Investigations of Static Charge in Textile Fabrics

Abstract

Employing the standardised AATCC 115 method “Clinging Test”, equipment was constructed and its adequacy for the measuring proposed tested. The procedure measures the time necessary for the sample tested to discharge and separate, after being previously loaded with static charge and dinged to a metal surface. This simulates the situation in wearing an article of clothing, when, due to static charge and induction of the opposite charge in the body, garment clings to the body. Investigations are performed on various types of fabrics, under the conditions of different relative humidity and with different conditions of charging the samples. The impact of raw material content and amount of moisture to the time of clinging is established, which confirms indirectly the adequacy of the equipment, as expected differences among the samples were obtained by measurements. Furthermore, the investigations indicate certain limitations in applying the testing procedure, not previously mentioned in literature. It primarily refers to the impact of weight (surface mass) of the fabric in question, as a factor having considerable influence on the measuring results obtained, as well as to the impact of the rubbing material (raw material content of the fabric).