With the rapid development of technical textiles, more and more researchers have focused on developing high performance textiles to meet various needs. The automotive industry is a major market for technical textiles. Compared to other types of fabric, weft-knitted fabric has good extensibility and elasticity, as well as a hand-feel, and it is gradually becoming the preferred type of interior fabric for automobiles. This paper aims to develop an automotive fabric with good comfort and durability. Sixteen types of weft-knitted fabrics with eight different structures and two different materials (draw textured polyester and textured polyamide yarn) were fabricated using a computerized flat knitting machine. Their durability and level of comfort were examined by measuring the tensile and tear strengths, abrasion resistance and air permeability. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was employed to compare the comprehensive properties of the fabric. The results indicated that the overall performance of DTPA fabric was better than DTPE fabric, and an optimum structure was selected for an automotive interior. Meanwhile, we found that the air permeability of the fabric could be increased by using tuck stitches and that the strength and dimensional stability of fabric could be increased by adding tuck stitches and weft-insert yarns. The findings contribute to the field of technical textiles and provide ideas for the development of high-performance textiles.

Knitting forming is an advantage and distinguishing feature of knitting technology. The development of three-dimensional (3D) shaped technology and equipment, making knitted fabrics gradually developed from clothing domain to the industrial field. The automotive industry is one of the biggest markets for industrial textiles. Recently, most car seat covers in domestic market are made by cutting-and-sewing process, while, integrally-formed car seat covers are greatly far from commercial products. Therefore, this paper describes four knitting techniques for producing 3D shaped fabrics, and studies the knitting process of two types of 3D shaped geometries derived from car seat models. In present study, three-dimensional cutting method is used to unfold the two shapes in different ways and two knitting directions of one cutting method for individual 3D geometry are selected to knit on a Stoll computerized knitting machine. A mathematical relationship between 3D geometry and 2D unfolded shaping is established. After the shaping of each part is calculated, the program is made by the Pattern Preparation Unit and the knitting process is completed. The influence of two shaping techniques on the mechanical properties of the fully-fashioned fabric is evaluated, and it is found that compared with transferring-stitches technique, partial-knitting technique has superior mechanical properties. This study provides guides and references for the integrated automotive seat covers.