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The main aim of this research is to improve the protective thermal performance of fabrics. Flame-resistant fabrics characterizing comparable thermal properties were chosen, cotton fabric with a flame-retardant finish and Nomex® fabric. To improve thermal parameters the coating mixture, based on silica aerogel, was applied on one side of the sample surface. Parameters such as the thermal conductivity, resistance to contact, and radiant heat were determined based on the standards, which set high expectations for the protective clothing. Analysis of the coated fabrics surfaces was conducted based on confocal microscopy. It was found that the coating mixture caused a decrease in thermal conductivity. All the modified fabrics reached 1st efficiency level of protection against contact and radiant heat. The best sample from the point of view of protection against contact and radiant heat was modified cotton fabric with a flame-retardant finish. The coating mixture contained 45 wt% of silica aerogel. Moreover, better adhesion of the coating mixture to the cotton fabric compared with Nomex® fabric was observed.

Currently, scientists are striving to produce innovative textile materials characterized by special properties. Therefore, attempts have been made to use physical and chemical vapor deposition techniques to modify the surface of textile materials, i.e., nonwovens, fabrics, and knitted fabrics. By using these techniques for modifying the basic materials, researchers have obtained textiles with novel properties, which are used in shielding materials, textronics, or clothing, as well as in specialized accessories. The PVD process can be applied for almost all materials. The physical vapor deposition process allows for obtaining layers of different thicknesses and with various physical and chemical properties. This article is a review of the latest state of the art on the use of various methods of physical vapor deposition in textiles destined for different purposes.

The protective clothing packages, which protect the human body against hot factors in a foundry are in continuous development to increase their resistance and comfort of use. The problem of heat transfer through textiles is the active field of research and reliable numerical modeling of this process can be helpful to design high-quality protective products. Therefore, the numerical model of heat transfer through the package based on the aluminized basalt fabric was developed. The macroscopic geometry of weft and warp threads was reproduced in agreement with samples of plain weave basalt fabric. Mapping the stochastically distributed individual monofilaments in basalt threads, as well as modeling the heat transfer between them, was impossible at the microscopic level. Therefore, the weft and warp threads were modeled as a porous material with a homogeneous distribution of basalt and air in their structure. Data from measurements of the bare and aluminized basalt fabrics by the Alambeta device were used to determine the model parameters. The model was used to simulate the heat transfer through the protective package composed of the aluminized basalt fabric, wool clothing, and cotton underwear. A good agreement of model results was found for measurement results in such a package. The presented procedure allowed for the determination of the main thermal properties of tested basalt fabrics.

The youth of today are much more technologically adept than previous generations. This has led to many technological innovations, and the development of these innovations has in turn altered our perception of the world. The film, gaming, and clothing industries have been forced to embrace new technology to satisfy the demand of people for a more realistic virtual experience. These industries all rely on the use of 3D avatars to create virtual depictions of the human body. In the gaming and film industry, the accuracy of the avatar is not so critical. The avatars used in computer games and CGI sections of films have soft contours, which look visually appealing, but are not necessarily accurate to the human form. By contrast, the apparel industry needs to focus on creating very accurate avatars, which represent each person's body shape for virtual fitting to achieve realistic, well-fitted garments. This article describes the methods used to build an avatar and compares the draping between the following scenarios: the real avatar with a real garment, the real avatar with a virtual garment, and finally the virtual avatar with a virtual garment. This research will help to understand how the body shape can affect the virtual fit.

In this paper, we present a new methodology of clothing engineering construction for the medical application. Project “BIOAKOD” intends to propose clothing solutions for elderly people with dermatological defects. This purpose requires a particular concept of clothing because of the additional functionality expected in the clothing. It means that the proposed clothing needs to cover a human body in an aesthetic way and gives comfort of use it, and it should also bring an adding value in health treatment of people with dermatosis (psoriasis)..

The article presents the modification of flame-retardant fabric surfaces made of basalt, Nomex®, and cotton fabric to improve their selected thermal comfort properties. The modification consisted of depositing on the fabric surface by magnetron sputtering the metal (aluminum) and ceramic (zirconium (IV) oxide) coatings with a thickness of 1 μm and 5 μm. Flame-retardant fabrics have been chosen because of the desire to apply them to gloves intended for the use in hot-work environments. The article presents the results of testing reference samples and their modifications, which were subjected to the test of resistance to contact heat for contact temperatures of 100°C and 250°C, resistance to thermal radiation and examined their selected thermal comfort parameters, i.e., the thermal conductivity coefficient and heat absorption coefficient. Almost the 1st efficiency level for contact heat was reached for basalt fabric coated with zirconium (IV) oxide with a thickness of 5 μm. The 1st level of protection against heat radiation was obtained for all reference and modified samples. Based on the Kruskal–Wallis test, it was noticed that a significant change in parameter values is caused by the modification with 5 μm thick coating.

Warning clothing for children should meet several requirements in the field of safety and functionalities. Technical and technological development has brought many different benefits. One of them are active light sources that can be used to improve the visibility of the user of given clothing products in situations, where the risk of being invisible is high. Therefore, the transformable clothing with the use of side emitting polymer optical fiber increases the child visibility in the traffic compared to the situation, when the safety was guaranteed only by reflective materials. The scientific problem to be solved was the design of transformable clothing, followed by the integration of traffic light systems with transformable children's clothing, which should increase the child's safety on the road. Transformability, as a feature of the product, should not interfere with the child's visibility. At a later stage of work, visioility tests on the transformable children's clothing set prototype were carried out according to the proposed research methodology. The visibility of system has been assessed both from the point of view of the arrangement of traffic light elements as well as their optoelectronic parameters, such as illuminance, the color of the optical fiber cover, and so on.

The clothing industry is currently focused on 3D virtual fitting. Many companies use size 12 as the core size; however, in recent years the average size has increased. For example, in the United Kingdom, the average size is now 16. Many companies have not updated their core size and often use size 12 as the size they are the most familiar with. The purpose of this paper is to compare real plus size body shapes with artificial avatars in relation to the fabric draping. This paper will investigate, how the body shape changes with an age (body height decreases, skin elasticity is lower, the shoulders are hunched, buttocks sag and fatness pockets are accumulated around the waist area). These factors are not considered in virtual avatars, but have a big impact on virtual fitting.

The layer of aerogel was applied to the surface of basalt fabric due to the possibility of improving a fabric protecting against the influence of hot environmental factors. The analysis of aerogel surface roughness and thickness of the obtained sample, resistance to contact heat for the contact temperature between 100°C and 250°C, and tests of resistance to the penetration of thermal radiation were carried out. In addition, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, thermal diffusion, thermal absorption, and surface roughness were determined. The obtained results indicate the unevenness of aerogel application on the surface of basalt fabric. For this reason, work should be carried out on an appropriate technology that will allow them to be applied evenly on the surface of the fabric. The parameters tested and the results obtained are promising in terms of the possibility of using the fabric obtained in protective gloves.

It appears that from generation to generation the anthropometric dimensions of the human population are changing. The aim of this paper was to examine the extent of these changes and the need for generating updated measurements for the clothing industry. The clothing industry uses mannequins and avatars to represent the modal group of the population. The industry tends to use three different categories for the human body shape (endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic). The clothing industry should focus on specific measurements of the body rather than general categories and create more body shapes to satisfy customer needs. The paper also aimed at showing the problems faced by clothing designers. The traditional way of measuring takes into account only selected dimensions of the human body; this does not reflect the “true” overall body shape. The dimension tables used by the apparel industry are based on the fourth anthropometric photograph taken between 1987 and 1989. These tables are still in the use currently; however, after 30 years they are outdated and should be revised for the young contemporary generation. This study can be used for the development of new dimension tables as well as defining methods aimed at improving the quality of measurements for clothing engineering purposes. This is an important issue, because the National Institute of Anthropometry does not deal with such problems (the measurements are conducted mainly for understanding the human body shape rather than any other application), which means that anthropometric measurements are not ideally suited to applications of clothes fitting.

Basalt fibers and fabrics made of these are characterized by excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Therefore, basalt fabrics, due to a good resistance to high temperatures, are frequently applied in the personal protection equipment (PPE). In order to improve their thermal properties and, above all, the contact heat resistance, the process of physical vapor deposition was proposed. The process of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) involves producing a coating on a specific substrate as a result of physical deposition of molecules, ions or atoms of the selected chemical compounds. The method selected for the test is the magnetron sputtering. It involves depositing a uniform film of chromium on the surface of the basalt fabric. In order to improve the thermal properties – especially the contact heat resistance, two values of thickness of the chromium layer deposited on the basalt fabric surface were adopted for the test. Covering 1 μm and 5 μm with the chromium layer did not fulfil the expectations and the research will be continued.

The main purpose of this study is the selection of a proper fabric for the reference clothing for ergonomic tests of protective clothing. For research, seven fabric of different raw material content and different structure were chosen. We studied the handle of fabrics produced from blend of polyester/cotton and polyester/Tencel, which were designated by letters from A to G. The assessment of handle of the fabric was performed based on the mechanical properties of fabrics using Kawabata evaluation system (KES-system). It was proven that one of the tested fabrics (F) made of polyester and cotton fibers (85% PES / 15% cotton) with the reinforced twill weave is characterized by the highest total hand value (THV).The high THV results from the low value of koshi (stiffness) and the highest value of numeri (smoothness) and fukurami (fullness). However, in terms of physiological comfort, the lower value of fukurami is more preferred. It turned out that the fabric with the higher value of fukurami (including fabric F) is characterized by the lower air permeability and higher water vapor resistance. At the end, we decided that the reference clothing will be made of cotton/polyester fabric G with the lowest mass per square meter because of the very good physiological comfort parameters and the satisfactory sensorial comfort parameters.

The currently used methods of ergonomic assessment of protective clothing depend on the subjective feeling of research participants and don’t take into consideration all aspects of its use. Therefore, more amount of work is undertaken toward the development of new research tools for the ergonomic assessment of protective clothing. Research was carried out at the Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute in Lodz. A new methodology will take into consideration a variant of reference clothing, which is related to the results of ergonomics research of protective clothing. Preparation of the reference clothing initiated by picking the appropriate fabric is based on the results of parameters influencing the physiological comfort and sensorial comfort. In the current part, results of different fabric parameters are presented, which are related to physiological comfort, i.e., the thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, hygroscopicity, and air permeability. In the next part of research, we will focus on the parameters related to objective sensorial feelings, i.e., total hand value and its components. Seven fabrics, including six cotton/polyester fabrics, diverse in terms of constituent fiber content and structure parameters (weave, thread density per 1 dm, thread linear density, mass per square meter, thickness), and Tencel/polyester fabric were tested. The best in terms of thermal resistance, water vapor resistance, and air permeability was the cotton/polyester fabric (35% cotton/65% PES) with the smallest mass per square meter. This fabric also exhibits the high hygroscopicity of 7.5%, which puts it into the fourth position.

The youth of today are much more technologically adept than previous generations. This has led to many technological innovations, and the development of these innovations has in turn altered our perception of the world. The film, gaming, and clothing industries have been forced to embrace new technology to satisfy the demand of people for a more realistic virtual experience. These industries all rely on the use of 3D avatars to create virtual depictions of the human body. In the gaming and film industry, the accuracy of the avatar is not so critical. The avatars used in computer games and CGI sections of films have soft contours, which look visually appealing, but are not necessarily accurate to the human form. By contrast, the apparel industry needs to focus on creating very accurate avatars, which represent each person's body shape for virtual fitting to achieve realistic, well-fitted garments. This article describes the methods used to build an avatar and compares the draping between the following scenarios: the real avatar with a real garment, the real avatar with a virtual garment, and finally the virtual avatar with a virtual garment. This research will help to understand how the body shape can affect the virtual fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this research is to improve the protective thermal performance of fabrics. Flame-resistant fabrics characterizing comparable thermal properties were chosen, cotton fabric with a flame-retardant finish and Nomex® fabric. To improve thermal parameters the coating mixture, based on silica aerogel, was applied on one side of the sample surface. Parameters such as the thermal conductivity, resistance to contact, and radiant heat were determined based on the standards, which set high expectations for the protective clothing. Analysis of the coated fabrics surfaces was conducted based on confocal microscopy. It was found that the coating mixture caused a decrease in thermal conductivity. All the modified fabrics reached 1st efficiency level of protection against contact and radiant heat. The best sample from the point of view of protection against contact and radiant heat was modified cotton fabric with a flame-retardant finish. The coating mixture contained 45 wt% of silica aerogel. Moreover, better adhesion of the coating mixture to the cotton fabric compared with Nomex® fabric was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protective clothing packages, which protect the human body against hot factors in a foundry are in continuous development to increase their resistance and comfort of use. The problem of heat transfer through textiles is the active field of research and reliable numerical modeling of this process can be helpful to design high-quality protective products. Therefore, the numerical model of heat transfer through the package based on the aluminized basalt fabric was developed. The macroscopic geometry of weft and warp threads was reproduced in agreement with samples of plain weave basalt fabric. Mapping the stochastically distributed individual monofilaments in basalt threads, as well as modeling the heat transfer between them, was impossible at the microscopic level. Therefore, the weft and warp threads were modeled as a porous material with a homogeneous distribution of basalt and air in their structure. Data from measurements of the bare and aluminized basalt fabrics by the Alambeta device were used to determine the model parameters. The model was used to simulate the heat transfer through the protective package composed of the aluminized basalt fabric, wool clothing, and cotton underwear. A good agreement of model results was found for measurement results in such a package. The presented procedure allowed for the determination of the main thermal properties of tested basalt fabrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warning clothing for children should meet several requirements in the field of safety and functionalities. Technical and technological development has brought many different benefits. One of them are active light sources that can be used to improve the visibility of the user of given clothing products in situations, where the risk of being invisible is high. Therefore, the transformable clothing with the use of side emitting polymer optical fiber increases the child visibility in the traffic compared to the situation, when the safety was guaranteed only by reflective materials. The scientific problem to be solved was the design of transformable clothing, followed by the integration of traffic light systems with transformable children's clothing, which should increase the child's safety on the road. Transformability, as a feature of the product, should not interfere with the child's visibility. At a later stage of work, visioility tests on the transformable children's clothing set prototype were carried out according to the proposed research methodology. The visibility of system has been assessed both from the point of view of the arrangement of traffic light elements as well as their optoelectronic parameters, such as illuminance, the color of the optical fiber cover, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a new methodology of clothing engineering construction for the medical application. Project "BIOAKOD" intends to propose clothing solutions for elderly people with dermatological defects. This purpose requires a particular concept of clothing because of the additional functionality expected in the clothing. It means that the proposed clothing needs to cover a human body in an aesthetic way and gives comfort of use it, and it should also bring an adding value in health treatment of people with dermatosis (psoriasis).. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the modification of flame-retardant fabric surfaces made of basalt, Nomex®, and cotton fabric to improve their selected thermal comfort properties. The modification consisted of depositing on the fabric surface by magnetron sputtering the metal (aluminum) and ceramic (zirconium (IV) oxide) coatings with a thickness of 1 μm and 5 μm. Flame-retardant fabrics have been chosen because of the desire to apply them to gloves intended for the use in hot-work environments. The article presents the results of testing reference samples and their modifications, which were subjected to the test of resistance to contact heat for contact temperatures of 100°C and 250°C, resistance to thermal radiation and examined their selected thermal comfort parameters, i.e., the thermal conductivity coefficient and heat absorption coefficient. Almost the 1st efficiency level for contact heat was reached for basalt fabric coated with zirconium (IV) oxide with a thickness of 5 μm. The 1st level of protection against heat radiation was obtained for all reference and modified samples. Based on the Kruskal–Wallis test, it was noticed that a significant change in parameter values is caused by the modification with 5 μm thick coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern children's clothing is characterised not only by the diversity of forms and rich ornamentation but also, primarily, by the specificity of these clothing products that guarantees their safety of use, functionality and shaping of the personality characteristics of the child. The world of children's fashion takes into account current trends, paying particular attention to its practical aspects. An important role in the design of children's clothing can be played by transformable clothing, which supports the child in its normal psychophysical development, as well as parents in economic terms. Surveys carried out show the opinions of children and parents regarding transformable clothing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]