A textile patch antenna is an attractive package for wearable applications as it offers flexibility, less weight, easy integration into the garment and better comfort to the wearer. When it comes to wearability, above all, comfort comes ahead of the rest of the properties. The air permeability and the water vapor permeability of textiles are linked to the thermophysiological comfort of the wearer as they help to improve the breathability of textiles. This paper includes the construction of a breathable textile rectangular ring microstrip patch antenna with improved water vapor permeability. A selection of high air permeable conductive fabrics and 3-dimensional knitted spacer dielectric substrates was made to ensure better water vapor permeability of the breathable textile rectangular ring microstrip patch antenna. To further improve the water vapor permeability of the breathable textile rectangular ring microstrip patch antenna, a novel approach of inserting a large number of small-sized holes of 1 mm diameter in the conductive layers (the patch and the ground plane) of the antenna was adopted. Besides this, the insertion of a large number of small-sized holes improved the flexibility of the rectangular ring microstrip patch antenna. The result was a breathable perforated (with small-sized holes) textile rectangular ring microstrip patch antenna with the water vapor permeability as high as 5296.70 g/m² per day, an air permeability as high as 510 mm/s, and with radiation gains being 4.2 dBi and 5.4 dBi in the E-plane and H-plane, respectively. The antenna was designed to resonate for the Industrial, Scientific and Medical band at a specific 2.45 GHz frequency.

The aim of this study is to develop a mathematical model for the prediction of compression pressure based on fabric parameters, such as engineering stress, engineering strain and engineering modulus of elasticity. Four knitted compression fabrics with different fibrous compositions and knit structures were used. Rectangular-cut strips were employed for the force–elongation characterization of the fabrics. The experimental pressure values between the fabric and rigid cylinder were assessed using a Picopress pressure measuring device. The mechanical and physical parameters of the fabric that influence the interface pressure, such as strain, elasticity modulus/stress and thickness, were determined and integrated into Laplace’s law. A good correlation was observed between the experimental and calculated pressure values for all combinations of fabrics, mounted with variable tension on the cylinder. Over the considered range of pressures, the difference between the two datasets was generally less than 0.5 mmHg. The effect of washing after five, ten and fifteen washing cycles on the fabric–cylinder interface pressure was found to be significant.

The overall comfort of a bedding system is, among others, the result of the moisture and thermal management capabilities of its components, including mattress ticking fabrics. The hand of mattress ticking fabrics, their smoothness, softness, flexibility, and thermal properties, in particular, partially contribute to the sleep quality. Manufacturers pay a great deal of attention to this aspect and make efforts to improve fabric hand as customers always touch and squeeze the fabric and the perceived fabric hand will partially influence their buying decision. In this study the hand of 12 mattress fabrics was investigated by the Fabric Touch Tester (FTT), which is a relatively new characterization method of fabric hand. The FTT measures simultaneously 13 fabric indices related to four categories of fabric physical properties, namely bending, compression, and thermal and surface properties. These fabric indices are subsequently used by the FTT software to predict three primary comfort indices (i.e. smoothness, softness, warmth) and two global comfort indices (i.e. total hand and total feel). The fabrics were differentiated by three production parameters, namely fabric mass per unit area, concentration of softener and fiber composition. Relevant tactile properties for mattress ticking fabrics, such as smoothness, softness, warmth, and flexibility, were assessed by an expert panel and the average scores given by the assessors were correlated with the fabric indices measured by the FTT. Among the selected variables, fabric mass per unit area has the greatest influence on all FTT fabric indices. Due to the large fabric set, considerable variances were observed between the scores assigned by the panels. That resulted in poor correlations between tactile properties and selected production parameters, although the trend seems to be correct and all the factors were found to be statistically significant. Strong correlations were found between the FTT fabric indices and tactile properties assessed by the panels, except warmth, which suggests that the FTT is suitable to assess mattress ticking fabrics with elevated mass per unit area and uneven texture.

This research focused on the investigation of the thermophysiological comfort properties of four selected knitted fabrics of different fiber blend ratios suitable for cycling wear. Comfort-related properties of the fabrics were determined and compared including air permeability, moisture management properties, drying time, thermal conductivity, and water vapor permeability. For those comfort properties of the fabric to be correlated, fabric structural properties, fabric density, fabric weight, and fabric thickness have been considered. Suited fabrics should have good air permeability, thermal conductivity, moisture management properties, and a short drying time. According to the measurement results, the fabric polyamide/elasane (58/42 PA6.6/EL) with good air permeability, thermal conductivity, moisture management properties, and short drying time was more suited for summer cycling clothing. Furthermore, this paper provides a new understanding of considerations that are needed for several end uses involving specific activity levels.

Fabric Touch Tester (FTT) is a relatively new device from SDL Atlas to determine touch properties of fabrics. It simultaneously measures 13 touch-related fabric physical properties in four modules that include bending and thickness measurements. This study aims to comparatively analyze the thickness and bending measurements made by the FTT and the common standard methods used in the textile industry. The results obtained with the FTT for 11 different fabrics were compared with that of standard methods. Despite the different measurement principle, a good correlation was found between the two methods used for the assessment of thickness and bending. As FTT is a new tool for textile comfort measurement and no standard yet exists, these findings are essential to determine the reliability of the measurements and how they relate to the well-established standard methods.