International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
Comfort and Mechanical Properties of Smart
Clothes Made of Collagen Peptide Fibers (Umorfil)
Dr. Eman Rafat Saad1, Dr. Noha Magdy Ibrahim2
1
Assistant Professor, Apparel department, Faculty of Applied arts, Helwan University, Egypt
2
Lecturer, Apparel Department, Faculty of Applied arts, Helwan University, Egypt
Abstract: Aesthetic and functional properties are the most important requirements that the consumer needs of clothing during use in
daily activities. Nowadays, Sportswear based on natural fibers and biodegradable fabrics are mostly considered for knitted fabrics and
clothing designs with a sustainable consumer manner. Collagen peptide added fibres are recently regenerated to enhance cellulosic
fibres which are known to be providing a skin friendly texture. This research aims to investigate the physical and mechanical properties
of two knitted fabrics to be able to estimate and compare the performance for these fabrics during practice various sports activities. The
research samples made of 100 % Umorfil and 100 % Cotton. Some performance properties were evaluated such as, Tenacity,
Elongation, Pilling, air permeability, bursting strength, water vapor permeability, Bacterial and microbe resistant test and UV
Resistance test. The result shows that the Umorfil fabric is perfect for sportswear as it absorbs the sweat easily and allows the air flow
due to its high air permeability.
Keywords: Smart clothes, Collagen Peptide, Umorfil, mechanical properties, Comfort
1. Introduction UMORFIL® is an upcycled, skin friendly new developed
fiber. Its name is combined from the Latin “Umor” and
Clothing plays an inseverable role for human life. Clothing French “fil”. Umor means moisture and fil means yarn.
comfort and durability became a very important when UMORFIL® is generated using supramolecular technology
making selection decision among the world. Durability of that integrates fish cell collagen peptide with textile
fabrics is measured by the mechanical properties such as materials like viscose or filament chips hence creating the
abrasion, pilling, and bursting strength [1, 2]. bionic functional fibre Figure 2. These bionic fiber series
have special properties, such softness, higher moisture
Clothing comfort became one of the key criteria in regain, anti-static, nature deodorizing, unti-UV and eco-
consumers’ attraction of apparel products [3], and it is friendly. In addition, it provides comfort with a skin-friendly
described as the user’s feeling of being physically and nature, all UMORFIL® materials passed the medical level of
psychologically comfortable within the current conditions of skin sensitization and irritation testing (ISO 10993) as shown
user [4]. Clothing comfort involves thermal, sensorial in these unique fibers can be used as many blends such:
(tactile), body movement and psychological (aesthetical) cellulose fiber (UMORFIL® Beauty fiber “viscose”),
comfort [5]. Thermal comfort of clothes consist of thermal polyester (UMORFIL® T) and nylon (UMORFIL® N6U®)
resistance, water vapor resistance, moisture management and [11, 12].
air permeability properties of fabrics [6].
Nowadays, fiber blends are enriched and developed to
combine unique properties such as thermal comfort and
bacterial properties with its smooth surface [7-9] such as
collagen peptide. Collagen peptide based raw material has
inherited properties such as antimicrobial efficiency, wound
healing accelerating property and its sustainable
characteristic. Collagen can be extracted from fish wastes
and purified to be used in cosmetics, medical, sports, and
nutrition, etc [10].
Figure 2: UMORFIL production process [11]
UMORFIL® Applications
UMORFIL® is suitable for all kinds of textile product
starting from next-to-skin such as innerwear, leggings, yoga
clothes, sheet, jeans, home textiles and shoe materials. In
addition, UMORFIL’s exceptionally soft hand feel, and
when blend with polyester or wool, it can produce much
softer fabrics than traditional suiting fabrics. It is also very
suitable for growing high-quality loungewear market.
Figure 1: UMORFIL® unique features.
Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 280
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
UMORFIL® N6U® was carried out by using Colony Counter Tester, according
to (ASTM F2944-12). (20) UV Resistance test was carried
UMORFIL® N6U® is a novel integrated solution, it is a out by using UV-VIS double beam spectrophotometer
bionic nylon that created by bonding peptide amino acid according to the American standard (ASTM D6604-2000).
with regular nylon via supermolecular technology Figure 3.
This bionic nylon has permanent amazing features such 3. Results and Discussion
better hand-feeling, deep dyeability feature in lower
temperature which can absorb the dyes more efficiently, The following tables show the Experiment of the studied
reduce the effluent issue, and makes it more environment factors and the results obtained from the fabric testing.
friendly. In addition it contains other UMORFIL® properties Functional properties of comfort, Bacterial and microbe
such higher moister regain, natural cooling effect and anti- resistant test and ultraviolet protection test are shown in the
UV function. So, UMORFIL® N6U® provides a skin Figures.
friendly and better protection textile material [13, 14].
3.1. Tenacity and Elongation
Tenacity is defined as the specific stress corresponding with
the maximum force on a force/extension curve.
Elongation is specified as a percentage of the starting length.
The elastic elongation is of decisive importance since textile
products without elasticity would hardly be useable. They
must be able to deform and also return to shape.
Figure 3: Manufacturing process of UMORFIL® N6U® [13]
The tenacity was determined directly by the tenacity gauge,
while the elongation was calculated by using the following
2. Experimental Work equation:
2.1 Fabric specifications
Fabrics which used in the study are Single jersey plain
knitted fabrics were separately produced from Umorfil (86% Table (2) Results of Tenacity and Elongation
Nylon-14%Lycra) and Egyptian Cotton. Cotton and Functional properties Cotton Umorfil
Umorfilfibres were separately produced by using TTM-4 Tenacity (cN/tex) 14.93 15.03
model single plated circular knitting machine with a gauge Elongation (%) 11.37 14.27
of 28. Detailed specifications of fabric are mentioned in
Table1.
Table 1: Specifications of fabric
Fabric Fiber Courses/ Wales/ Weight Thickness
structure type Cm Cm (gm/m2) (mm)
Cotton 20.6 14.8 138.2 0.403
Single jersey
Umorfil 19.3 13.96 135.4 0.381
2.2. Experimental tests
Figure 4: Tenacity and Elongation
Several tests, determining performance and function were
used.
All tests were done in conditioned atmosphere of 20ºC ± 2
and 65% ± 2 RH.
Average of three readings has been obtained for each
property. Mass (Weight) obtained using digital sensitive
scale according to (ASTM D3776-96-2003). (13) Thickness
obtained using thickness tester according to (ASTM D1777-
96-2003). (14) Tenacity and Elongation obtained using tensile
tester according to (ASTM 1682-82). (15) Air permeability
test was carried out by using electronic air permeability
tester according to (ASTM D737-86). (16) Pilling test was
carried out according to (ASTM D 3512). (17) Water vapour
permeability test was carried out according to (ASTM
D583). (18) Bursting strength test was carried out according
to (ASTM D3786). (19) Bacterial and microbe resistant test
Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 281
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
Table (2) and
Figure 4, clarify that there is a little increase in the tenacity
and elongation of the Umorfil fabric compared to the cotton
fabric. It means that the Umorfil has better durability than Figure 6: Water vapour permeability
cotton.
It’s clear from table 3 and Error! Reference source not
found. & Error! Reference source not found. that Umorfil
fabric gives better Air and water vapour permeability than
cotton fabrics. This makes Umorfil a comfortable fiber and a
perfect garment to wear in summer as it allows the air flow
3.2 Air permeability and water vapour permeability through the fabric and also absorb the sweat rapidly.
Air permeability is defined as the rate of airflow passing 3.3. Bursting strength and pilling
perpendicularly through a known area under a prescribed air
pressure differential between the two surfaces of a material. When the fabric is subjected to pressure, the fabric begins to
expand in all the possible directions at the same time. When
Water Vapour permeability is a material's ability to allow a the applied pressure increases gradually, the fabric begins to
water vapour to pass through it. To be more precise it is a burst after crossing a pressure limit. This pressure limit is
measure of how much vapour is transmitted through the called bursting strength.
fabric under a given set of circumstances. The higher the Pilling is a fabric surface fault characterized by little ‘pills’
values of the permeability of the material, the more rapidly of entangled fibre clinging to the cloth surface and giving the
vapour can pass through it. And the results were as the garment an unsightly appearance. It is bunches or balls of
following table: tangled fibres which are held to the surface of a fabric by one
or more fibres. The pills are formed during wear and
Table 3: Results of Air permeability and water vapour washing by the entanglement of lose fibres which protrude
permeability from the fabric surface.
Functional properties Cotton Umorfil
Air permeability 1327 2096 Table 4: Results of Bursting strength and pilling
water vapour permeability 59.03 62.80 Functional properties Cotton Umorfil
Bursting strength 549.35 367.67
pilling 2.42 4.5
Figure 5: Air permeability Figure 7: Bursting strength
Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 282
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
Pilling of the tested fabrics are indicated in
Figure 8: Pilling Figure 7: Bursting strength
As shown in table4 and Figure 8, it can be noticed that the samples made of Umorfil
yarn provided the highest pilling grade compared to the
samples made of cotton. Pilling is one of the major problems
of cotton fibre in knitted fabric.
3.4. Ultraviolet protection factor
UPF was measured using UV-VIS double beam
spectrophotometer according to the American standard
(ASTM D6604-2000) and AATCC test method [AATCC
183-2000]. The UPF was calculated using equation:
Figure 7, Bursting strength test result was 549.35 in cotton
fabric but in Umorfil it was 367.67, this means that the
samples made of cotton yarn provided the highest bursting
strength while samples made of Umorfil yarn indicated the
lowest bursting strength. This result may be attributed to
high fibre and yarn strength of cotton fibre owing to its high Ultraviolet protection factor was measured by using UV-VIS
crystallinity which reflects in fabric bursting strength. double beam spectrophotometer, and we measured the
undyed test samples, and the results were as the following:
Table 5: Results of Ultraviolet protection factor of fabric
Functional properties Cotton Umorfil
UPF 27.39 231.44
Figure 9: Ultraviolet protection factor of fabric
Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2022
www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 283
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
It’s very obvious from table (5) and
Figure 10, Umorfil sample revealed the maximum resistant
of bacteria and microbe while fabric made of cotton yarn
provided the minimum resistant. we can see the diameters of
Figure 9, that the UPF values of the cotton fabric decreased the inhibition zones measured in millimeters was ranging
when compared with Umorfil fabric. This is favored as it from 14 – 16 mm indicates high resistant in antimicrobial
gives sufficient protection for summer clothes against UV activity for the Umorfil samples.
harmful rays.
4. Conclusion
3.5. Bacterial and microbe resistant test
In this work, studying the performance of one of the
The resistance of clothes to bacteria and microbes is one of cellulose fabric and Fish Cell Collagen Peptide fabric has
the most important characteristics that must be provided in been investigated in order to estimate the durability and
order to resist the unpleasant odors that result from sweating characteristics of the fabric in the end use garment. The
and to resist yellowing or pigmentation resulting from the study involves the evaluation of some comfort properties
growth of bacteria, in addition to being clothes that help heal such as Tenacity, Elongation, Pilling, air permeability,
wounds to discourage the growth or kill microbes, and bursting strength, water vapour permeability, Bacterial and
resistance to eczema and fungi. The test was performed by microbe resistant test and UV Resistance test. It was obvious
using a modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, and the that Umorfil fabric provided higher mechanical and comfort
results are as shown on the below table: properties of most samples under investigation. Results show
that there is a little increase in the tenacity and elongation of
Table 6: Results of Bacterial and microbe resistant test the Umorfil fabric compared to the cotton fabric and gives
Functional properties Cotton Umorfil better Air and water vapour permeability than cotton fabrics.
Inhibition zone diameter Escherichia coli (G¯) 0 61
Which makes Umorfil a comfortable fiber as it allows the air
(mm / 1 cm Sample) Staphylococcus aureus (G⁺) 0 61
flow through the fabric and also absorb the sweat rapidly. On
the contrary the samples made of cotton yarn provided the
highest bursting strength while samples made of Umorfil
yarn indicated low bursting strength. This result may be
attributed to high fibre and yarn strength of cotton fibre
owing to its high crystallinity which reflects in fabric
bursting strength. But it can be noticed that the samples
made of Umorfil yarn provided the highest pilling grade
compared to the samples made of cotton. Pilling is one of the
major problems of cotton fibre in knitted fabric. the UPF
Figure 10: Bacterial and microbe resistant test values of the cotton fabric decreased when compared with
Umorfil fabric. This is favored as it gives sufficient
protection for summer clothes against UV harmful rays. The
highest resistance of to bacteria and microbes was obtained
from Umorfil fabric.
Optimizing the response of studied properties show that
umorfil fabric gave the best ranking. From these results it
can be seen that Umorfil fabrics are perfect to wear in
summer and will be very comfortable in sportswear.
As shown from the results for the two samples in table (6) References
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Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 284
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN: 2319-7064
SJIF (2020): 7.803
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Paper ID: SR22227032506 DOI: 10.21275/SR22227032506 285
