Fabric Sound Depends on Fiber and Stitch Types in Weft Knitted Fabrics

Abstract

In the 21st century, the clothing and textile industry has been developing visually and audibly appealing products. In particular, as fabric sound is known to have a positive or negative effect on consumers' emotions, the industry wanted Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristic fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectra of weft-knitted fabrics, to investigate the relationship between sound parameters and the mechanical properties of the weft knits, and to determine the effects of fiber type and stitch type on the frictional sound and mechanical properties. The specimens included 12 weft-knitted fabrics made from a combination of 3 fiber types (100% wool, 100% cotton and 49%/51% wool/ cotton) and 4 stitch types (plain, rib, half cardigan and half milano stitch). The rustling sounds of each specimen were recorded and analyzed using FFT analysis including sound parameters such as LPT (level pressure of total sound), ∆L (level difference) and ∆f (frequency difference). We also used Zwicker's psychoacoustic model to calculate the loudness (Z), sharpness (Z), roughness (Z) and fluctuation strength (Z). In addition, the mechanical properties of the specimens were measured using the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES). The FFT spectra for the weft-knitted fabrics showed different shapes according to the fiber and stitch types. Mechanical properties such as the thickness and weight were correlated with several sound parameters. Fiber type was affected by ∆f and stitch type was affected by ∆L, roughness (Z), fluctuation strength (Z) and weight. Both fiber type and stitch type were affected by tensile properties. It is possible, by changing fiber and stitch types of weft-knitted fabrics, to obtain various kinds of knitted fabrics with different frictional sounds.

From salad to bowl: The role of sensory analysis in product experience research

“…Other studies have investigated sensory properties in particular product categories, such as personal care products (Civille & Dus, 1991;Wortel & Wieckers, 2000), cigarette lighters (Lageat, Czellar, & Laurent, 2003), coffee makers (van Egmond, 2008), parabolic skis (Dore, Pailhes, Fischer, & Nadeau, 2007), air conditioning systems (Evin & Siekierski, 2002;Petit, Siekierski, & Danzart, 2005), or elements of car interiors (Bonapace, 2002;Giboreau, Navarro, Faye, & Dumortier, 2001;Karlsson & Velasco, 2007). More and more studies also investigate the subtle sensory manipulations that may seem to be of only minor importance, such as the role of olfaction in the evaluation of clothes (Fiore, 1993;Laird, 1932;Liu, Tovia, Balasubramian, Pierce, & Dugan, 2008) or the sounds that fabrics make (Cho, Cho, & Kim, 2009). Some of these sensory studies have linked their theoretical framework to Kansei engineering (e.g., Nagamachi, 1995), an approach that tries to link consumer preference to detailed analyses of subjective responses to products and to physical design characteristics.…”

Thermo-Physiological Comfort Properties of Sportswear with Different Combination of Inner and Outer Layers

“…This is because the performance of layered fabrics in thermo-physiological regulation is better than that of single-layer textile structures [11][12][13][14]. Several researchers have investigated the influence of fiber fineness and cross-sectional shapes [15,16] as well as the effects of fiber type, stitch type [17,18], yarn type [19], fabric structure [20][21][22][23][24], bi-layer fabrics [25][26][27], multi-layer sportswear [28,29], blended fabric [30,31], and 2D and 3D designs of sportswear [17,[32][33][34].…”

Intelligent Model to Investigate the Sound of Woven Fabric by Using Signal Processing and Artificial Neural Network

“…Fabric sound is generated when various parts of a garment worn by a user rub against each other or when the fabric hand is judged by feeling the fabric between thumb and forefinger (Yi and Cho, 2000). Fabric sound can affect psychological stability of the garment wearer and others in the vicinity of the garment user (Cho et al, 2009). Fabric sound can be either pleasant or irksome, the extent of which is dependent on circumstances (Yi and Cho, 2000;Yi et al, 2002;Yi, 2005).…”