Investigation of vibration isolation behaviour of spacer fabrics with elastic inlay

The 3-dimensional (3D) structured spacer fabrics can provide good air-permeability and cushioning effect. It is deformable and has damping capacity can enable vibration isolation. This study aims to investigate the effect of an elastic inlay on the ability of spacer fabrics to isolate vibration. Seven weft-knitted spacer fabric samples consisting of three different spacer structures were constructed by using a v-bed flat knitting machine. Three of the samples were inlaid with spandex yarn on the surface layers and compare with the other three samples without the inlay. One more sample with the spandex yarn knitted together with the surface yarns of the spacer fabric was also produced to investigate the effect of the elastic yarn application method. The vibration transmissibility and compression behaviours of the samples were tested. The results showed that thicker spacer structure with a longer linking distance of the monofilament yarn can provide a higher degree and range of vibration isolation. The application of elastic yarn increases the fabric thickness. However, spacer fabric made by elastic inlay showed a lower compression stiffness than that made by elastic yarn knitted with the surface yarns. The spacer fabrics with elastic inlay showed better vibration isolation ability having a lower natural frequency and isolated vibration in a wider frequency range.