Approach to evaluation of car seats fabrics performance

Abstract

This paper deals with investigating performance of car seat fabrics in terms of their compression and recovery properties and physiological comfort of sitting. Polyurethane foam, nonwoven and 3D knitted spacer fabrics are commonly used as padding (in middle layer) in car seats cover. The current work presents an alternative approach to evaluate effectivity of car seat fabrics, namely their compression behaviour, variation in thickness under dynamic loading, thermal properties, water vapour resistance and air permeability. The above mentioned properties belong to basic requirements in car seat manufacturing. Micro tomography system was used to obtain detailed information about change in internal structure of fabric samples, before and after compression test.