Thermal Comfort Properties of a Bi-layer Knitted Fabric Structure for Volleyball Sportswear

The thermal comfort properties of different knitted fabric structures made from modal, polypropylene and micro denier polyester were studied for volleyball sportswear. Eleven knitted fabrics were produced, in which three samples were single jersey, two plated and six bi-layer knitted structures. The air permeability, water vapour permeability, thermal conductivity, wicking and drying ability of bi-layer knitted fabric made up of polypropylene as the inner layer and modal as the outer layer with one tuck point of repeat were found to be higher as compared to other bi-layer, plated and single jersey structures. Both the objective and subjective results show that bi-layer knitted fabric with polypropylene as the inner layer and modal as the outer layer with one tuck point of repeat is mostly suitable for sportswear. The results are discussed together with multivariate ANOVA test results at a 95% significance level.