Study On The Wearability Of Apocynum Fabric

Entering the21st century, health, environmental protection, comfort, and safety have become the themes of the age. People’s requirements of clothing are also rising from "pretty" to "health" simultaneously. Therefore, the healthy and comfortable functional textiles are in people’s good graces. Apocynum fiber, the "king of the wild fiber", is a new type of green fibers. Because of its unique structure and chemical composition, good property, and sanitarian effect, it is widely used in textile, medicine and ecological protection, etc. For the present, researches on apocynum fiber are still in the exploratory stage and don’t form a set of systemic theory. In textile manufacturing, more researches on apocynum are fastening on fiber modification and yarn exploration, but reports on its wearability are few and far. Based on this phenomenon, according to previous studies, the paper does a comparative analysis on apocynum fabric, apocynum/cotton fabric, linen fabric, linen/cotton fabric, ramie fabric, ramie/cotton fabric and cotton fabric.From the perspective of research on apocynum fiber’s structures and properties, give an analysis on apocynum fabric, including healthcare performance, mechanical performance, appearance performance, comfort performance and fabric style. By using Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation and Principal Components Analysis, this paper also makes an comprehensive analysis on apocynum fabric’s wearability and fabric style, which provides theory basis for apocynum’s development and utilization as well as its fabric’s development in clothing industry.The main contents of this paper are as follows.(1) Apocynum fiber has lumen and its cross section is elliptical or polygonal; longitudinal section is bamboo-like. With smooth surface, it has cross section and vertical stripes, but is not reversed. Apocynum fiber contains65.63%celluloses,13.49%hemicelluloses,6.30%lignans,8.26%pectins and high gum. Its crystanllinity is higher than that of cotton fiber, but lower than that of ramie and flax fiber and the degree of orientation is higher than other fibers. The infrared spectroscopy shares the common features with the natural cellulose fibers. Apocynum fiber’s lengths and thickness are vary and possess high-strength and low-elongation property, excellent hygroscopy and antistatic property.(2) Researches on healthcare performance of apocynum fabric reveal that the emissivity of far infrared during the8-15um bands can reach87%.The fabric also has good antimicrobial properties against escherichia coli and staphylococcus aureus. Tests on the mechanical and appearance performance show that apocynum fabric and apocynum/cotton fabric are superior in tensile strength, tear strength, bursting strength and drape strength, but slightly inferior in wear resistance and wrinkle resistance. According to the comfort performance, with good thermal insulation, liquid absorbability and air permeability, apocynum fabric and apocynum/cotton fabric can cater for people’s clothing needs of "cool in summer and warm in winter". What’s more, the feeling of prickle is less than other hemp fabric.(3) The Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation of fabric’s wearability indicates that the excellent plus material of clothes made of apocynum fiber is not only suitable for winter clothes--fine thermal insulation and healthcare property but for summer clothes-good liquid absorbability and wearability.(4) The Principal Components Analysis of fabric styles shows that styles of apocynum fabric and apocynum/cotton fabric are inferior to those of ramie, linen fabric, ramie/cotton, linen/cotton fabric. Line fabric and ramie fabric are more rough and plump than apocynum fabric because apocynum fiber is softer.