• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.947-952
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to analyze skin wettedness($w$) used as the rate index of thermal comfort, and to evaluate the wear comfort of outdoorwear. Skin wettedness is widely used to express the degree of thermal comfort. If skin wettedness exceeds a certain threshold, the body feels damp and discomfort. An experiment which consisted of rest(30 min), exercise(30 min) and recovery(20 min) periods was administered in a climate chamber with 10 healthy male participants. Two kinds of outdoorwears made of 100% cotton fabrics (Control) and specially engineered fabrics having feature of quick sweat absorbency and high speed drying fabric (Functional) were evaluated in the experiment. The condition of climate chamber was controlled according to the thermal insulation of 4 kinds of experimental ensembles(E1~E4). Total sweat loss, sweat loss absorbed into clothing and skin temperature were measured. Skin wettedness was calculated from the ratio of evaporative rate to the maximal evaporative capacity. Skin wettedness of 'Functional' was lower than 'Control' in the 3 kinds of ensembles(E1, E2, E4) because the materials of 'Functional' were composed of quick sweat absorbency and high speed drying fabrics, water vapour permeability and waterproof fabrics.