Changes caused by wetting in the compression, surface, and heat transfer properties of forty-nine commercial disposable diapers are investigated to clarify their performance in use. In the tests, a segment cut from the center of a diaper is moistened with 0.9% NaCl solution, and the hand of the wet diaper is assessed and compared with dry ones by mothers and female students. After wetting, the diaper samples become harder due to increased compression linearity, and the recovery decreases due to decreased compressional resilience (RC). Increases in the coefficient of friction ( MIU ), surface roughness ( SMD ), thermal conductance ( K' ), and maximum heat flux result in a lack of smoothness and reduced warmth. The diapers evaluated as having good hand in both dry and wet conditions show small mean deviations of MIU, SMD, and K', and large RC in the dry test. These diapers also show small rewet values (large water retention). The range of the values is clarified for the diaper properties that are estimated to provide good hand.Disposable diapers and incontinence pads for the personal care market are rapidly improving. Diapers come in contact with the skin, and consumers are concerned about whether they cause dermatitis. The water transport properties and handle (softness and smoothness) of diapers are considered to be related to both diaper dermatitis and wearing comfort. Clinical studies of the effects of diaper wearing on infant skin have been the subject of other works [2,3,6]. Increases in both skin wetness and pH are associated with diaper dermatitis [ 1 ], and the degree of skin wetness is proportional to diaper wetness. Water transport properties of incontinence pads, such as absorption capacity and strike-through times, have been studied in relation to wet comfort [4,5]. In general, the best wet comfort is provided by pads with high absorption capacity, low rewet, and fast strike-through time. The relationship between rewet performance of experimental pads and their construction of absorbent cores has been systematically studied [7], but little attention has been given to the hand of disposable diapers in terms of their surface and mechanical properties.A method for objective evaluation of the hand of men's suiting has been developed based on precise measurements of certain mechanical and surface properties [8]. The instruments used for these measurements, known as the KES-F system, are widely used, and data for fabric properties measured by the KES-F system have been used to control both the processability of fabrics in clothing manufacture and the making-up performance of suiting [9]. In addition, instruments that measure the water and heat transfer properties of fabrics have been developed in order to study the control mechanisms of clothing microclimates [ 10, 1]. After the objective hand evaluation system for suiting became widespread, it was applied to a group of nonwovens used for materials near human skin [ 12). In our previous study, we extended our investigation to the objective hand evaluation of...

An objective evaluation method is proposed for predicting the bagging propensity of woven fabrics. The volume of the bagged fabrics was used as a measure of the bagging propensity. Dynamic creep caused by repeated shear deformation under con stant tension was measured in addition to the basic mechanical properties of fabrics. The correlations between the bagging volume of fabrics and their mechanical properties were examined statistically. For stretch fabrics, the bagging volume was correlated strongly with hysteresis behavior in tensile, bending, and low angle shearing defor mation measured after wetting conditioning for 5 hours at 32°C and 90% RH and with the value of the strain at t = 0.1 minutes, &(0.1) from the dynamic creep test. For conventional fabrics, a strong correlation was observed between the bagging volume and the value of the strain &(0.1) as well as the creep rate kd from the dynamic creep test. The equations for predicting fabrit bagging were obtained by statistical analysis of the relationship between the bagging volume of fabrics and their mechanical prop erties.

Two kinds of recycled fiber assemblies made from knitted sweaters fabrics are exam ined by measuring compression, thermal, and air resistance properties, and they are compared with a pure wool assembly and a wool-blend assembly. For recycled fiber assemblies, the initial volume for a constant weight and stiffness to compression process are smaller than those of other samples at the same apparent fiber density. The effective thermal conductivities of recycled fiber assemblies are smaller than those of wool fiber assemblies. Recycled fiber assemblies show larger specific air resistance than the other samples when the volume fraction is the same. A recycled fiber mass has a unique structure, that is, some yams extracted from fabrics remain in the fiber mass. These yams do not show any decrease in compression, thermal, and air permeability properties compared with commercial fiber assemblies. These crimped yams in the fiber mass contribute to softness at the high fiber density apparent in compression.

This study makes an objective evaluation of the wetness of pantiliners based on their physical properties and a subjective evaluation of the wetness of commercially produced pantiliners, based on subjective hand evaluation tests and wear trials performed by female subjects. The heat, air, and water transport properties of the pantiliners were measured using the Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabric (KES-FB) system, while the subjective wetness of the samples was analyzed using physical parameters. The wetness of pantiliners could be predicted from the water transport property. Those pantiliners that were evaluated as wet showed a large maximum value of heat flux under the wet condition ( qmax-wet). The qmax-wet value is one of the key parameters for evaluating the wetness of hygiene products.

The 3D curved surface shapes of tight and flared skirts were predicted precisely by the angle curvatures (concentrated Gaussian curvature Kc, concentrated geodesic curvature kc, and concentrated mean curvature Hc), model sizes, skirt designs, and fabrics. All of the 72 skirts, encompassing 3 female body models (mean body sizes of Japanese women in their 20s, 40s, and 70s), 6 kinds of fabrics, tight skirts, and 3 kinds of flared skirts, were investigated with attention to the differences of the curved surface shapes in detail. It has been found that it is possible to predict the number of nodes on hemlines for these 72 skirts with the three totalized feature factors, |Σ±Kc|+|Σ±kc|, |Σ±Hc|, and weight (g/ cm 2) × hemline length (cm), underlying the physical properties of fabric and model sizes, based on slightly high or high correlation coefficients (r = 0.73 to r = 0.93). Therefore, the number of nodes on hemlines of these 72 skirts can be calculated by these three totalized feature factors using a multiple regression analyzing technique, (multiple regression coefficient R = 0.96), based on higher prediction accuracy.