Original article

Textile Research Journal

2018, Vol. 88(17) 1954–1964

Simulation of the effects of structural ! The Author(s) 2017

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parameters of glass fiber fabric on the DOI: 10.1177/0040517517715081
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thermal insulation property

Zhenrong Zheng1,2, Hongmei Wang1, Xiaoming Zhao1

and Nannan Zhang1

Abstract
The impact of different structural parameters on the thermal insulation of glass fiber fabrics, by using numerical simu-
lation, was investigated. The structural parameters investigated were the weave structure, warp density and yarn fine-
ness. A series of structure models were calculated under the same boundary and initial conditions, which combine
thermal radiation, conduction and convection. The simulation results have been validated by experiments. The experi-
mental results and the predictions from numerical simulations were in good agreement. The results show that thermal
insulation for the samples is in the order plain < 2/1 twill < 2/2 twill < 2/3 twill < 3/3 twill fabric, when using constant
structure density and yarn fineness. Increasing the warp density, from 110 to 160 ends/10 cm, leads to a significant
decrease in heat transfer performance. When the warp density increases to more than 160 ends/10 cm, the thermal
insulation property shows a decreasing trend with an increase in warp density. Furthermore, thermal insulation per-
formance of the samples dramatically increases as yarn fineness goes from 129 to 280 tex, and then decreases for yarn
fineness greater than 280 tex. This study will provide the theoretical basis for the thermal design and application of
fibrous materials.

Keywords
glass fiber fabric, structural parameters, numerical simulation, thermal insulation

In recent years, the safety of industrial workers and
firefighters operating under thermally hazardous condi-
tions has been a major concern.1 Thermal insulation
textiles are a crucial and important route to decrease
thermal hazards.2 The thermal protective performance
of fabrics is affected by many parameters. The effects of
structural parameters of fabrics, including fiber diam-
eter, bulk density, thickness, cover factor, porosity,
weave structure, weave density and yarn fineness, on
their thermal resistance properties were investi-
gated.3–10 Raeisian et al.3 have reported that the ther-
mal resistance properties of needle-punched nonwoven
fabrics can be affected by different processing and fiber
diameters, the bulk density of the layer and the thick-
ness and surface pressure on layers of hollow fibers.
Zhang et al.4 analyzed the effects of different materials
and different structural parameters on the dynamic
thermal conductivity performance of fabrics by using
a self-developed dynamic heat transfer testing device.
Cubric et al.5 have drawn conclusions about the correl-
ation between the thermal resistance of knitted fabric
and thickness, mass per unit area, cover factor and por-
osity, then the optimal structure parameters of the
fabric are selected to meet the requirements set by the
purpose of the product.6 Li et al.7 evaluated the effect
of different material combinations and design features
on thermal insulation and the moisture permeability
index of firefighter turnout clothing by using a sweating
manikin.
1
College of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, China
2
Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Composites of Ministry of
Education, Tianjin Polytechnic University, China
Corresponding author:
Xiaoming Zhao, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Binshuixidao Road 399,
TianJin 300387, China.
Email: tex_zhao@163.com
Zheng et al. 1955

Structural parameters, including fiber diameter, bulk Materials and methods

density, thickness, cover factor, porosity, weave struc-
ture, weave density and yarn fineness of fabric, need to
be taken into account to develop a new protective
fabric. However, most of the previous studies have
focused on the effects of structural parameters on the
heat transfer in fabric, and are based solely on a large
number of experimental tests. However, this approach
requires a high-temperature working environment, and
results in added costs and energy consumption, and
operational risk.11–13 Therefore, it is necessary to estab-
lish a heat transfer model to directly predict the effects
of structural parameters on the heat transfer in fabric,
thus providing a quick way to find the optimal values of
structural parameters of the fabric. It also provides an
important theoretical basis for the design, optimization
and application of the thermal insulation fabric in the
field of thermal protection.
The most widely used inorganic fibrous insulating
materials are glass fiber textiles.14 Glass fiber textiles
can be used as high-temperature thermal insulation
materials due to their excellent properties, such as
high temperature resistance, low cost, flame retardancy,
corrosion resistance, high strength, good chemical sta-
bility, etc. In this paper, we propose a series of structure
models to predict the thermal insulation of glass fiber
fabric under various structure densities, yarn fineness
and weave structures. Furthermore, we have discussed
the effects of different structural parameters on the heat
transfer performance of the fabric. Finally, the numer-
ical simulation results are compared with the experi-
mental values in order to verify the validity of the
proposed approach.
Materials
In order to study the influence of fabric structural par-
ameters on the thermal insulation property of glass
fiber fabric, 14 pieces of fabric were woven using
ASL3000 rapier looms. The weft density of the glass
fiber fabrics is 100 picks/10 cm. The glass fiber yarns
(high-silica glass fiber) were produced by JiangSu
Special Glass Fiber Co. Ltd, China. The yarns of
fabric were twisted from four glass fiber filaments,
and the twist of yarn is 165 turns/m. The structural
parameters of the glass fiber fabrics are shown in
Table 1.
Heat transfer through fabric is influenced by many
factors, such as the fiber material, thickness, porosity,
the pore size, tightness, weave, yarn linear density, warp
(weft) density and so on. Pore size, density (porosity)
and thickness are the primary determinants of heat flow
through fabric. However, if these three parameters are
determined or designed, it is difficult to weave a fabric
with the expected parameters accurately. A single-layer
woven fabric is made from a set of warp and weft yarns.
By arranging interlacement between the warp and weft
yarns, different types of woven patterns can be
obtained. Difference in weave can lead to different
pore size and porosity of fabric. Yarns are the basic
meaningful structural elements of interlaced fabrics.
For the glass fiber yarn, warp (weft) density and yarn
linear density are two major factors that affect the
fabric porosity and fabric thickness. Therefore, the
weave, warp density and yarn linear density were con-
sidered in our work. If weave, warp (weft) density and

Table 1. Structural parameters of the glass fiber fabrics

Sample Count of warp/ Linear density Weave Average length Fabric Fabric areal
No. ends/10 cm of yarns/tex Structure of float thickness/mm density/g/m2 Porosity%

1 120 280 Plain 1 0.930 632.3 63.2

2 120 280 2/1 twill 1.5 0.947 628.2 64.1
3 120 280 2/2 twill 2.0 1.030 617.7 67.6
4 120 280 2/3 twill 2.5 1.230 604.2 73.4
5 120 280 3/3 twill 3 1.457 593.9 77.9
6 110 280 3/3 twill 3 1.446 576.6 78.4
7 140 280 3/3 twill 3 1.523 645.9 77.1
8 160 280 3/3 twill 3 1.527 700.0 75.2
9 180 280 3/3 twill 3 1.544 725.0 74.6
10 160 129 3/3 twill 3 0.660 302.2 69.5
11 160 160 3/3 twill 3 0.801 400.0 68.0
12 160 198 3/3 twill 3 1.030 455.7 72.4
13 160 220 3/3 twill 3 1.170 555.1 73.2
14 160 320 3/3 twill 3 1.531 814.0 72.2
1956 Textile Research Journal 88(17)

yarn linear density are determined, the fabric can be

weaved successfully. Then, the fabric thickness, poros-
ity and the fabric density were tested, and these major
parameters were used to analyze the variation of
thermal properties of fabrics with different weave
structures.
To investigate the effect of weave on the thermal
insulation of the fabric, five different glass fiber fabrics
(Nos. 1–5) with the same fabric density and yarn fine-
ness were investigated. Fabric samples 6–9 differed in Figure 1. Schematic diagram of yarn measurement parameters.
warp density (110, 120, 140, 160, 180 ends/10 cm), and
they have the same weft density of 100 picks/10 cm,
yarn fineness of 280 tex and a 3/3 twill weave pattern.
With a constant weave structure and fabric density, six Table 2. Physical and thermal properties of materials for
kinds of glass fiber fabrics (Nos. 8, 10–14) with different simulation
yarn fineness – 129, 160, 198, 220, 280 and 320 tex –
Thermal Specific heat
were used to compare the thermal insulation properties conductivity capacity Density
of glass fiber fabric. Yarn (tex) (W/mK) (J/kgK) (kg/m3)

129 (Sample No. 10) 0.1671 810.395 1500.00

Methods 160 (Sample No. 11) 0.1782 784.535 1560.61
The fabric density was determined according to EN 198 (Sample No. 12) 0.1853 765.468 1602.74
1049-2:1993. 220 (Sample No. 13) 0.1909 742.90 1770.49
The thickness values of fabrics were tested using a 280 (Sample No. 8) 0.1950 719.641 1848.48
YG141L digital thickness gauge at a pressure of 320 (Sample No. 14) 0.1983 694.85 1913.04
20 CN/cm2, a pressure area of 25 cm2 and a pressure Air 0.0242 1006.00 1.225
time of 10 s, in accordance with GB/T 7689.1-7689.5,
2001. The final measurement result was the average of
the 10 test points, accurate to 0.01 mm.
The fabric area density was measured according to that indicates its ability to conduct heat. It is important
GB/T 4669-2008. for the heat transfer through the fabric. In Table 2, the
Fabric porosity was determined using the following thermal conductivity increases with the increase of the
equation15 linear density, because the higher the linear density is,
the thicker the yarn is. The number of fibers per unit
m volume increases, and the thermal conductivity of yarn
P¼1  100% ð1Þ
h is higher than air. Hence, the thermal conductivity of
yarn increases as the yarn linear density increases. The
where P is the fabric porosity (%), m is the fabric area relationship of the thermal conductivity (Y) and the
density (g/m2),  is the yarn density (kg/m3) and h is the yarn linear density (X) was investigated by regression
fabric thickness (mm). analysis. The thermal conductivity of yarn at different
The yarn cross-sections were cut using a laser beam yarn linear densities can be calculated according to the
razor blade and images of the fabrics were initially following equation: Y ¼ 0.11183 + 5.47101  104X
taken using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).  8.73134  107X2. The regression coefficient is 0.99,
To obtain the structural parameters of the fabric, the and it represents that the relationship of the thermal
images were imported to ImageJ software for measure- conductivity and yarn linear density is fitted very well.
ments to be taken. Schematic diagrams of yarn meas- The emissivity of the fabric was measured using a
urement parameters are illustrated in Figure 1. TIR100-2 Thermal Emissivity Instrument. The emissiv-
The thermal properties were measured using a Hot ities of the fabrics were taken and the average was
Disk 2500S Thermal Constant Analyzer. The thermal found to be 0.82. This was adopted as the emissivity
conductivity and specific heat capacity of the glass fiber of the fabric.
yarns were measured in the radial direction of the yarns Experiments have been carried out to validate the
at 20 C. The density of yarns was measured using a numerical simulation results. An illustration of the
pycnometer.16 The physical and thermal properties of experimental process is shown in Figure 2. An asbestos
materials for simulation are shown in Table 2. The ther- gauze was placed above the flame, and a circle of radius
mal conductivity of a substance is an intensive property 3 cm was cut out in its center. Then the fabric
Zheng et al.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the verified experiment.
(H  W ¼ 15 cm  15 cm) was placed on the asbestos
gauze. The front face of the fabric was ablated using
an alcohol blast burner at 750 C, Test conditions:
ambient temperature 20  1 C, 65% relative humidity
and wind velocity of 1.5 m/s. An infrared thermocouple
(Raytek, USA) was used to measure the variation of the
temperature of the back face of the fabric during
the heating process. The details of fabrics used in this
validation experiment are presented in Table 1.
Modeling
Texgen software was used to develop the fabric model
for finite element analysis; the specifications of the
fabric, such as yarn cross-sections, yarn widths, yarn
heights and yarn spaces, were required to establish
the geometry model of fabrics. The paths of the yarns
are described by specifying discrete points (control
nodes) and a Bezier interpolation function was used
to describe the yarn path. A two-dimensional (2D)
binary matrix was used to represent the interlacing of
the warp and weft yarns.17 According to the experimen-
tal data, a realistic fabric model was then generated by
defining the widths, heights, cross-section shape, yarn
spacing and thickness of the warp yarn and weft yarn,
respectively. When a domain had been created, yarns
were trimmed to fit inside the domain that represents
the limits of the unit cell, as shown in Figure 3.
Finite element analysis
The finite element method (FEM) is a computerized
method for predicting how an object reacts to real-
world forces, vibration, heat, fluid flow and other phys-
ical effects. It subdivides a large problem into a finite
number of non-overlapping units for finding approxi-
mate solutions to boundary value problems for partial
1957
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the fabric.
Figure 4. Contact regions between the yarns and air domain.
differential equations. FEM analysis is a very effective
numerical analysis method for extremely complex
engineering structures. After the fabric geometry
models were obtained, they were imported into
ANSYS Workbench. As shown in Figure 3, the fabric
domain consisted of yarns and dry air. The physical
properties of yarn and air, such as thermal conductiv-
ity, specific heat capacity and density, were assigned
respectively. Because the yarn surface was contacted
with the air, the contact area was defined as in
Figure 4. Following the definition of the contact
regions, meshing was carried out. A tetrahedron elem-
ent was chosen as the element type and the mesh size
was 1.5  104 m. The total number of elements and
nodes for a series of three-dimensional (3D) fabric
models analysis are shown in Table 3. A meshed unit
cell of 3/3 twill fabric with warp density of 110 ends/
10 cm is shown in Figure 5.
Heat conduction, convection and radiation occur at
the surface of the fabrics and act as boundary
1958 Textile Research Journal 88(17)

Table 3. The total number of elements and nodes for a series of three-dimensional fabric models
Sample No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Number of 56,813 30,919 67,365 76,381 155,831 125,538 122,866 134,499 112,881 69,638 76,207 126,787 117,834 117,295
elements
Number of 95,336 52,755 111,741 128,116 251,336 206,026 199,055 216,489 183,030 123,763 133,499 209,446 194,683 193,653
nodes

The temperature boundary conditions can be

described as follows:
the initial temperature Tðx, 0Þ ¼ T0 ;
temperature boundary conditions Tðx, tÞ ¼ T.
The ambient temperature (T0 ¼ 20 C) was taken as
the initial condition. The temperature along the bottom
face of the fabric model was a constant temperature
T ¼ 750 C.
Convection is caused by the movement of air mol-
ecules and the convective boundary acts on the outer
surface of the fabric. The following equation is used to
express the convective heat transfer between the fabric
surface and the environment

Q ¼ hAðTW  T1 Þ ð2Þ

where h is the convective heat transfer

Figure 5. Meshed unit cell of 3/3 twill fabric with warp density
of 110 ends/10 cm.
coefficients (W/(m2  C), A is the surface area of heat
convection (m2), Tw is the surface temperatures of the
fabric ( C) and T1 is the ambient temperature of
air ( C).
Considering that the fabric thickness is much smaller
than the fabric width and length, it is reasonable to
assume that the fabric is simplified to an infinite flat
plate.
The air flow condition of the boundary layer is deter-
mined by

u1 L u1 L
Rayleigh numbers Re ¼ ¼ ð3Þ
 v

The velocity of airflow is 1.5 m/s, which was mea-

sured using a Testo 425 Thermal Anemometer. The
dimensions of the fabric sample are 15 cm  15 cm.
Based on these conditions, the Rayleigh numbers (Re)
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of heat transfer through the were calculated at different surface temperatures
fabric. (20–780 C). The results showed that the Rayleigh num-
bers were all lower than 5  105. Namely, Re < 5  105.
Thus, the flow pattern of air on the entire fabric surface
conditions. Heat transfer through fabrics involves con-
boundary layer was laminar flow. The convective heat
duction through the solid yarn and air space between
transfer coefficient was proposed by Karleker and
the yarns, as shown in Figure 6. In our studies, constant
Desmond18 and is expressed as the following equations
temperature was selected, and the fabric was subjected
to a fixed temperature on the front face. Both the con- Z L  1=2
vection and radiation were defined on the other five 1 k u1 x
h¼ 0:331 P1=3
r dx
ð4Þ
sides of the fabric, except for the bottom face. L 0 x 
Zheng et al. 1959

Figure 7. Boundary conditions for a unit cell model of 3/3 twill fabric with warp density of 110 ends/10 cm: (a) temperature;
(b) convection; (c) radiation.

From the above equation

600
 
k u1 L 1=2 1=3
h ¼ 0:662 Pr ð5Þ 500
L v

)
400

Temperature(
where L is the qualitative dimensions (m), k is the ther-
300 plain-sim
mal conductivity of airflow (W/(m2 C)),  is the dens- plain-exp 2/3-sim
ity of air (kg/m3), u1 is the speed of airflow (m/s),  is 200 2/1-sim 2/3-exp
2/1-exp 3/3-sim
the dynamic viscous coefficient of airflow, Pr is the 100 2/2-sim 3/3-exp
Prandtl number and v is the kinematic viscosity of air- 2/2-exp
flow (m2/s). 0
0 5 10 15 20 25
The thermal physical parameter of air, such as the
Time(s)
thermal conductivity k, the kinematic viscosity of air-
flows v and the Prandtl number Pr , were all obtained at
the different temperatures.18 By applying the physical Figure 8. Simulation and experimental temperature curves of
parameter to Equation (4), the calculated convective fabrics with different weave structures.
heat transfer coefficient on the surface of the fabric is
12 W/(m2  C) in the range 20–780 C.
Radiation heat transfer from the fabric to the Results and discussion
environment was also considered. For the one-
Model validation
dimensional case, the radiation exchange was between
the faces of the fabric and the environment. The In order to validate the numerical simulation results,
heat loss by radiation was estimated according to experimental measurements have been carried out.
Equation (5) 19 The experimental test for each sample was repeated
five times, and the average was taken as the final
  result. For the numerical simulation, the mean tem-
qr ¼ " T4W  T41 ð6Þ
perature was calculated from five nodes selected ran-
domly on the top surface of the fabric for each model.
where qr is the heat flux by radiation, " is the emissivity Figures 8–10 indicate the temperature evolution during
of the fabric, s is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant, Tw is the first 25 s from the simulation and experimental
the surface temperatures of the fabric and T1 is the results of glass fiber fabric under different structure
ambient temperature of air. weave, warp density and yarn fineness, respectively.
The boundary conditions, including temperature, The relative error of each fabric between the simu-
convection and radiation, were applied to the fabric lated and experimental temperature values was calcu-
model (see Figure 7). The simulations were run with a lated every second. So the number of the relative errors
constant time interval of 0.01 s. It took approximately for every fabric is 25. Then, the average of them is the
30 s to complete the computation. average relative error for this fabric. For one structure
1960 Textile Research Journal 88(17)

same variation tendencies. During the simulations and

500 experiments, the rate of temperature rise on the surface
of the glass fiber fabric increased rapidly within the first
)
400
2 s, because of exposure to a high-temperature load. It
Temperature(

300 then increased gradually with time, until a stable tem-

110-sim 110-exp
200 120-sim 120-exp perature was reached. As shown in Figures 8–10, in the
140-sim 140-exp
160-sim 160-exp
heat transfer after 25 s for both the simulations and
100 180-sim 180-exp experiments, there are significantly different perform-
0
ances for different weave structure, warp density and
0 5 10 15 20 25 yarn fineness of fabric. That is, the different structural
Time(s) parameters of a glass fiber fabric play an important role
in its heat transfer properties. In Figure 8, where the
Figure 9. Simulation and experimental temperature curves of fabric density and fineness are constant, fabric with
fabrics with different warp densities. weave patterns of 3/3 twill showed the highest ability
of heat insulation. In Figure 9, where weave structure,
weft density and yarn fineness are constant, the results
show that the thermal insulation of fabric with warp
density of 160 ends/10 cm is the best, since its tempera-
600
ture rise is the least. Figure 10 shows the variations in
500 temperature of fabrics with the same weave pattern and
)

400
fabric density, where the change of yarn fineness is a
Temperature(

significant factor affecting heat transfer performance,

129tex-sim 129tex-exp
300 and fabric with yarn fineness of 280 tex shows a good
160tex-sim 160tex-exp
200 198tex-sim 198tex-exp ability to prevent heat transfer. The increase or
220tex-sim 220tex-exp decrease of thermal insulation with reference to the fac-
100 280tex-sim 280tex-exp tors (weave pattern, warp density, yarn fineness) will be
320tex-sim 320tex-exp
0 analyzed and explained in detail in the Effects of weave
0 5 10 15 20 25 structure, Effects of structure densities and Effects of
Time(s) yarn fineness sections, respectively.
Conduction heat comes from the flame of the fire,
Figure 10. Simulation and experimental temperature curves of and it can increase the temperature of fabric.
fabrics with different yarn fineness. Convection is generated due to the movement of air
molecules. When the temperature of the fabric is
higher than the ambient temperature, due to the con-
Table 4. Average relative error for the simulation and duction, the heat of fabric will be taken away by the
experimental results movement of air molecules. At the same time, when the
temperature of the fabric is higher than ambient, radi-
Average relative
Structure parameter error range (%) ation heat will transfer from the fabric to the
environment.
Weave pattern 2.31–4.45 In order to investigate the contributions due to con-
Warp density 1.69–4.60 duction, convection and radiation, three types of ther-
Yarn fineness 2.00–3.95 mal loads were defined step by step. The numerical
simulation results are shown in Figure 11. This can be
implemented by the simulation method, but it is diffi-
parameter (weave, warp density or yarn linear density), cult to implement in most cases, as the conduction,
a series of fabrics were weaved and measured. Then, the convection and radiation may exist simultaneously,
average relative error range of each structure parameter and they are difficult to separate into three parts.
would be obtained. The maximum and minimum aver- As shown in Figure 11, when only conduction was
age relative error for each structural parameter of fab- loaded on the fabric, the temperature of the fabric
rics were taken as the average error range, as shown in increased rapidly, and it was 748 C at 30 s. When
Table 4, which indicates a good agreement between the both the conduction and convection were loaded, the
numerical calculations and the experimental results. temperatures of fabrics were obviously lower, and it
The results show that the model predictions and was 640 C at 30 s. When conduction, convection and
experimental data for the temperature curves have the radiation were all loaded on the fabric, the temperature
Zheng et al. 1961

800 500
700
)
Temperature( 600 490
500
400 480
300 only conduction
conduction and convection 470
200 conduction, convection and radiation
100
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 460
Time (s) 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
The average length of yarn float

Figure 11. Relative contribution due to the three types of

thermal transfer. Figure 13. Statistical model of the temperature and the aver-
age length of the yarn float.

length of the yarn float is plain < 2/1 twill < 2/2
550
The average length of yarn float

the average length of yarn float

sim
3.0 twill < 2/3 twill < 3/3 twill fabric and the temperature
exp 2.5 values of the samples after 25 s are plain > 2/1
)

500 twill > 2/2 twill > 2/3 twill > 3/3 twill. Figure 12 shows
Temperature(

450
400
l l
n
plai 2/1twil 2/2twil 2/3twil 3/3twil
Fabric weave
Figure 12. Comparison of temperature variation after 25 s for
samples with different weave structures.
of fabric was about 522 C at 30 s. In the period up to
5 s, the differences of the fabric temperatures were very
small when heat transferred through fabrics in these
three situations (only conduction, conduction and con-
vection, conduction and convection and radiation).
However, these differences become obvious after 5 s,
because the fabric temperature was higher than 400 C
after it obtained the conductive heat for more than 5 s.
This indicates that convection and radiation heat is
important when the fabric temperature is high.
2.0
that the longer the average float length, the lower the
1.5
temperature value, indicating increased thermal resist-
1.0
ance. For woven fabrics, the thermal resistance of twill
0.5 weave fabric is higher than that of plain weave fabric.20
l l
0.0 Figure 12 shows that when the average float length
of fabric increases from 1 to 3, the temperature of the
back face of fabric samples decreases in both the
numerical simulations and the experiments. Since the
larger the average float result in the fewer interlacing
times of yarns, more soft and better fluffy fabrics21 and
more still air is contained in the fabric. As air has lower
thermal conductivity than the fibers, it can diminish the
heat transfer rate through the fabric. According to
Figure 12, plain and 3/3 twill fabrics have markedly
different temperatures due to their different weave
structure. This suggests that the average float length
of fabric affects the heat transfer in the fabric. As
shown in Figure 13, the relationship between the tem-
perature and the average length of the yarn float can be
described by a linear regression model
T1 ¼ 511:15  16:59X1

where T1 is the temperature of the fabric sample and X1

Effects of weave structure
is the average length of the yarn float. The correlation
The weave structure of woven fabrics plays a crucial coefficient is R2 ¼ 0.94.
role in their thermal insulation performance. To inves- In addition, when the fabric density and yarn fine-
tigate the effect of weave structure on the thermal insu- ness are constant, the average length of the yarn float is
lation of the fabric, five different glass fiber fabrics as follows: plain < 2/1 twill < 2/2 twill < 2/3 twill < 3/3
(Nos. 1–5, as shown in Table 1) with the same fabric twill fabric. As shown in Table 1, with the average
density and yarn fineness were investigated by changing length of the yarn float increasing, the porosity grad-
the weave structure of the samples. The temperature ually increases from 63.2% (plain) to 77.9% (3/3 twill),
variations of the samples with different weave struc- and the fabric thickness gradually increases from
tures after 25 s are shown in Figure 12. When the fabric 0.930 mm (plain) to 1.457 mm (3/3 twill). The thickness
density and yarn fineness are constant, the average and porosity are two major parameters that affect the
1962
sim
500 exp
Temperature( )
450
400
110 120 140
160 180
Warp density ends/10cm
Figure 14. Temperature comparison for samples with different
yarn densities.
heat transfer in the fabric. With higher porosity, more
still air will be contained in the fabric. With higher
fabric thickness, the heat insulation properties will be
better. Hence, the temperature values of the samples
after 25 s are plain > 2/1 twill > 2/2 twill > 2/3
twill > 3/3 twill.
Effects of structure densities
Structure density is a parameter that must meet the
usage of heat insulation fabric, and it describes the
number of yarns in a unit length. Fabric samples 6–9
differed in warp density, as shown in Table 1. The warp
densities of the fabrics are 110, 120, 140, 160, 180 ends/
10 cm, they have the same weft density of 100 picks/
10 cm, yarn fineness of 280 tex and 3/3 twill weave pat-
tern. Figure 14 shows that the tendency of temperature
variation is consistent between the numerical simula-
tions and the experimental results. It is also evident
that with an increase of warp density from 110 to 160
ends/10 cm, the temperature on the surface of the fabric
decreases gradually, indicating that the heat insulation
is more effective. When the warp density increases to
180 ends/10 cm, the temperature of the fabric rises rap-
idly and the heat insulation effect is decreased. The
fabric with warp density of 160 ends/10 cm achieves
the lowest temperature and exhibits the best thermal
insulation. From Table 1 it can also be seen that,
when weft density is constant and with an increase of
warp density from 110 to 140 ends/10 cm, the thickness
of the fabric increases and the porosity decreases. With
a further increase from 140 to 180 ends/10 cm, the
thickness shows a slight change, and the porosity
decreases. This is because the fabric has a sparse struc-
ture at low warp density, and the air permeability of the
fabric increases, which leads to a larger convection heat
transfer within the fabric. This causes the temperature
of the fabric to increase quickly, resulting in a significant
Textile Research Journal 88(17)
decrease in heat transfer performance.22 When the warp
density continues to increase to a certain level (160
ends/10 cm), this decreases the size of pores within the
yarns, which may cause smaller air channels in the
sample and, as a result, the convective heat transfer
decreases.3 The temperature of the fabric increases
slowly, and the heat insulation performance is
improved. When the warp density is higher than 160
ends/10 cm, with the increase of density, the tempera-
ture on the surface of fabric rises faster, and the thermal
insulation of the glass fiber fabric is decreased. This is
because, as the density increases to a certain threshold,
the space between yarns is already very small.
Furthermore, the structure is being more compressed
by increasing fabric density, which can result in a
greater contact surface area between the yarns and
lower porosity, resulting in a decrease in the amount
of still air in the fabric and better conduction by yarns
in the heat transfer process and, so, heat transfer is
improved.4
The relationship between the temperature and the
warp density can be described by the regression
model as follows
T2 ¼ 23580:56  679:94X2 þ 7:46X22  3:61  102
X32 þ 6:50  105 X42
where T2 is the temperature of the fabric sample and X2
is the warp density of the fabric. The correlation coef-
ficient is R2 ¼ 1.
Effects of yarn fineness
With a constant weave structure and fabric density, six
kinds of glass fiber fabrics (sample Nos. 8, 10–14 in
Table 1) with different yarn fineness – 129, 160, 198,
220, 280 and 320 tex – were used to compare the ther-
mal insulation properties of glass fiber fabric. As shown
in Figure 15, as the fabric samples were heated for 25 s,
the thermal insulation properties of the samples dra-
matically increases as yarn fineness increases from 129
to 280 tex, and then decreases with yarn fineness greater
than 280 tex. The reason for this phenomenon could be
the fact that the fabrics have different yarn fineness.
Thicker yarns with an increase in width of yarns lead
to a decrease in the size of pores within fabrics of the
same fabric density, which may cause lower air perme-
ability of the samples and, as a result, the ability of heat
getting through the fabric was weakened and the tem-
perature on the surface of the fabric was lower at the
same time. The thicker yarns create smaller void spaces
in the woven structure. Decreasing the size of voids
within the fabric may cause reduction of the air flow
through samples, which leads to more trapped air.
Zheng et al.
550
Temperature(ć)
500
450
400
129 160 198 220
Yarn fineness tex
Figure 15. Temperature comparison for samples with different
yarn fineness.
As air has lower thermal conductivity in comparison
with fibers, the thermal insulation of the glass fiber
fabric increases. When yarn fineness increases to more
than 280 tex, thicker yarns are denser within the limited
fabric structure and have greater contact surface area,
which increases heat conduction. In addition, the
denser structure has less air in the void spaces, resulting
in decreased thermal insulation. The relationship
between the temperature and the yarn fineness can be
described by the regression model, as follows
T3 ¼ 2929:64  51:47X3 þ 0:41X23  1:39  103
X33 þ 1:72  106 X43
where T3 is the temperature of the fabric sample and X3
is the yarn fineness of the fabric. The correlation coef-
ficient is R2 ¼ 0.94.
Conclusion
For high-temperature materials, high-silica glass fiber
fabric has the advantages of excellent heat resistance,
ablation resistance, good stability in alkali and acid
(hydrofluoric acid, phosphoric acid and hydrochloric
acid excluded), no harm to the human body and
lower price relative to other high-temperature resistant
fabrics. This paper proposes a new numerical modeling
technique that combines radiation with conduction and
convection in a series of glass fiber fabric models for the
prediction of the impact of different structure param-
eters on the thermal insulation of the fabrics, and it
can be extended to the thermal design of any other
fibrous fabric. The numerical model was validated
by comparison with experimental values. The experi-
mental results and the predictions from numerical
simulation were in good agreement, and a number of
conclusions were made.
1963
During an unsteady-state condition, the structural
sim
parameters of glass fiber fabric play an important role
exp
in their thermal insulation performance. The results
indicate that the influence of the weave structure is
related to the thermal insulation of fabric. The figures
shows that thermal insulation properties increase as the
average float length increases. When the fabric density
and yarn fineness are constant, the temperature values
of the samples after 25 s are in the order plain > 2/1
280 320 twill > 2/2 twill > 2/3 twill > 3/3 twill fabric. The influ-
ence of warp density on thermal insulation properties is
significant. Increasing the warp density (>110 ends/
10 cm) leads to a decrease in air permeability and a
significant decrease in heat transfer performance.
When the warp density continues to increase to a cer-
tain level (160 ends/10 cm), the thermal insulation
property shows a decreasing trend. There is a specific
fabric density (160 ends/10 cm), for glass fiber fabric
with constant weft density of 100 picks/10 cm, yarn
fineness of 280tex and 3/3 twill weave pattern, to
obtain optimum thermal insulation. The results of
numerical simulations and experiments prove the influ-
ence of fineness of yarn on changes in thermal insula-
tion properties. The results clearly show that the
thermal insulation performance of samples dramatic-
ally increases with yarn fineness from 129 to 280 tex
and then decreases for yarn fineness greater than
280 tex. Finally, it is anticipated that the optimal par-
ameters for good thermal insulating properties of glass
fiber fabric are weave structure of 3/3 twill, warp dens-
ity of 160 ends/10 cm and yarn fineness of 280 tex, when
using a constant weft density of 100 picks/10 cm and
boundary conditions.
The numerical simulation of the heat transfer
through the fabric can provide the theoretical basis
for the design and application of thermal protective
fabric. It can be widely used in the design of thermal
fabrics for firefighters, welders, hot pipelines, oil refin-
ing equipment and so on. Nevertheless, further studies
are necessary, since the thermal properties of fibrous
materials are changing during the process of thermal
loading. This work can be further extended to improve
the accuracy of calculations.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This work was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant 51206122), the Natural
Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant 13JCQNJC03000) and
1964
the Technical Guidance Project of the China National Textile
and Apparel Council (Grant 2012002).
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