state surface temperature
• Cool down with fan

5
Results and Conclusions

• Shirt
• Less wicking of moisture causes perspiration to
  remain closer to the skin and reduces the amount
  of heat that can be transferred from the surface
  through evaporative cooling.
• Jersey
• Better breath-ability
• Wicks moisture and diffuses it over a greater
  surface area allowing for more effective
  evaporative cooling.