Abstract
As the first step in a series of studies on the compressibility of fiber assemblies, here were sought a small number of parameters which can represent reasonably the compression and decompression (recovery) curves of fabrics. The followings were obtained : the compression has three characteristic stages, in the first and third of which linear approximations are valid, and in the second of which exponential ones valid ; in the recovery, the stress decays first linearly and then exponentially to arrive finally at zero leaving a strain which does not vanish instantaneously ; the increasing rate of stress in the second stage of compression may be related to fabric structure, friction between fibers and/or yarns ; the decreasing rate in the second region of recovery may be related to ability with which fibers and yarns can regain their original states against the mutual frictional restraint ; these two rates play dominant roles in the whole process. An analysis of principal component, which was done on the parameters characterizing these stages for various sample fabrics, suggests that the two principal components are representative of almost all information on the compressibility, and that first of them may be related to the compressive compliance and softness, and the second to the compressive rigidity and recoverablity.
