Abstract
This study was carried out to suggest a new swimsuit fabric with improved durability, comfort and appearance, by employing PTT(polytrimethylene terephthalate). Objective and subjective performances of newly woven PTT/PU (polyurethane) blend fabric were estimated and compared with nylon/PU(80/20) which is currently used for swimsuit. According to the questionnaire, the most serious problems of swimsuit fabrics were such that they were easily degraded by chlorinated water and this made fabric inelastic and transparent. After exposure to the chlorinated water, PTT blend fabrics showed higher retention of breaking strength, bursting strength, elastic recovery and crystallinity. suggesting that PTT/PU(87/13) was the most excellent material in durability. PTT blend fabrics absorbed less water and dried faster than nylon/PU and thus PTT/PU(87/13) was shown to be the best in respect of comfort. All of the specimens used in this study exhibited satisfactory colorfastness to sea water, chlorinated water and light except that nylon/PU(80/20) represented weak colorfastness to chlorinated water. From the subjective wearing sensation test, PTT/PU(82/18) was shown to posess the best wearing sensation. From the overall evaluation or objective and subjective properties, PTT blend fabrics exhibited superior performances to nylon/PU(80/20), suggesting that they can be successfully used as a new durable and comfortable swimsuit fabric.