Moisture Management Tester Brief Introduction

In the previous article, we mentioned thermal and moisture comfort, which is one of the most important factors in the human body’s subjective judgment of clothing comfort. An important heat dissipation function of the human body is carried out by the secretion of sweat and its evaporation. Water vapor takes away the heat from the body or the surface of the fabric through evaporation. Research has found that in the microclimate environment of clothing, the sweat absorption of clothing, the transmissibility of sweat by fabrics, and the location of evaporation on the fabric are all related to the comfort of wearing.

Currently, functional fabrics with good liquid moisture management capabilities are widely used in sports and outdoor clothing, high-end casual wear and uniforms. The properties of these fabrics include: quick drying, excellent moisture permeability and perspiration (can quickly remove sweat from the skin and keep the skin dry). Some traditional standards and testing methods can be used to detect these functional fabrics, such as water absorption diffusion, wicking height, drip penetration time, moisture permeability and drying rate, etc. However, these test methods cannot measure the three-dimensional transfer of liquid water on fabrics. In this article, we introduce a new method for testing the moisture management capabilities of textile products that can help us accurately evaluate and develop moisture-wicking and quick-drying apparel products.

Introduction of Moisture Management Tester

Fabric liquid moisture transport properties in multi-dimensions, called moisture management properties influence the human perception of moisture sensations significantly. Some standards and test methods can be employed to evaluate the fabric’s simple absorbency and wicking properties, and the liquid strike-through time of nonwovens also can be tested according to ASTM195 and GB/T 21655.2.  can  measure the behavior of liquid transfer of the clothing materials dynamically.

The moisture management tester is a new testing method and instrument used to test the moisture management ability of textiles. With this new instrument, we can quickly measure the dynamic water transfer properties of liquid water in three directions within textiles. Through laboratory tests on different fabrics, the test results show that there are obvious differences in the measurement data between different fabrics.

At present, although some fabrics have good quick-drying and water-absorbing properties, they do not have good perspiration properties, while some fabrics have perspiration properties and can quickly transfer sweat from the inner layer of the clothes to the outer layer. Test results show that It has good comprehensive moisture management capabilities and one-way transmission performance, so. Through MMT testing, it not only helps us to quality control the liquid moisture management performance of fabrics in the production and trade links, but also helps us select the correct fiber materials, design reasonable fabric structures, and conduct appropriate chemical testing during product development. Finishing process to achieve ideal product performance.

Click to learn more

The Moisture Management Tester is an equipment to measure the dynamic liquid transport properties of textiles such as knitted and woven fabrics in three dimensions:

• Absorption Rate – Moisture absorbing time of the fabric’s inner and outer surfaces.
• One-way Transportation Capability – Liquid moisture one-way transfer from fabric’s inner surface to outer surface
• Spreading/Drying Rate – Speed of liquid moisture spreading on fabric’s inner and outer surfaces

Principle of Operation

The fabric sample is placed horizontally. After the liquid water comes into contact with its immersion surface (usually refers to the layer in contact with the skin), the liquid water will spread along the immersion surface of the fabric, from the immersion surface of the fabric (usually refers to the outer layer of the garment) Transferred while spreading on the permeable surface of the fabric. The evolution of this water content is a function of time. When the test liquid is injected into the immersed surface of the sample, the upper and lower sensors in close contact with the sample are used to measure the dynamic transfer of the test liquid in the fabric, using a series of indicators such as soaking time, water absorption rate, maximum soaking radius, liquid state Water diffusion speed, one-way transfer index, and liquid water dynamic transfer comprehensive index comprehensively evaluate the moisture absorption, quick-drying, and perspiration performance of textiles.

The Moisture Management Tester (MMTest) is an instrument to test the liquid moisture management capabilities of textiles such as knitted and woven fabrics. This instrument consists of upper and lowers concentric moisture sensors, where the fabric being tested is placed in between the two sensors.

A pre-defined amount of test solution (synthetic sweating) is introduced onto the upper side of the fabric. And then the test solution will transfer onto the material in three directions:

Spreading outward on the upper surface of the fabric

Transferring through the fabric from the upper surface to the bottom surface

Spreading outward on the lower surface of the fabric.

Moisture Management Tester is designed to sense, measure and record the liquid moisture transport behaviours in these multiple directions. A series of indexes are defined and calculated to characterize liquid moisture management performance of the test sample.

Testing standards:

AATCC 195

GB/T 21655.2

Professional Technology of Moisture Management Tester

1. Shell all-metal structure, external interference signal has good anti-interference ability.
2. Improving the structure of testing sensor ,manual to automatic , the upper sensor, driven by a stepper motor built-in pressure testing equipment, to the fixed pressure automatically stop, can automatically return after the test .
3. Improving the structure of the pump water ,pump water uniformly stable, and can adjust pump water flow by software，Water pump can reverse pumping, make the liquid left in the pipe return to storage tank, prevent brine crystallization plugging silicone tube

Pump fluid volume adjustment method

After long time use, with a small range scale test pump fluid volume is 0.2 g + / 0.01 g, if beyond the ra nge can be adjusted, the adjustment method:

In the condition of the power switch off, press with finger ‘Pump’ open the power switch, keep 3 seconds release the button.  When the ‘Pump’ button has been bright, press the direction’up’ key to increase water Pump. Press the ‘down’  keys to reduce the water Pump. According to a few times more, increase or decrease the amount of the corresponding. Repeat the above steps, the adjustment to the right of water Pump.

If you need more information, please send email to [email protected].