Evaluation of physical and mechanical characteristics of three-thread fleece knit fabric for their structural changes

The aim of this research is to explore the variations that can arise when three-thread fleece (3- TFL) fabric is manufactured with the same yarn type, count, stitch length, knitting machine gauge, and diameter but in different structural configurations. The physical and mechanical properties of 3-TFL fabrics vary depending on their structural construction, which has a significant impact on their intended usage. For this study, four distinct types of three-thread fleece fabric structures were developed titled straight, three-butt diagonal, four-butt diagonal, and double tuck 3-TFL. Fabric weight, bursting strength, shrinkage percentage, spirality, pilling, stretch and recovery percentage tests were performed on the produced samples and the results were interpreted statistically. The ANOVA study revealed a strong association between the fabric design and its properties. Although all variants of fleece fabric showed better dimensional stability, the double tuck 3-TFL fabric demonstrated a relatively high dimensional change. In addition, double tuck 3-TFL fabric showed higher fabric weight, better pilling grade, and less spirality, whereas 4-butt diagonal 3-TFL fabric exhibited higher bursting strength. This research will assist commercial knit fabric producers in the textile industry to understand the effect of structural variations on fleece fabric qualities.