Compressive characteristics of weft-knitted spacer fabric with interlocking structure

Existing methods that enhance compression performance through structural optimization often overlook the smoothness of the fabric's appearance and find it difficult to balance the fabric's compressive resistance and compression resilience. This study adopts the knitting method of overall adjustment (B), which develops the interlocking structure to improve compressive performance of the fabric, does not affect the appearance of the fabric, and is convenient for knitting. In addition, we make a comparative analysis with the commonly utilized knitted methods (A). First, two common materials were selected for knitted samples: elastic nylon was knitted for the outer layer, and polyester monofilament was produced for the spacer layer. Two diameters of monofilament, three kinds of needle space, and two kinds of knitted methods were selected to make twelve kinds of samples. Fabric appearance analyses and compression performance testing were carried out, and five fabrics with the best compression performance were selected for low-stress tensile resilience testing and air permeability testing. The results show that (B) was more conducive to knitted spacer fabrics, and the floats in the interlocking structure made the samples more compact, thicker, more stable, and could withstand higher compressive strength. Compression resilience and air permeability were lower than those of (A) fabrics but also kept within a good range. In addition, at eight needle spaces, (B) fabrics had better deformation and elastic recovery.