HEAT TRANSFER

THROUGH TEXTILES
SHAHRUKH SHAHBAZ

Contents

HEAT

MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER

EQUATIONS FOR CONDUCTION

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF TEXTILE FABRICS

THE EFFECT OF PROPERTIES

HEAT

Heat is defined as total energy of molecular motion in a substance.

It is denoted by Q and its measuring unit in SI system is Joule.

HEAT

James Clerk Maxwell defined heat in a comprehensive way in his Theory

of Heat.

Transferable

Measurable

Cannot be treated as a substance

Form of the energy

WHY DOES HEAT FLOW?

When a substance has different level of thermal energy from its

surroundings, phenomenon of heat transfer takes place and is referred
to the variance in thermal energy level indicated by the difference of
temperature.

MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER:

There are three modes of heat transfer

Conduction

Convection

Radiation

CONDUCTION

In conduction transfer of heat takes place between neighboring

molecules due to temperature gradient and it is always form a higher
temperature to a lower temperature till there is equilibrium.

CONVECTION

Convection is the concerted, collective movement of groups or

aggregates of molecules within fluids (e.g., liquids, gases) either through
advection or through diffusion or as a combination of both of them.

RADIATION

Heat can be transmitted though empty space by thermal radiation often

called infrared radiation. This is a type electromagnetic radiation.

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY:

Heat transfer by conduction depends on the materials heat

conductivity,

The main characteristics of heat conductivity is:

Conductivity factor [W/(mC)]

SPECIFIC HEAT RESISTANCE

The specific heat resistance, r [(mC) /W] is a characteristic inverse to

the heat transfer factor , as in the following equation:

THERMAL RESISTANCE

The thermal resistance, Rth, of textile fabrics is a function of the actual

thickness of the material and the thermal conductivity k. This function is
given by the following relationship:

HEAT FLOW

The heat flow, Q, through the textile fabric is given as the following

Where A is the surface area exposed to the hot air, T1 is the initial air
temperature and T2 is the transient air temperature.

EQUATIONS GOVERNING CONDUCTION

Rate of heat
energy conduction
at x

Qx
element / T

Rate of heat
energy conduction
at x + x

x+ x

Rate of heat
generation inside
element

Rate of total heat

generation inside
element

gen, element

= E

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF
MATERIALS
Sr
#
1
2
3

Material
Copper
Silver
Gold

Thermal Conductivity
at 25 oC
( W/m K)
483
450
345

Air

0.026

Water

0.61

Polymer

0.35

Textile

0.1 0.035

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF TEXTILE

FABRICS

Thermal conductivity of a textile fabric involves a disperse system

consisting of textile substance and air.
Heterogeneous system

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF TEXTILE

FABRICS

The thermal conductivity of jute/cotton blended knitted fabric is

determined by using following formula:

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF TEXTILE

FABRICS

K = Thermal conductivity of sample (10-3WM-1K-1)

M = Mass of brass disc (C) in kgs

S = Specific heat of the material of the disc (370 JKg-1K-1)

R = Rate of fall of temperature (dT/dt)

H = Thickness of brass disc in mm

R = Radius of the brass disc in mm

D = Thickness of the specimen in mm

A = Area of cross section of the specimen in mm2

THE EFFECT OF
PROPERTIES

EFFECT OF FABRIC PROPERTIES VERSUS

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

Fabric Tightness:

EFFECT OF FABRIC PROPERTIES VERSUS

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

Fabric Thickness:

CONCLUSION

The thermal conductivity of the textile fabric is an important feature

which defines its specific area of usage.

The wearables are required to act as an insulation for the outer

environment and preferred if they have good conductance in certain
cases.

The variation in the physical and chemical properties plays an important

role in defining the textile fabric for particular usage.

REFERENCES

E. David Mooney, Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, Prentice-Hall, USA, (1955).

A. K. Haghi, Heat and Mass Transfer in Textiles: Theory and Applications, WSEAS Press, Canada, 2007.

R. Siegel and J. Howell, Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer, Taylor and Francis, 2002.

Anon, Available online: (http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com ), [Accessed 18 January, 2015].

Q. Kern. Donald, Process Heat Transfer, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1950.

F.P. Incropera and D.P. Dewitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, John Wiley & Sons, 3 rd edition,
1990.

Anon, Avaiable online: http://www.hk-phy.org/contextual/heat/hea/condu02_e.html , [Accessed 15

January, 2015].

W. Malalasekera, Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Notes, Provided by Textile dept of Technical University
Liberec, 2009.

J. T. Williams, Textile for cold weather apparel, Wood head publishing limited, USA, 2009.

K. Greenwood, W. H. Rees and J. Lord, Studies in Modern Fabrics, The Textile Institute, Manchester, pp.
197, 1970.