A study on moisture management properties in knit fabrics made from cattail and cotton blends

This study explores the moisture management properties of knitted fabrics incorporating cotton and cattail fiber blends with intent to improve performance for sportswear applications. Nine different fabric samples were developed using different blend ratios of 90/10, 80/20, and 70/30 (cotton to cattail) along with three different knit structures: interlock, loop knit (fleece), and rib. The fabrics were assessed in terms of some important moisture management parameters, which are wetting time, absorption rate, maximum wetted radius, spreading speed, AOTI and OMMC. The results indicate that rib-knit fabrics always lead the pack across all spreading speed, accumulated one-way transport index (AOTI), and overall moisture management parameters; the 90:10 rib blend has the shortest wetting time (2.8 s top, 2.3 s bottom), the highest absorption rate (1.4 mm/s top, 2.3 mm/s bottom), superior spreading speed (2.0 mm/s top, 2.6 mm/s bottom) and the highest OMMC (0.90). Loop-knit fabrics have the longest wetting times (4.8 s top, 4.2 s bottom), a lower absorption rate (0.8 mm/s top, 1.5 mm/s bottom) and the lowest OMMC (0.70), which indicates that moisture transport efficiency is not optimal. The investigation reveals that an increase in cattail content leads to a reduction in the moisture absorption and transport properties. Therefore, the lowest OMMC is recorded for the 70:30 blend, that is 0.82 for rib and 0.70 for loop knit. The results have highlighted significant correlations between fabric structure, fiber composition, and moisture management efficiency, therefore showing that rib-knit fabrics with lower cattail content would be most suitable for high-performance sportswear in warm climates.