Functional Elastic Knits Made of Bamboo Charcoal and Quick-Dry Yarns: Manufacturing Techniques and Property Evaluations

Conventional sportswear fabrics are functional textiles that can mitigate the impaired muscles caused by exercises for the wearers, but they can also cause discomfort and skin allergy. This study proposes combining two yarns to form functional composite yarns, by using a twisting or wrapping process. Moreover, a different twist number is used in order to adjust the performance of functional composite yarns. A crochet machine is used to make the functional composite yarns into functional elastic knits that are suitable for use in sportswear. The test results show that, in comparison to the non-processed yarns, using the twisted or wrapped yarns can considerably decrease the water vapor transmission rate of functional elastic knits by 38%, while also improving their far infrared emissivity by 13%, water absorption rate by 39%, and air permeability by 136%. In particular, the functional elastic knits that are made of B-wrapped yarns (bamboo charcoal- wrapped yarns), composed of 20 twists per inch, have the optimal diverse functions. View Full-Text