A Novel Testing Method of the Wet Wearing Comfortability of Fabrics

It has long been a problem how to objectively evaluate the wet wearing comfortability of fabrics. In this paper a novel testing method was proposed, and an instrument was designed and made. During the testing process, the fabric specimen first got saturated by “sweat” and adhered on the “skin”, and then it was separated at due rate from the skin and the in time adhesion force-displacement curve was drawn simultaneously. When the fabric was totally separated from the skin, the maximum adhesion force and adhesion work were measured such as to objectively evaluate the adhesion properties of the fabric specimen. Six different kinds of fabrics were selected and tested. The results show that certain kind of fabric performs characteristic adhesion force-displacement curve, which should be explained through fabric materials and structures. Hence this method is effective in objectively reflecting the wet wearing comfortability of fabrics.

A Semi-Empirical Method for Estimating the Effective Leak and Vent Areas of an Airbag

A semi-empirical method that utilizes tests from a small fabric specimen to quantify the effective leak and vent areas of an entire airbag is developed in this paper. The test setup and procedure used in the airbag material coupon tests are similar to the standard method used in determining air permeability of fabrics. A test apparatus for measuring the deflection of the fabric coupon was devised. Finite element analysis is used to compute the expanded vent and airbag surface areas of the coupon under various deformations. The leak and vent models were developed based on the results of a regression analysis. The effective vent area of a fabric coupon is a function of the ratio of the pressures across the fabric and the expanded vent area. Similarly, the effective leak area of a fabric coupon is a function of the ratio of the pressures across the fabric and the expanded surface area. The tested airbag materials were characterized with these models for use with finite element airbag models.