Thermal comfort properties of terry knitting socks

With the increase in life standards not only using properties but also comfort properties become important. Sock, as a basic need of human having different materials,colors and design is also very important product for human health. Thermal comfort is very important parameter for usage performance of socks. Terry knitting socks are produced with towel knitting technique by using two thread type according to produced design. The sock which is breathable and having good thermal insulation can provide the necessary thermal conditions and comfort under extreme weather conditions. The primary expected performance properties of terry knitted socks are high thermal insulation and breathability of the products. In addition heat transfer properties are very important for thermal balance of the body. The inner surface of sock should not transfer the body heat to environment as well as should not allow the the external environment temperature into the body easily. Besides, after wetting of perspiration and rain, must easily dry. The comfort properties of terry knitting fabrics play an important role in order to adapt to different weather conditions. In this study; terry knitted socks are manufactured in single cylinder socks knitting machine to determine the characteristics of comfort, water vapour permeability, air permeability, vertical and transfer wicking analysis, water evaporation rate, drying speed tests and thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, thermal transmittance, thermal absorptivity and thickness measurement, which includes thermal analysis tests and physical performances such as courses and wales density, loop length, bursting strength, abrasion, rigidity and pilling tests are carried out. Thermal comfort properties of fabrics, which gives the best performance features and the available fibre types was investigated. Commonly used terry knitting socks are produced single cylinder sock knitting machines with 4 feed terry knitting technique. In this thesis, 19 different yarns are used as a pile yarn in order to produce 19 terry socks. Socks ground yarn is 78/68/1 and 44/34/1 elastane and the pile yarns are polyamide, polypropylene, viscon, modal, cotton, cotton-modal and cotton-viscon which are vary in 200 denier to 40 denier. According to analysis results, it is seen that fiber type has an important effect on comfort properties of garments.The difference in wetting behaviour of socks was resulted directly from fiber type. In terms of comfort and physical properties, it's seen that Modal had better performance. Cotton terry socks was found also good comfort properties ,moreover it has the highest physical performance as well. The most outstanding result of the study is that socks produced with blend of new fibers( such as modal fiber) and cotton showed higher performance for both comfort and physical properties than the socks produced with 100% of modal. Measurement results are statistically evaluated by Minitab. The statistical analysis was conducted to understand the thermal properties ,wetting and drying properties of the terry fabrics and in order to understand the relation between different physical parameters. In this thesis examined the effect of different fiber types on comfort features of the terry knitting socks. For this purpose, used as a terry knitting socks with different characteristics to the person operating the process at low ambient temperatures with high effort assessed the impact on thermal comfort. In this context, terry knitting socks are manufactured using different materials to comfort analysis, the results of the impact on thermal comfort will be determined by the properties of fabric used.