Thermal comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics for abaya

Fabric material plays an important role in the thermal comfort of Abaya because it is the outer garment of Muslim women. Abaya is black in colour and covers the whole body except the hands, feet and face. It is mandatory to wear Abaya in the Saudi Arabia and certain parts of Middle East countries irrespective of the outside environmental temperature which could be up to 45°C. Therefore, the thermal transmission characteristics of the abaya are extremely important as human body responds to the external thermal environment through clothing. In a hot environment, it is extremely uncomfortable to wear several layers of clothing under the Abaya. Hence it is essential to enhance the thermal comfort of fabrics used for Abaya. This study investigated five selected knitted fabrics that could be used as Abaya fabrics for thermal resistance, air permeability, thermal comfort and vapour resistance. The results indicated that the fabrics with different knit structures, fibre composition and fabric weight have greater influence on thermal comfort performance

Thermal comfort properties of wool and polyester/wool woven fabrics dyed in black

An abaya is a traditional Muslim woman's outer garment. It is black and worn on a day-to-day basis when women are outside their homes. The abaya absorbs most of the heat from sunlight in a hot climate as it is black, making the wearer very uncomfortable. In order to reduce absorption of heat in an abaya and to make the wearer more comfortable, it is proposed that a treatment with a solar energy re°ector could enable the wearer to perspire less; thus allowing them to feel cooler. This paper investigates the thermal comfort properties of plain-woven fabrics dyed in black and treated chemically to re°ect a proportion of sunlight's energy. The fabrics were made from 100% wool and two polyester/wool blends. The testing results showed that the fabrics that had received the re°ective treatment possessed marginally improved thermal comfort properties as compared to fabrics without the treatment

Application of phase change materials in textiles and apparel

Recent innovative developments in technologies have opened the scope for myriad of opportunities in terms of functional properties in our day-to-day textiles and apparels. Thermoregulation is one of these aspects where phase change materials (PCMs) can be incorporated to provide thermal comfort. This paper highlights the types of PCM materials as thermal energy storage and their properties and benefits that can be utilised in textiles and apparel. Microencapsulation is one of the accepted processes that are used to incorporate PCMs onto the textile substrates. PCMs can be tailored to meet the end usage of the textiles and apparel in terms of thermoregulation which leads to human comfort and well-being

Innovative wool - aramid blend fabrics for personnel protection against high speed ballastic impacts

Wool has traditionally been almost exclusively considered for use in fashion items - apparel, bedding and furnishings. This paper provides a counter-intuitive example of how wool can be used in a technical application far away from the fashion tradition - that of ballistic vests. Commercial and defence considerations permit the release of only the very broadest details of the (patented) fabric designs, manufacturing processes and protective performance

Evaluation of heat loss in abaya and daily wear clothing using a heated thermal manikin

Abaya is a black robe worn by Muslim women in Arabic-speaking countries. Due to the extreme hot climate in its region, understanding abaya thermal comfort is very important when selecting materials or designing garments. This paper investigates the total heat loss in abaya and daily worn clothing covered by abaya. The heat loss properties were measured under dry conditions by dressing a female thermal manikin with various ensembles of daily worn clothing with different designs of abaya. Tests were conducted at 23 ºC and 50% relative humidity as dry condition. It was found that abaya combination in woven fabric appears to be more comfortable than the knitted abaya combination. In terms of design, wearing abaya from the shoulder with tight or loose sleeves appears to be more comfortable than wearing abaya on the top of head. A combination of daily clothing worn with abaya loses less body heat compared to daily worn clothing alone, irrespective of abaya designs and fabric types

Application of Wool in High-velocity Ballistic Protective Fabrics

The protective power of typical aramid-based ballistic fabrics, when assembled into multi-layered panels designed to defeat high-velocity ballistic impacts, can be improved if wool is incorporated into the weave structure. Although the synthetic is still the primary energy-absorbent material, the wool plays a complementary role by increasing resistive interactions between the yarns and filaments. Wool restricts the lateral separation of the synthetic yarns and ensures that more directly impacted yarns are held in place to dissipate the impact energy. Wool increases the energy-absorption mechanism of yarn pull-in by increasing the longitudinal friction along the yarns/filaments, in particular near the free edges of the fabric layers. The wool absorbs water that may otherwise lubricate synthetic filaments and so improves the wet performance. Ballistics tests have shown that synthetic fabrics blended with wool can at least match the dry or wet ballistic performance of an equivalent pure Kevlar fabric when tested under National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Ballistic Standard Level III A. The inclusion of the wool can significantly improve the tear strength of pure synthetic ballistic fabrics

Evaluation of abaya design using thermal manikin

The main objective of this research was to measure the thermal insulation using a thermal manikin dressed in various ensembles of clothing within the abaya. A range of clothing and abaya has been tested using a heated manikin. The thermal manikin experiments were conducted in dry condition. The ambient air temperature for the dry tests was set at 23°C and Relative Humidity at 50% and the mean skin temperatures averaged at 35°C. The results showed that the daily clothing and abaya affect the thermal insulation performance. It is uncomfortable to wear more layers of the daily wear clothing within the abaya. The abaya worn over the head thermally insulated slightly more than the abaya worn from the shoulder

Effect of abaya designs and daily wear clothing on thermal comfort measured with a female thermal manikin

Multiple layers of clothing are known to increase thermal resistance and evaporative resistance. This study investigates the effect of wearing abaya, an Islamic outerwear stipulated for women, on thermal resistance performance assessed with a female thermal manikin. Tests were conducted at two climatic conditions. The first set was at 23 C and 50% RH as the dry condition and the second set was at 35 ±C and 40% RH as the wet condition. Thermal resistance and evaporative resistance properties were measured by dressing a female thermal manikin in various ensembles of clothing within diRerent types of abaya. The test results revealed that for all abaya combinations with daily wear, the manikin needed less heat to maintain the average skin temperature than with daily wear clothing alone. This study suggests that the abaya provided additional thermal and vapour resistance. Among the types of abaya evaluated, those worn on the head oRered higher thermal resistance than those worn from the shoulder with tight sleeves. Marginal variations were also observed on the basis of the clothing worn under the abaya

Stab resistance and thermophysiological comfort properties of boron carbide coated aramid and ballistic nylon fabrics

This research presents the stab resistance and thermo-physiological comfort properties of the fabrics prepared from high-performance fibres of aramid (i.e. Kevlar®) and ballistic nylon. The fabric samples were coated with boron carbide to improve the stab resistance properties. The quasistatic stab tests were performed using NIJ 0115.00 standard knife (P1) on the Instron tensile testing machine. The thermo-physiological comfort properties of the fabric samples were evaluated by measuring the air permeability, water-vapour resistance and thermal resistance. It was observed that the application of the coating significantly increased the stab resistance properties of the fabrics. Furthermore, the air permeability was significantly reduced; whereas, the water-vapour resistance and thermal resistance were significantly increased with the application of coating. Hence, the coated fabrics will have to compromise the comfort aspects to achieve the desired protection level, which is the prime requirement for the stab resistant textile materials