Simple, direct and accurate measurement of one-way liquid transport across fabric thickness: A directional liquid transport fabric tester

Liquid transport across the thickness of a fabric, also termed as 'transplanar wicking', is one of the crucial properties affecting the moisture management capability of textiles. Although many test methods for this property have been proposed in the past, a simple and direct measurement of wetness on both sides of the fabric is still missing. This paper reports on the development of a simple directional liquid transport fabric tester (DLTFT) which can measure the liquid content on both faces of the fabric after exposed to a defined volume of liquid droplets. DLTFT used two filter papers to absorb liquid moisture from both sides of the wetted fabric under controlled pressure, and the gravimetric analysis technique was used to calculate the parameters of liquid transport. A new indicator called normalized transplanar ratio is proposed. The results showed that DLTFT was highly sensitive and reproducible in measuring the transplanar liquid transport properties of fabrics. Analysis further showed that, measurements from DLTFT can accurately differentiate fabrics that cannot be differentiated using existing test methods. This instrument is useful for fabric evaluation in textile product development and quality control.