Impact of structural variations in hollow yarn on heat and moisture transport properties of fabrics

The use of hollow/microporous yarns plays an important role in enhancing the thermo-physiological comfort properties of fabrics. Depending on structural variations in hollow yarn, heat and moisture regulation behaviours of fabrics can be affected significantly. In this study, three types of hollow cotton yarn fabrics, produced by introducing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) filament in the core, PVA staple fibres in the blend and PVA filament in doubling with cotton spun yarn, are studied. All three types of pre-hollow yarns and reference yarns are made with a variation in spinning technique (single roving/double roving) to prepare eight single jersey knitted fabrics. The hollow/microporous structure of the yarn is created by dissolving the PVA fibres using hot washing of the fabrics. On overall evaluation of the fabric's thermo-physiological comfort properties, the doubled hollow yarn fabrics are found to be better than other fabrics. In general, thermal resistance, thermal absorptivity, wicking and drying properties of all types of hollow yarn fabrics increase after repeated laundering, while air permeability, water vapour permeability and water absorbency of hollow yarn fabrics mostly decrease. In contrast with fabrics made from yarn produced through single roving technique, use of double roving technique only improves fabric water vapour permeability.