Compression behavior of warp-knitted spacer fabrics for cushioning applications

Yanping Liu, Hong Hu, Li Zhao, Hairu Long

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

136 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cushioning materials generally absorb kinetic mechanical energy under compression actions at a relatively constant stress over a large range of displacement. However, cushioning materials widely used today are polyurethane (PU) foams with low moisture transmission. As a new class of three-dimensional textile structures, warp-knitted spacer fabrics not only have much better moisture transmission property than PU foams, but also have the similar cushioning performance if appropriate structural parameters are adopted. This paper reports an experimental study on the compression behavior of a series of warp-knitted fabrics made for cushioning applications. These fabrics were produced on a double-needle bar warp knitting machine of gauge 18 by varying different structural parameters including spacer yarn inclination angle and fineness, fabric thickness, and outer layer structure. Both the compression stress-strain curves and energy efficiency diagrams from the testing results were used to analyze the compression behavior of these fabrics and the effect of each structural parameter. The results indicate that warp-knitted spacer fabrics are an ideal class of the energy absorbers for cushioning applications and their energy-absorption capacity can easily be tailored to meet specific end-use requirements by simply varying their structural parameters with the help of efficiency diagrams.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11-20
Number of pages10
JournalTextile Research Journal
Volume82
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • cushioning material
  • efficiency diagram
  • energy absorption
  • warp-knitted spacer fabric

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)
  • Polymers and Plastics

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