DEVELOPMENT OF WATER VAPOR RESISTANCE FEATURE OF POLYESTER WOVEN FABRICS BY USING PERLITE ADDITIVE

The aim of this study is to improve the water vapor permeability of woven fabrics produced from polyester yarns including perlite additive. Commercial perlite material with micron size was reduced to nano size by grinding and various physical and thermal analysis were made to characterize the new material. As a result of analysis it was determined that available water adsorption feature in perlite structure was protected and even increased. Polyester yarns which were produced by melt spinning process with the addition of perlite material were used for production of woven fabrics. In order to evaluate the effect of perlite additive on water vapor permeability of the fabric, water vapor resistance test was applied to fabrics with perlite additive and to reference fabrics produced with same parameters. According to the data obtained, it was concluded that water vapor resistance of the woven fabric decreased by 22% due to perlite containing polyester yarns.