Effect of Washing and Drying Conditions on Dimensional Change in Various Articles of Knitted Clothing

Authors

  • Yurika Hashimoto Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shinshu University, 3-15-1 Tokida, Ueda-shi, Nagano 386-8567, Japan
  • Kyoung Ok Kim Division of Kansei and Fashion Engineering, Institute for Fiber Engineering (IFES), Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research (ICCER), Shinshu University, 3-15-1 Tokida, Ueda-shi, Nagano 386-8567, Japan
  • Kazuhiko Hashimoto Panasonic Corporation, 2-3-1-2 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu City, Shiga 525-8555, Japan
  • Masayuki Takatera Shinshu University, Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, 3-15-1Tokida, Ueda, Nagano, 386-8567, Japan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3993/jfbim00318

Keywords:

Shrinkage;Knitted clothing;Drying temperature;Knitted fabric.

Abstract

We investigated the effect of washing and drying conditions on dimensional change in various articles of knitted clothing, taking into account drying temperature, temperature change during drying, external force at dehydration, external force during drying, and humidity during drying. We immersed samples in water at 25 ± 2C for 30 min, then dried them in a chamber at 40, 60, and 80 C, and at 5% relative humidity (RH). We also investigated the effects of increasing the temperature from 40 to 60C and decreasing it from 60 to 40 C. After dehydration, we dried the samples using a roller and a frontloader washing and drying machine at various humidity levels. We measured dimensional changes in the samples before and after drying. We investigated five samples of knitted clothing: men’s socks, women’s socks, men’s underwear, women’s underwear, and women’s t-shirts. We detected no difference in the dimensional change ratio in the cotton or polyurethane underwear and t-shirts when the drying temperature was varied. However, the dimensional change ratio of acrylic-containing men’s socks varied depending on the drying temperature. When drying acrylic-containing men’s socks from 40 to 60 C, the dimensional change ratio was larger than under other drying conditions. A lower temperature in the final drying stage could effectively reduce the shrinkage of socks made from acrylic, polyester, and polyurethane. The deformation due to external force during dehydration affected dimensional change. The external force during drying also greatly affected dimensional change in the knitted clothing. The humidity and drying time did not affect dimensional change in the knitted cotton clothing.

Published

2019-02-04

Issue

Section

Articles