Investigating the Effects of Tuck Stitches on the Thermophysiological Comfort Properties of Cotton Weft Knitted Fabrics

The construction of knitted fabrics involves the strategic manipulation and combination of three distinct types of yarn loops namely, knit, tuck, and miss. This research delves into the impact of tuck stitches on thermo-physiological comfort properties of single-bed cotton fine-knits, with the single jersey fabric as a benchmark for comparative assessment. The study attempts to quantify the fabric design by introducing the ratio of knit to tuck stitches in a repeat as a design parameter. Area density, thickness and porosity were selected as structural parameters of the fabric. Thermo-physiological comfort was characterised by evaporative resistance and thermal resistivity as the main indicators of mass transfer and heat transfer respectively. Experimental data was generated by conducting tests on 10 single jerseys, 3 single piques, 2 double piques and 5 multi-tuck piques. Statistical analysis was carried out by evaluating the coefficients of determination, R-squared values, of the structure-comfort parameters in order to identify the determinants of evaporative resistance and thermal resistivity. It was found that the knit-tuck ratio was the main determinant of thermal resistivity whereas its effect on evaporative resistance was negligible. Area density and thickness were the main determinants of evaporative resistance. It was found that by properly selecting the knit-tuck ratio and setting the area density and thickness values of cotton fine-knits, it is possible to optimally design the fabric for the best possible thermo-physiological comfort for summer-wear and winter-wear.