Dependence of Thermal Contact Properties on Compression Pressure

Thickness and compression pressure play an important role in thermal sensation when a fabric is touched. In this work, we examine the temperature change inside furs and fabrics to simulate a finger pressing the surface of a fabric. In this study, a Kawabata finger sensor device was used to measure the temperature change (UTmax, ̊C/s), which is used to indicate the thermal sensation. The finger sensor unit was connected to a compression tester to change the compression pressure and obtain pressure-thickness curves. For artificial fur samples, the values of UTmax increased with the increase of maximum pressure for all samples. This suggests that when artificial fur is touched with a higher force, the contact feeling may be cooler than that when the fur is touched gently. For short pile lengths, UTmax was affected by the increase in pile length. For long pile lengths, UTmax was almost constant and independent of pile length. A linear relationship between the volume ratio of air and UTmax was observed when the pile length was long. When the thickness of the fur was small, the thickness had a large effect on the UTmax. For fabric samples, the effect of fiber conductivity on the UTmax was much larger than that of the thickness.