Modeling UV Protection in Weft Knitted Fabrics: A Comprehensive Analysis

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from sunlight and its protection using fabrics is an issue of paramount importance. UVR is known to have quantum detrimental effects on unprotected human skin. Prolonged exposure to UVR is the root of various health ailments. On that account, humans are sentient that protection from UVR using textile fabrics is sine qua non. Eliminating or minimizing the UVR transmission through fabrics has been an ongoing task in the textile research community. From these standpoints, the aim of this work is to model statistically the transmission of UV light through weft knitted fabrics. The present study was carried out using weft knitted fabrics intended for swimwear and summerwear. In parallel, tasks to design and construct a bench-top UV measurement chamber, symbolised as UB, for evaluating UPF were undertaken. The fabrics samples were tested for UPF, thickness and areal density. Furthermore, UPF results from the developed chamber, denoted as UPFB, were assessed with the AATCC 183-2004 test method (UPFStd). As a baseline, statistical evaluations such as ANOVA, analysis of residuals concomitant with hypothesis test were employed to establish the correlation between both dataset. Linear regression model demonstrated that there is a high degree of correlation (R2) 0.973 between UPFStd and UPFB: inferring high propinquity between the two UPF measurement methods. In addition, statistical plots advocated the high degree of correlation between UPFStd and UPFB, as corroborated by non-parametric normality tests namely Shapiro–Wilk, Kolmogorov Smirnov, Cramér-von Mises and Anderson–Darling. Affirmative hypothesis results in failure to reject the null hypothesis were reported for all the statistical test methods. The advantage of the statistical tests is that the data have a linear relationship and thus can be modeled effectively using parametric in conjunction with non-parametric statistical models. The designed and statistical modelling of UV set-up, UB, with the AATCC 183-2020 test method is the cornerstone of this investigation. According to the UPF classification, fabrics with UPF of 50+ provide excellent protection from UVR. In this work, a UPFB value of ≥94.3 was reckoned to be equivalent to 50+ . Moreover, the outcomes shed light on the use of assorted mathematical modelling tools: on the basis of statistics and hypothesis praxis, that can wend towards the increment of knowledge in the education of using textiles for UV protection. Subsequently, it can be concluded that the developed UPFB measuring method Imrith et al. [32] can be used effectively to evaluate the UPF of fabrics.