‘Well-being’ is an important trend and issue that requires consumers to be satisfied with various functional fabrics; subsequently, functional fabrics that are highly sensible, functional, and environmentally friendly have a competitive edge (O’Mahony & Braddock, 2002; Hui, Lau & Ng, 2004). Recent interest in environmental protection due to global warming has led to various energy reduction campaigns. Fabric research has focused on developing cool summer fabrics and warm winter fabrics. The selection of a correct textile material is important to form a pleasant clothing climate. New fabric development requires new measurement methods. Warm/cool touch is a major factor that influences thermal clothing comfort. Current measurements of warm/cool touch is mainly assessed by Q-max using Thermo-LaboⅡ. The potential of using an infrared thermography camera (widely used because of its relatively cheap price) on warm/cool touch research has increased because it can visually show changes in clothing surface temperature.

Skin temperature is a factor that influences heat exchange between the body and environment. It also indicates the effectiveness of the heat transfer process. It is an important standard to evaluate thermal comfort in thermal physiology. The techniques to measure skin temperature have been investigated to find more accurate data (Min, Chung, Sung, Jeon, & Kim, 2001). A thermometer is generally used to measure body temperature; however, there are some difficulties to accurately measure skin temperature using a thermometer. First, skin temperature was determined by only a few points on the body. Second, heat occurs during exercising due to fabric and thermometer friction that creates difficulties for the accurate measurement of skin temperature. A previous study by Choi & Lee (2008) indicated that it would be possible to evaluate the thermal properties of clothing using infrared thermal images.

This study used a garment with different triacetate and PET high absorbance quick dry filament blending ratios and chose three healthy female subjects in their twenties to evaluate wear comfort sensations. They walked at 3.3 km/h for 20 minutes under conditions of 29±2℃ and 75±5% R.H. Subjective assessments of wear coolness, microclimate, and the thermogram image under the clothing were measured before and after exercising. We compared the results of the microclimate and subjective assessments with the results of the thermogram analyses. Clothing, high blended with triacetate, had a small average temperature difference as indicated by infrared thermal image. This result corresponded to subjective thermal sensation, microclimate humidity, and subjective wear comfort.

• Jung Soon Lee(Chungnam National University of Daejeon)
• Myoung-Ok Kim(Chungnam National University of Daejeon)