Manufacture and evaluations of stainless steel/rayon/bamboo charcoal functional composite knits

Abstract

This study proposes composite knits that have multiple functionalities to fit a diversity of applications. Stainless steel/rayon (S/R) wrapped yarns are used as the sheath and bamboo (B) charcoal polyester yarns are used as the core to form SRB wrapped yarns. The SRB wrapped yarns are made at number of twists of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 turns/cm. Moreover, the composite knits are made of SRB wrapped yarns as the face yarns and Tetoron® yarns as the ground yarns using a computer jacquard hose machine. The surface resistance, electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE), elastic recovery, anion release, and softness of the composite knits are measured, investigating the influence of the number of twists as well as the functionalities of the composite knits. When the number of twists is 4 turns/cm, the composite knits have an optimal elastic recovery of above 71.8%, optimal anion release of 408 counts/cm3, a greater softness along the wale direction, and optimal EMSE of 20 dB at frequencies of 2.18E+08 Hz.