The investigation of barrier and comfort properties of multifunctional coated conductive knitted fabrics

The aim of this work was to investigate the barrier and comfort properties of protective uncoated and coated-impregnated three-layered knitted fabrics with different arrangements of special yarns, such as conductive yarns and yarns with different filament cross sections. Depending on content (7.5–30%) of conductive PES yarns with carbon core filaments and PES/stainless steel spun yarns, fabrics were grouped into A and B. In order to achieve multifunctional barrier and comfort properties, high porosity polyurethane and fluorocarbon resin coatings were applied. At the beginning of the research, the fabrics of groups A and B were coated with commercially available micro-porous polyurethane foam Tubicoat® MB according to the crushed foams method and impregnated with fluorocarbon water-repellent agent Tubiguard® 270. The achieved functional, barrier (water and oil repellency, resistance to water penetration, and electrostatic shielding), and comfort (air permeability, water vapor permeability, water retentivity, and drying intensiveness) properties were determined.