Abstract
The effects of clothing material on skin temperature and wearing sensation have been studied for subjects kept at rest under changing ambient vapor pressures. Subjects wore a different side of the two-layered fabrics, made of cotton and polyester fibers, facing the skin on the left and right half of the human body.
Changes in mean skin temperature were larger when subjects wore the cotton side of the clothing facing the skin. This was true during both the increasing and decreasing period of ambient vapor pressure. The same results were obtained when subjects wore the cotton side facing the skin on either side of the body.
Fluctuations in skin temperature were investigated by spectral analysis. Power spectral densities on the forehead were larger than those on the chest. This reflects the fact that the chest and forehead adjust to temperature in different ways. It is also attributed to the fact that the forehead is exposed to the environment directly.
The thermal, sweating, soaking and comfort sensations of subjects showed no difference between cotton and polyester fibers. The relation between this kind of wearing sensation and environmental factors shows that vapor pressure inside the clothing considerably affects wearing sensation.
