Browsing by Author "Dr. Roger Barker, Committee Chair"

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    Factors Affecting Human Comfort Response to Garments
    (2009-04-16) Bernard, Andrew Blake; Dr. Roger Barker, Committee Chair; Dr. David Hinks, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Pam Arroway, Committee Member
    Clothing comfort is defined by the tactile sensations felt by a subject through the mechanical interactions between the body and the garment. This research investigated the mechanical properties of 100% woven cotton fabric that significantly contribute to the perceived in-wear comfort of garments treated by various laundering methods. Treatments included washing methods using detergents and softeners, as wells as after treatments with selected starch applications. The treated fabric samples were initially assessed via development and execution of a hand panel consisting of 26 females. Mechanical properties of the samples were measured using the Kawabata Evaluation System. A comparison of hand ratings and KES properties of each treatment showed a significant difference between treatments. Subjects were not able to perceive a difference between two of the treatments and after testing of other treatment methods a sample set was selected for a wear test. Four of the nine bipolar descriptors correlated well with overall hand ratings including harsh/soft, rough/smooth, sandy/slippery, and rigid/flexible. The hand panel results were employed to design a full garment wear test. The same fabric was used for manufacturing button down blouse garments of varying sizes to fit the human subject panel of 29 females. In this experiment, subjects performed four activities of controlled dynamic movements and rated the garment after each activity. The activities included: donning where subjects simply changed into garments; arm crosses where subjects switched the position of two small weights on a counter top by crossing their arms; toe touches to arm raises in one continuous movement; and bowling where subjects played a bowling game on a Nintendo Wii systems that required subjects to make bowling motions with one arm. Correlation models were then developed for the dynamic garment wear test and Kawabata measurements. The type of dynamic movement performed had a significant effect on comfort ratings. A final model was constructed correlating mechanical properties to descriptors which were correlated to overall comfort. The descriptors significant to predicting overall comfort were scratchy and stiff which were included in the model with the activity type. The mechanical properties geometric roughness, coefficient of friction, and mean deviation of coefficient of friction were correlated to the descriptor scratchy and the mechanical property shear stiffness was correlated to the descriptor stiff. Locations of sensation were identified during each activity and will be used in further wear testing to measure dynamic properties.
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    Integrated Measures of Comfort for Athletic Performance Apparel Using a Sweating Manikin and Other Advanced Systems
    (2009-04-11) Clark, Matthew Landon; Dr. Roger Barker, Committee Chair; Dr. Nancy Cassill, Committee Co-Chair; Dr. Bhupender Gupta, Committee Member; Dr. Henry Boyter Jr., Committee Member
    ABSTRACT CLARK, MATTHEW L. Integrated Measures of Comfort for Athletic Performance Apparel Using A Sweating Manikin and Other Advanced Systems. (Under the direction of Dr. Roger Barker and Dr. Nancy Cassill.) Comfort in athletic apparel has gotten increased attention from the apparel market. The tagline of ‘performance’ has taken on a more ubiquitous status within the athletic apparel market as an alternative term to comfort. Comfort must be defined properly for this product and measured in order to properly assess the products in this category. This research seeks to determine what is considered comfortable in athletic performance apparel, and to utilize the most appropriate and most advanced methods available to measure comfort in a way which includes human input alongside test results. The first step toward testing the comfort in this category was to determine what aspects of comfort to test for as well as which test methods to use in the testing phase. This began with a consumer market survey which asked the opinion on comfort issues in athletic t-shirts of over 38,000 consumers in and outside of the United States. Four comfort aspects were identified for measurement; in increasing order of consumer-identified importance they were: Moisture Management, Cooling, and (Soft Hand and Breathable). Fit was identified as the most important aspect by a wide margin; however the measurement of fit is not included in the scope of this research. The primary measurement emphasis for this research on the garment level was the NCSU Sweating Thermal Manikin (Coppelius). Additional test methods used on the fabric level were the Kawabata Evaluation System for the measurement of fabric hand (KES), the Kawabata thermal sweating hot plate (Thermolabo), and the Gravimetric Absorbency Testing System (GATS) with a coupled fabric drying test. These test measures were used to compare fabric level results to garment level results as well as to provide information as to how the fabric performed in the identified comfort aspect without regard to garment construction. The garments used in this research were all performance athletic apparel short sleeved t-shirts for the purpose of running, with the exception of a 100% cotton t-shirt. This exception was included for comparison from cotton to polyester shirts in this category. The shirts were from various sources; specialty retailers, mass retailers, with varying price ranges. The final sample set included seven shirts from seven different manufacturers, made in seven different countries. The results of this study provided information on target consumer groups within the consumer survey based on purchase history data. The comfort preferences for these groups were tracked and used in order to identify which samples from the sample set performed to the highest level in the testing phase in light of the comfort preferences of these groups. Moisture management was identified as a comfort aspect which was extremely important in the review of literature to the overall comfort complex, however was quite undervalued by the consumers, which points to a possible need for an increase in marketing emphasis on this point. The manikin results had few correlations stronger than .7500, which is due to garment construction, namely the presence of air in the manikin test which is not a factor in fabric testing. The primary recommendation for future research is to include a human wear trial to confirm both the preferences of the consumers from the survey as well as the results from the testing phase.