Dependence of Thermal Contact Properties on Compression Pressure

Abstract

Thickness and compression pressure play an important role in thermal sensation when a fabric is touched. In this work, we examine the temperature change inside furs and fabrics to simulate a finger pressing the surface of a fabric. In this study, a Kawabata finger sensor device was used to measure the temperature change (UT_max, ̊C/s), which is used to indicate the thermal sensation. The finger sensor unit was connected to a compression tester to change the compression pressure and obtain pressure-thickness curves. For artificial fur samples, the values of UT_max increased with the increase of maximum pressure for all samples. This suggests that when artificial fur is touched with a higher force, the contact feeling may be cooler than that when the fur is touched gently. For short pile lengths, UT_max was affected by the increase in pile length. For long pile lengths, UT_max was almost constant and independent of pile length. A linear relationship between the volume ratio of air and UT_max was observed when the pile length was long. When the thickness of the fur was small, the thickness had a large effect on the UT_max. For fabric samples, the effect of fiber conductivity on the UT_max was much larger than that of the thickness.