Measuring the Water Vapor Permeability of Coated Fabrics and Laminates

Abstract

The water vapor permeability of a given material plays an important part in evaluating the physiological wearing comfort of clothing systems or deter mining the performance characteristics of textile materials used in technical applica tions. Many methods are used for measuring the parameters of water vapor transfer through textiles; they vary in effectiveness and are difficult to correlate to one another. This report discusses the mechanism of the water vapor transfer in textiles, and common methods used to determine parameters of the water vapor transfer. Finally, a new measuring method will be introduced and compared to some existing methods.