The solar properties of fabrics produced using different weft yarns

Abstract

Woven fabric is composed of two yarns system, known as the weft and warp yarns. Each yarn system has an effect on the physical, performance, and optical properties of fabric. Any change in one or both yarn systems greatly alters the fabric properties. The solar and luminous properties of fabrics are also affected by altering the weft yarn or both yarn systems. This study investigates the effect of altering the weft yarn system on the solar and luminous properties of fabrics. The differences in the weft yarn in the fabrics were based on the weft yarn structure, including the yarn linear density, amount of twist on the yarn, yarn evenness, hairiness, spinning method, fiber composition of the yarn, and weft density of the fabric. The fabric luminous and solar properties were measured according to EN 14500 using an ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV/VIS/NIR) test device and calculated from the EN 410 standard test method. According to a variance analysis, the weft density factor is shown to have an effect on the solar properties of the fabric, especially the UV transmittance properties of the fabric. Although non-parametric test results with a 95% confidence level show that the yarn structure does not influence the solar characteristics of the fabric, we show from the test results that the yarn structure influences the solar properties of the fabric. Yarn hairiness was the dominant factor for the IR and visible portions of the solar radiation spectra. In the UV region, the fiber composition factor was found to be important. The effect of the yarn linear density was similar to the effect of the weft density factor. The solar transmittance decreases and the reflectance increases when the number of weft yarns per unit length is increased and the yarn linear density in the Ne numbered system is decreased. Increasing the yarn hairiness decreases the transmittance in the IR portion of the solar spectra. The degree of influence that the yarn structure has on the solar properties (with the exception of the UV portion) of the fabric was dominated by the number of weft yarns per unit length. The transmittance properties of the fabric were more affected by altering the yarn structure than the reflectance and absorbance properties.