Experiments and modelling of skin-knitted fabric friction

Sports activities may cause different types of injuries induced by friction between the skin and sport textiles. Focusing on runners who are often bothered with blisters, we studied the textile–foot skin interface in order to measure and predict friction. We first determined the characteristics of mechanical contacts between foot, sock and shoe during running. On this basis, we developed a reciprocating linear tribometer to simulate friction contacts between skin and sport socks. Two different types of cotton socks were studied (basic jersey and terry jersey). To predict the friction of terry jersey socks, we developed a model which takes into account basic textile parameters and assumes that dynamic friction primarily results from the movement of terries (rotation of loops). For the investigated cases, a good correspondence was found between calculated and measured friction forces.