DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY OF EVALUATING CHARACTERISTICS

IN SPORT- TECH

Submitted to Prof. Algirusamy

Deptt. Of textile technology

What SPORT-TECH is?? It is one of the branch of Technical Textiles which

deals with the textile materials used for the sports and leisure purpose.

Todays sports demand high performance equipment and apparel

Examples of sport-tech are: aerobic clothing, athletic clothing, football clothing, cricket clothing, games shorts, gloves, jackets, pants, shirts, shorts, socks, sweatshirts, swimwear and tennis clothing, sails, trampolines, camping gear, leisure bags, bikes and rackets, athletic shoes, football boots, gym shoes, tennis shoes and walking boots.

Properties of Sports Textile

Comfort ability

Easy to wear

Easy handling

High electrical conductivity

Soft and pleasant touch

Light weight

Dimensionally stable even when wet.

Good perspiration fastness.

Smart and functional design.

A garment manufactured from sports textiles fabrics, keeps the normal stability of body comfort, because these fabrics are ultra-breathable, fast drying and possess outstanding moisture managing properties, which

rapidly wick moisture away from the body.

Keeping a normal level of bacteria on the skin offers a high level of comfort and personal hygiene, especially during athletic activities.

Radiation free

Superior strength and durability.

Should help in athletics & the leisure activities for their better performance in the sports.

Required functions on different sportswear

Textile material for Sportswear

High-performance fibres

Aramid fibres: To provide high strength, ballistics, flame and heat resistance.

Ultra-high tenacity polyethylene fibres (UHMWPE): It is a gel spun fibre with extremely high specific strength, high modulus, high chemical resistance and high abrasion resistance.

Polyphenylene sulphide fibres (PPS): This is a crystalline thermoplastic fibre with mechanical properties similar to regular polyester fibre and also has excellent heat and chemical resistance.

Polyetheretherketone fibres (PEEK) : Crystalline thermoplastic fibre and imparts high resistaance to heat and to a wide range of chemicals.

Novoloid: High flame resistance, non-melting with high resistance to acid, solvents, steam, chemicals and fuels. Good moisture regain and soft hand.

PBO (p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) fibres : The strength and modulus of this fibre exceed those of any known fibres.

Modern fibres

Micro fibres

Elastane (Lycra)

Tencel

Recent Development in Materials for Sport-tech

Carbon Fibre

Phase change material (PCM)

Shape memory polymers

Auxetic materials

Chromic materials

Conductive fibres

Holofibre

Stomatex

d3o (dee-three-oh)

Design Aspects of Sport-Tech

The design approach is an issues of apparel and apparel systems performance in combination with their physiological comfort:

Thermo-physiological wear comfort (fibres, fabrics, garment, garment systems)

Skin sensory wear comfort (fibres, fabrics)

Ergonomic wear comfort

Psychological wear comfort (design, branding, perception)

Fit

Size

Types of fabrics

Wide range of woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics are commercially available

Fabrics differ in their structure such as entrapped air, pore shape and size, bulk and surface properties etc. which may affect the heat and moisture transmission characteristics of the fabrics.

Knitted fabrics are mostly preferred because of great elasticity and stretch ability.

These garments are mainly worn next to the skin and therefore deserve particular attention.

Key trends in sportswear design

Pattern Making While designing sportswear comfort is the most important thing which is required among all. And this starts with the measuring technique. While measuring we take the dimensions of a 3D body in 2D scale and then design the patterns. Thus the concept of 3D dimensional modelling came in.

It involves three methods-

Drafting

Draping

Flat paper patternmaking

Drafting

It involves measurements derived from sizing systems

Ease allowances are marked on paper

Construction lines are drawn to complete the pattern

Drafting is used to create basic, foundation or design patterns.

Draping

It involves the draping of a two dimensional piece of fabric around a form

This is then transferred to paper to be used as a final pattern.

Ease allowances for movement are added

Advantage is that the designer can see the overall design effect of the finished garment on the body form before the garment piece is cut and sewn.

Disadvantage is that expensive and time consuming

Flat Pattern Making

Development of a fitted basic pattern with comfort ease to fit a person or body form

A sloper is the starting point for flat pattern designing.

It is a simple pattern that fits the body with just enough ease for movement and comfort.

For Example five basic pattern pieces are used for women sports clothing. These includes a snug-fitting body front and body back with darts and a basic neckline, a sleeve and a fitted skirt front and back with or without darts.

Developments in Pattern making Use of the computers.

Different softwares are used: Gerber, Lectra, Tukatech, OptiTex etc.

Software enables to input measurements and draft out a pattern. These soft wares drafts patterns to fit the given measurements specifically, eliminating much fitting trial and error in the sewing room.

Method: An individual's measurements are collected from 3D body scanner. The measurements are used to create a virtual 3D model of the individual's body. The 3D to 2D software allows the user to define a garment surface in relation to the 3D body model. Once the garment surface is defined, the application automatically unwraps and outputs a 2D flat pattern in .dxf format.

Three-dimensional modelling

It implies taking a broader look at how garments fit and its importance to combine several types of fibres and textiles: laser cuts, bonded seams, multiple fibre composition targeting specific functions, etc.

It includes graduating knit construction to the body and requires in-depth research and development to be effective.

This physiological approach to design is fundamental to the development of next generation sportswear

Each machine can only knit one size at a time and each size requires specific settings

Layering Technique

It is a technique of dressing using multiple garments that are worn on top of each other. Some of the layers have different, largely non-overlapping, functions.

In some clothing layers serves as thermal insulation.

Usually at least three layers are identified as follows:

Inner layer provides comfort by keeping the skin dry. Also called base layer or first layer.

Mid layer provides warmth. Also called insulating layer.

Shell layer protects from wind and water. Also called outer layer which works as protection over the other two layers.

Zoning Technique

This technique involves the placement of different patterns of the fabric at different positions.

This will provide more comfort to the person wearing it.

Evaluation of Sport-Tech. Materials

Evaluation of Aerodynamic Characteristics of sports textiles

Evaluation of contact pressure and clothing deformation

Evaluation of Breathability of a sportswear

Other test Methods

Evaluation of Aerodynamic Characteristics of sports textiles

This method examines standard cylindrical arrangements in wind tunnel environments that can provide precise data on aerodynamic drag and lift and can be correlated to fabric surface textures and material properties.

The tests also describes wind tunnel testing methodologies used to measure both drag and lift forces acting on the fabric surface due to different patterns and materials used in textile manufacturing.

The RMIT tunnel is a closed return circuit wind tunnel with a maximum air speed of approximately 150 km/h.

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Active middle section with non-active top and bottom sections. Schematic CAD model (a) and cylinder in wind tunnel (b)

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In order to quantify the effects of the top and bottom sections on the aerodynamic properties of the active middle section, the active section was tested in following configurations:

Active section with top and bottom sections.

Active section with a non-active bottom section only (no top section).

Active section with a non-active top section only (no bottom section).

Active section only (no non-active top and bottom sections).

Evaluation of contact pressure and clothing deformation

Compression sportswear is an elastic sportswear designed with compression distribution to enhance the performance of elite athletes.

The material and geometric properties of fabric for compression sportswear are vital in achieving compression effects.

Compression garments have positive effects on reducing blood volume, increasing flow velocity, decreasing venous reflux and thus improving venous pumping and thus enhances the performance.

The FE geometric model was taken from the reconstruction of geometrical shapes of the commercial 3D anatomic male skin and skeleton model

The compression sports tights were developed according to real compression sports tights with Grey PP material and plain structure.

Non-linear elastic material has been assigned to the sports tights. The hyper elastic material model was used to represent the non-linear elastic fabric. A third order Ogden strain energy potential was adopted.

Sensors were incorporated to a force-to-voltage circuit system, which was developed according to the circuit recommended in the user manual.

The output data were recorded through the force-to-voltage circuit system and values were saved.

The values of the pressure were the mean pressure, which was recorded for approximately 810 seconds during the use of the flexi force sensors at a standing position.

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Evaluation of Breathability of a sportswear

Expressed in terms of `water vapour permeability' (WVP) or `moisture vapour transport resistance' (MVTR)

Method is based on the evaporation of water through the test material

The units are grams of water vapour transmitted through a square metre of the material over a 24 hour period (g/m2/ 24 hr)

Higher this temperature, the larger the values will be

Ex.- If the temperature inside is 34oC (skin temperature) and the ambient outside temperature is 20oC, the figures may well be 700 g/m2/24 hr and 3,600 g/m2/24 hr respectively.

Recent Developments

Streamlining or stealth design

o Reducing excess fabric by focusing on a closer-fitting silhouette

o Trimming

o Heat-sealed pockets, straps, flaps, etc

Fit and size

Use of Smart materials

oWearable technology

o Functional clothing for different user groups

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Novel foam based pressure sensor o Polypyrrole-coated

conductive foam is used

o Principle- Increasing the weight placed upon the PPy-PU foam or shortening the overall length of the foam resulted in a proportional decrease in the electrical resistance measured across the foam in a linear fashion

Conclusion

Clothing for Sportswear is a very new and a promising field of

technical and functional textiles offering a solution to many

performance related problems

Material selection, design, fit, comfort and non invasiveness are

some of the most important requirements of such clothing

Although a no. of prototypes and products have been developed but

the field has a very large scope of research and development

The market constraints and the fragmented research community is a

factor that is impeding the progress of this clothing

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