The 3-dimensional (3D) structured spacer fabrics can provide good air-permeability and cushioning effect. It is deformable and has damping capacity can enable vibration isolation. This study aims to investigate the effect of an elastic inlay on the ability of spacer fabrics to isolate vibration. Seven weft-knitted spacer fabric samples consisting of three different spacer structures were constructed by using a v-bed flat knitting machine. Three of the samples were inlaid with spandex yarn on the surface layers and compare with the other three samples without the inlay. One more sample with the spandex yarn knitted together with the surface yarns of the spacer fabric was also produced to investigate the effect of the elastic yarn application method. The vibration transmissibility and compression behaviours of the samples were tested. The results showed that thicker spacer structure with a longer linking distance of the monofilament yarn can provide a higher degree and range of vibration isolation. The application of elastic yarn increases the fabric thickness. However, spacer fabric made by elastic inlay showed a lower compression stiffness than that made by elastic yarn knitted with the surface yarns. The spacer fabrics with elastic inlay showed better vibration isolation ability having a lower natural frequency and isolated vibration in a wider frequency range.

In Japan, where a safe and secure society has been established, stab proof clothing that are suitable for police and security officers supporting are required. So far, most of the stab-proof clothing is made of the metal plate or thick multi-layered fabric with high-strength fibers. It is commonly used as a stab-proof vest because it cannot cope with the large deformations, which caused by the joints such as arms or neck. This research aims to develop high flexible stab-proof clothing that can be applied in large-deformation part such as joints with high stab-proof performance. We developed a testing device that can measure bending characteristics under the same conditions as when the stab proof clothing is actually worn on the human body. The usefulness of the evaluation method was confirmed. And the factors that affect the bendability of the elbow joint were also be studied. The mechanical properties of the material and the gap between the arm and the cylindrical structure are greatly affected, and the effect of each bending angle on the bending moment is different. We considered the deformation of the material when it bending and then proposed a new stab-resistant material structure and trial production. The cylindrical bending test shows that the flexibility of the new structure is greatly improved.

This paper has two purpose. The first purpose is to identify how many people (university students) have a desire for approval, and from who they want to get approval. The second purpose is to clarify what selection criteria are there for others to approval the students’ fashion. As the method, a questionnaire survey was conducted, and factor analysis was performed using the responses of the subjects. The result was that 72.5 % of the students wanted approval. They wanted to feel recognized at fashion by their close friends and their SNS followers. The selection criteria for items related to fashion are as follows. Male university students’ fashion selection criteria were “look good”, “pride” and “sense”. The criteria for female university students to choose fashion were “look good”, “cuteness” and “self -worth”. Among the fashion selection criteria, the “cuteness” criterion is a characteristic of female students. It suggests that they want to appear cute to others. In order to be approved by others, the factors listed above are more important than the price.

Dynamic shrinkage behavior of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fiber was measured by heating in high pressure CO₂ at a constant heating rate. In the dynamic shrinkage behavior, the shrinkage temperature (T_s) of PET fiber in high-pressure CO₂ was obtained from the extrapolation of equilibrium shrinkage region that the sample reached the equilibrium shrinkage with respect to the temperature during the measurement. The T_s of PET fiber was lower in high-pressure CO₂ compared to in air. Its amount increased linearly with increasing CO₂ density, and the decrease of 40 ºC was observed in CO₂ with the density of 0.15 g/cm³. The amount of CO₂ sorption in PET fiber was increased with increasing the CO₂ density in the measurement atmosphere, which resulted in the further enhancement of the molecular chains mobility. The slope of the equilibrium shrinkage region with respect to the measurement temperature was smaller than the one in air. It decreased with increasing CO₂ density to 0.08 g/cm³ but remained constant at the higher density.

A coalescer is a useful device for removing oil from oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion, but it is unsuitable for the coalescence of fine oil droplets less than 10 μm. In this study, a nanofiber membrane was applied as a fibrous layer equipped in the coalescer to coalesce the fine oil droplets less than 10 μm, and the lipophilic polypropylene nanofiber membrane was selected in consideration of an affinity for oil. The O/W emulsion including the fine oil droplets was permeated through the membrane for evaluating the coalescence properties of fine oil droplets. In the initial stage of permeation, the oil droplets were strongly attracted to the lipophilic surface of nanofibers, and a thin oil film was formed on the entire fiber surface. Subsequent oil droplets were incorporated into the oil film, resulting in the growth of the oil film. When the fibers could no longer hold fully grown oil film, excess oil film was finally released from the outlet of the membrane. The released oil pieces floated and formed an oil layer on the surface of permeated fluid. In the steady state, the separation ratio of 83.3 % was observed under low pressure loss of 17 kPa. The size distribution data of droplets in the permeated fluid clearly demonstrated that the polypropylene nanofiber membrane used in this study could completely coalesce and separate the fine oil droplets of 2 to 10 μm.