Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Predict the Air Permeability of Woven Fabrics

Air permeability is one of the most important utility properties of textile materials as it influences airflow through textile material. Air permeability plays a significant role in textiles for clothing due to their influence on physiological comfort. Air permeability is also very important in technical textiles, especially for filtration, automotive airbags, parachutes, etc. The air permeability of textile materials depends on their porosity. There are a lot of structural properties of textile materials influencing air permeability and there are also statistically significant interactions between the main factors influencing the air permeability of fabrics. It justifies the application of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict the air permeability of textile materials on the basis of their structural parameters. Within the framework of the work presented ANNs were applied to predict the air permeability of cotton woven fabrics.