A New Geometric Model of Laid-in Weft-Knitted Fabrics

Ki Wai Fong, Si Qing Li, Rong Liu (Corresponding Author)

    Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Inlay yarn and laid-in structures are important technical knitting elements that have been increasingly applied in the structural design of functional textiles in industrial, medical, and wearable electronics fields. However, there is no currently established geometric model to numerically analyze their spatial morphologies and structural properties. This study presents a new geometric model and numerical analysis approach to characterize spatial configurations of inlay yarn and ground yarn in a three-dimensional scenario for laid-in weft-knitted fabrics. Loop lengths of the inlay and ground yarn materials were calculated and analyzed under different contact and deformation conditions to estimate material consumption in this complex interlooping layout. Series of laid-in weft-knitted fabrics made of different combinations of ground and inlay yarns were fabricated with the 1 × 1 laid-in loop pattern and tested for the model validation. The comparisons between the experimental and calculated results indicated that the newly developed geometric model favorably agreed with the experimental measurements regarding the ground loop lengths and inlay loop lengths applied in the laid-in weft-knitted structures. The results indicated the applicability of the developed geometric model of laid-in weft-knitted fabrics with similar structural patterns in practical use. The output of this study provides a theoretical and practical reference for structural and physical properties analysis, material consumption prediction, even cost estimation of laid-in weft-knitted fabrics.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2087-2105
    Number of pages19
    JournalTextile Research Journal
    Volume91
    Issue number17-18
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2021

    Keywords

    • fabric formation
    • fabrication
    • laid-in structure, inlay yarn
    • materials
    • measurement
    • Properties
    • weft knitting

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)
    • Polymers and Plastics

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