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IOP PUBLISHING MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Meas. Sci. Technol. 18 (2007) 3043–3047 doi:10.1088/0957-0233/18/9/040

A new test method for measuring the

water vapour permeability of fabrics
Jianhua Huang1 and Xiaoming Qian2
1
School of Textile and Material, Wuhan University of Science and Engineering, Wuhan,
Hubei 430073, People’s Republic of China
2
School of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300160,
People’s Republic of China
E-mail: ksuhuang@yahoo.com.cn

Received 15 May 2007, in final form 29 June 2007

Published 10 August 2007
Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/18/3043
Abstract
The water vapour permeability of textile fabrics is a critical determinant of
wearer comfort. Existing test methods are either time consuming or require
large amounts of material. A new test apparatus was developed for
characterizing the water vapour permeability of fabrics. An aluminium
cylinder covered with waterproof and vapour permeable PTFE laminate is
used for generating water vapour source on one side of the sample. A dry
nitrogen sweep gas stream is used to carry water vapour away. The
calculation of the rate of water vapour transmission across the fabric is
based on the measurement of the relative humidity of the outgoing nitrogen
stream. This new measuring apparatus offers a short test time and calls for a
small sample size. The comparison measurements show that the test results
correlated well with those obtained from ISO 11092 and ASTM E96.
Therefore, this test method provides a new technique to accurately and
precisely characterize the water vapour transport properties of fabrics.
Keywords: water vapour permeability, fabric, measurement

1. Introduction minimize the moisture vapour buildup within the clothing

Water vapour transport properties of textile fabrics are of
considerable importance in determining thermal comfort
properties of clothing systems. Textile fabric, an intermediate
medium between the skin and the ambient condition, with
a high water vapour permeability, allows the human body
to provide cooling due to evaporation of sweat. If the
resistance to water vapour diffusion is high, the moisture
movement is impeded and discomfort sensation of dampness
and clamminess may arise (Keighley 1985). At high activity
levels or in hot environments, evaporation of sweat becomes
an important avenue of heat loss. The clothing must allow
adequate moisture vapour evaporated at the skin surface to
escape under such conditions (Bakkevig and Nielsen 1995,
Umbach 1993). In cold climates, the condensation of water
vapour may develop within the clothing, which leads to an
increasing sense of discomfort. This is particularly likely to
occur when a coated waterproof outer fabric is used. Thereby
fabric with high water vapour permeability can prevent or
microclimate in cold environments (Farnworth 1986, Bartels
2002).
There are several standard test methods available for
measuring the water vapour permeability of fabrics (ASTM
1995, ISO 1993, 2004). ASTM E96 was originally designed
for the determination of water vapour transmission rate of
materials with high water vapour resistance, not for textiles,
which are thin mixtures of air and fibre. Due to its widespread
acceptability, convenience and low loss, it continues to be
utilized for textile fabrics. A shallow cup is filled with distilled
water and covered with a fabric sample. The whole assembly
is then weighed and reweighed after a certain elapse of time.
The water vapour permeability of the fabric is the loss in
weight of water in the cup, expressed in g/m2/day. Since
the water vapour permeability is influenced by the still air
layer resistance below the fabric, which dominates the total
resistance and cannot be subtracted from the final result, this
test method may mask the differences in the water vapour
transmission rate between relatively permeable fabrics due

0957-0233/07/093043+05$30.00 © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 3043

J Huang and X Qian
to the resistance provided by the air layer on either side
of the fabric. Furthermore, the resistance of the still air
layer gradually grows as the water in the cup evaporates and
penetrates the sample. As a consequence, the water vapour
transmission rate declines during a test run. This influences
the final results as well.
In accordance with ISO 11092, thermal and water vapour
resistance of textiles under steady-state conditions can be
measured by using a sweating guarded hot plate (ISO 11092
1993). To measure the evaporative resistance of the sample,
distilled water is fed to the surface of the porous plate from
a dosing device. A piece of smooth water vapour permeable,
liquid water impermeable cellophane membrane is fitted over
the plate. The test fabric is placed above the membrane. The
heating power to maintain the plate at a constant temperature
of 35 ◦ C is an indicator of the water evaporation rate. The
air temperature is set at 35 ◦ C and the relative humidity is
controlled at 40%. After the steady state is reached, the
evaporative resistance of the fabric is determined based on
the heating power, the water vapour pressure gradient between
the plate surface and the air and the area of the test section.
The sweating guarded hot plate best simulates the heat and/or
moisture transfer from the body surface through the clothing
system to the environment. It measures thermal resistance
and evaporative resistance of fabrics. This test method can
offer repeatable and reproducible results (Gibson 1993, Gibson
et al 1994, McCullough et al 2004). The disadvantages of
this method, however, are that the sweating-guarded hot plate,
climate-controlled chamber and data acquisition system are
expensive and complicated to use and that the length of the
test period is no less than 60 min due to high thermal inertia.
More recently, a new ISO standard (ISO 15496) was
published for measuring water vapour permeability of fabrics
(ISO 2004). Basically it is a desiccant inverted cup test
method. Potassium acetate is employed as the desiccant.
The saturated potassium acetate solution is poured into the
measuring cup. A circular piece of a waterproof and vapour
permeable membrane is employed to cover the measuring cup
and sealed by rolling the edges of the cup against a hot iron. A
circular specimen of 180 mm diameter is fitted to the groove
of the specimen holder. The specimen is covered by another
piece of waterproof and vapour permeable membrane. The
specimen and the membrane are held without distortion using
a rubber ring. The specimen holder is then inserted into the
support frame. The support frame consists of two plates,
which aims to support the specimen holder in the water bath.
The water bath is filled with distilled water, which is kept at
23 ◦ C. The support frame is fitted with four vertically
adjustable screws so that the specimen holder is immersed
to a depth of 5 ± 2 mm in the water. The specimen holder is
on the support frame for 15 min prior to placing the measuring
cup. The measuring cup is weighed by means of a balance with
a precision of ±1 mg, inverted and inserted into the specimen
holder. After 15 min, the measuring cup is removed and
reweighed. The water vapour permeability of the specimen is
then calculated. Apparently the total testing time is 30 min for
one set of measurements. The routine tests of water vapour
permeability of fabrics should be time effective and accurate
for quality control within textile plants.
3044
PTFE
Cylinder laminate
Water Spacer
Metal
ring
plate
Mass flow
controller
Fabric Humidity
Flow cell
sensor
Figure 1. Internal view of a new test apparatus.
The objective of this study is to develop a new test
apparatus for the measurement of water vapour permeability
of fabrics accurately within a short period of time.
2. Methods
The new apparatus is schematically diagrammed in figure 1.
It consists of a cylinder and a flow cell. The bottom of the
cylinder, made of aluminium alloy, is covered with a GORE-
TEX polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane laminated to
a nylon tricot. The PTFE membrane provides a pore volume
of 82% with the largest pore being 0.2 µm. The molecular
diameter of water vapour is 2.72 × 10−10 m, about 700 times
smaller than a pore in the membrane. Liquid water, due to
free energy considerations, has tens of thousands of these
molecules bonded together and is thousands of times larger
than the pores in the GORE-TEX membrane. Therefore,
the GORE-TEX membrane takes advantage of the difference
in the state of water as a gas and water as a liquid and
discriminates between the two. This discrimination capability
allows GORE-TEX laminate to be waterproof and permeable
to water vapour (Tanner 1979). The cylinder is filled with
distilled water, forming an infinite source of water vapour. An
aluminium spacer ring is fitted into the cylinder, and fastened
by four bolts to the external flange of the cylinder. The cylinder
assembly is placed above a flow cell. The water temperature
is measured by a thermocouple.
There is a duct in the middle of the flow cell, which has
ports for flow inlet and outlet in either side. A dry nitrogen
stream can pass through the duct. A piece of stainless steel
metal plate with a thickness of 0.5 mm is positioned above the
flow cell. The hole in the centre of the plate is 60 mm ×
20 mm, determining the test area of the specimen. The
specimen is mounted on the plate to cover the hole. When
low permeable samples are tested, special sealing methods,
e.g., molten wax, curable sealant, rubber-sealing gasket, may
be necessary. The cylinder assembly is placed on the sample.
This arrangement ensures that the sample is in direct contact
with the saturated PTFE membrane. Four bolts are used to
clamp the cylinder and the flow cell, preventing leakage.
The pure nitrogen stream is from the nitrogen gas
tank with a technical grade of 99.99%. The water vapour
concentration gradient on both sides of the sample drives the
water vapour transport from the upper side of the sample to the
bottom side. At the outlet of the flow cell a humidity probe is
employed to measure the relative humidity of the outgoing
nitrogen stream. The signal is processed by a humidity
transmitter HMT 333. Meanwhile, the temperature of the
nitrogen stream is recorded. The accuracy of the humidity

sensor is ±1% from 0 to 90%. The accuracy of the temperature
sensor is ±0.2 ◦ C. The nitrogen gas flow is controlled by a
mass flow controller GFC 17. The accuracy of the mass flow
controller is ±1.5% of full scale (2 L min−1). The repeatability
is ±0.5% of full scale and the response time is 1 s.
The mass flow rate is controlled to approximately
2000 cm3 min−1. For many mass flow rate controllers,
the indicated volumetric flow rate on the digital readout is
not the actual volumetric flow rate at the test conditions,
but is referenced to standard conditions. These reference
conditions may vary for different mass flow controllers and
the manufacturer’s specifications should be consulted for the
reference conditions used for different flow controllers. As
for the GFC 17 flow controller, the standard conditions of
70 ◦ F (21.1 ◦ C) and atmosphere pressure (101 325 Pa) are
specified by the manufacturer. The actual volumetric flow rate
varies with the temperature and pressure of the actual flow.
The pressure correction is negligible. Thus only temperature
correction needs to be made. Thus, the actual flow rate is given
by
Ta
Q = Qs × , (1)
Ts
where Q is the actual volumetric flow rate (cm3 min−1),
Qs indicates the volumetric flow rate from the mass flow
controller (cm3 min−1), Ta is the ambient temperature (K),
Ts is the reference temperature used by the mass flow meter
(294.25 K).
The size of the duct of the flow cell is 0.02 m wide, 0.100 m
long and 0.004 m high. The speed of the nitrogen gas stream
depends on the volumetric flow rate and the size of the duct.
Therefore, the speed of the gas flow is calculated by
Q s × Ta 10−6
V = × , (2)
H × W × Ts 60
where V is the speed of the gas flow, m s−1, Qs indicates
the volumetric flow rate from the mass flow controller
(cm3 min−1), H is the height of the duct, 0.004 m, W is the
width of the duct, 0.02 m.
The indicated volumetric flow rate is set to approximately
2000 cm3 min−1. The air temperature is controlled at
20 ◦ C. The speed of the gas flow is found to be 0.41 m s−1.
Therefore, the dimension of the duct is designed to minimize
the contribution of the boundary air layer resistance to the
measurement.
In addition, the Reynolds number (Re) of the gas flow can
be estimated by
De × V × ρ
Re = , (3)
µ
where De is the equivalent diameter of the duct, m, ρ is the
density of nitrogen stream, g m−3, µ is the viscosity of nitrogen
gas, g m−1 s−1.
The equivalent diameter of the duct is 0.0067 m
according to the size of the duct. The density of nitrogen
gas is 1.25 kg m−3. The viscosity of nitrogen gas is
0.000 017 85 kg m−1 s−1. Therefore, the Reynolds number
(Re) of the gas flow turned out to be 192, which is far smaller
than 2000. As a consequence, the flow is highly laminar. The
entry angles and end effects on the flow would be negligible.
A new test method for measuring the water vapour permeability of fabrics
The entrance length of the nitrogen gas is long enough to get
a stable fully developed flow.
The water vapour transmission through the sample is
driven by the vapour concentration difference. The water
vapour flux across the sample is calculated by
QC 10−6
m= × , (4)
A 60
where m is water vapour flux across the sample, kg m−2 s−1,
A is the test area of the sample, m2, Q is the actual volumetric
flow rate, cm3 min−1, C is the water vapour concentration of
the outgoing stream, kg m−3.
The water vapour concentration of the outgoing stream is
governed by the perfect gas law:
ϕPsat Mw
C= , (5)
RTa
where  is the relative humidity of the outgoing stream,
%, Psat is the water vapour saturated pressure at the test
temperature, Pa, Mw is the molecular weight of water vapour,
0.018 015 kg mol−1, R is the universal gas constant,
8.315 J mol−1 K−1, Ta is the ambient temperature (K).
The water vapour transmission rate of the sample is then
determined by
WVT = m × 1000 × 3600 × 24, (6)
where WVT is the water vapour transmission rate of the
sample, g/m2/day.
The water vapour diffusion is the process by which
water vapour molecules move from a region of high
concentration to a region of low concentration. The water
vapour diffusion resistance is the reciprocal quantity of water
vapour transmission. The relationship between water vapour
transmission and water vapour diffusion resistance is governed
by Fick’s law. The water vapour diffusion resistance of the
sample plus the boundary air layer is determined by
C
Rt = , (7)
m
where Rt is the total water vapour diffusion resistance, s m−1,
C is the water vapour concentration difference across the
sample, g m−3.
Since the relative humidity in the nitrogen stream is
mounting down the length of the sample, the water vapour
concentration difference between the two sides of the sample
is getting smaller at the downstream end of the sample. The
water vapour concentration difference across the sample is
calculated as the log mean difference (Islam et al 2003):
Ca − Cb
C = , (8)
ln (Ca /Cb )
where Ca is the water vapour concentration difference at the
incoming end of the flow cell, g m−3, Cb is the water vapour
concentration difference at the outgoing end of the flow cell,
g m−3.
Since the dry nitrogen stream enters the flow cell, the
former is just the water vapour saturated concentration at
the temperature of the water inside the cylinder. The latter
is the concentration difference between the saturated water
vapour concentration at the temperature of the water inside the
cylinder and the water vapour concentration of the outgoing
stream.
The intrinsic diffusion resistance of the sample (Rf) is
determined by subtracting the boundary air layer resistance
3045
J Huang and X Qian
Table 1. Specifications of the fabrics.
Sample Weight Thickness
code Fabric description (g m−2) (mm)
A PTFE laminated to a nylon tricot 94.5 0.23
B Cotton/polyester knitted fabric 237.8 0.90
C Polyester fabric laminated with 148.3 0.33
PU film
D Polyester polar fleece laminated 275.8 1.41
with TPU film
E Nylon rip stop weave laminated 125.8 0.31
with TPU film
(Rb) from the total diffusion resistance value:
Rf = Rt − Rb ,
−1
where Rf is the intrinsic diffusion resistance, s m , Rb is the
air layer resistance, s m−1.
The boundary air layer resistance can be obtained by
performing a test without a sample and it was found to be
88 s m−1.
3. Test procedures
There has been increasing development of fabric that is
waterproof and windproof yet permeable to water vapour.
Such fabric provides weather protection and thermal comfort.
The range of uses of so-called ‘breathable’ fabric is increasing.
A variety of waterproof breathable fabrics were selected for
the samples, including high, medium and lower water vapour
permeability membranes laminated to textile fabrics. One type
of conventional material (cotton/polyester blended knitted
fabric) was also chosen for the experiments. The specifications
of these specimens are listed in table 1. The thickness was
measured in accordance with GB/T 3820-1997.
The test apparatus was housed in a test chamber. The air
temperature of the chamber was controlled at 20 ± 1 ◦ C. It
did not fluctuate more than ±0.1 ◦ C during one test run. A
rectangular specimen with a size of 100 mm × 40 mm was
carefully mounted on the plate to completely cover the hole
(60 mm × 20 mm). The side of the specimen which is normally
towards the human body should be facing upward. As with
a coated fabric tested, the coated side is supposed to face
upward. The cylinder assembly was then positioned above the
flow cell. Approximately 30 ml distilled water was poured into
the cylinder. Four bolts were used to clamp the cylinder and the
flow cell tightly. The inlet port of the flow cell was connected
with the gas tube. The humidity sensor was inserted into the
outlet port of the flow cell. The nitrogen gas tank was opened
and a pressure regulator was regulated so that approximately
138 kPa pressure was applied to the mass flow controller. The
nitrogen flow rate was set to approximately 2000 cm3 min−1.
The analogue voltage signals from the thermocouple, the mass
flow controller, the humidity and temperature transmitter were
input to the data acquisition/switch unit 34970A. The data
were sent to a computer through the RS-232 interface serial
port. The mass flow rate, the air and water temperatures, the
relative humidity of the outgoing stream were collected by the
computer every 10 s. Normally the system reached a steady
state within about 5 min. The last 10 data points were then
used for computing the water vapour transmission rate, plus
3046
Table 2. Water vapour permeability data from three test methods.
New method ISO 11092 E 96 BW
Sample WVT Ref WVT
code Rf (s m−1) (g m−2/day) (m2 Pa W−1) (g m−2/day)
A 31.9 10 679 2.58 7155
B 76.1 8003 3.93 5451
C 313.4 3554 13.37 2162
D 3126.2 456 275.50 700
E 3940.5 362 363.86 538
water vapour diffusion resistance, of the specimen. Three
replications were conducted for each sample. The final results
were taken by averaging the three replications.
(9) In order to test the new measuring apparatus, comparison
measurements were carried out between two well-accepted
standard test methods (ISO 11092 and ASTM E96) and the
new method. The test procedure of a sweating guarded hot
plate has been briefly described in the introduction. The same
specimens that were tested by the new method were also tested
in accordance with ISO 11092.
To compare the test results of the new method with ASTM
E96, the inverted cup test method was adopted in that it
eliminates the air space between the sample and the water
surface. This test also reduces the possibility that air penetrates
the fabrics and may cause misleading results. In conformity
with ASTM E96 procedure BW, the inverted cup test was
conducted at an air temperature of 23 ◦ C and 50% relative
humidity in a test chamber. The air velocity in the wind tunnel
was controlled at 2.8 m s−1. To prevent the water in the
cup from wetting the specimen in the inverted test, a piece of
hydrophobic PTFE membrane was sealed over the mouth of the
cup. The test specimen was then placed over the membrane.
The cup assembly was placed in an inverted position on the
upper deck. The cup assembly was weighed periodically. The
water vapour transmission rate of the fabric was determined.
The samples that were tested by the new method were tested
by the inverted cup method.
4. Results and discussions
The water vapour diffusion resistance and WVT data derived
from the three test methods are listed in table 2. The intrinsic
water vapour diffusion resistance values from the new method
were plotted against the intrinsic evaporative resistances from
the sweating guarded hot plate instrument. As shown in
figure 2, good correlation was obtained between these two
types of test methods for the materials tested. The coefficient
of determination was 0.99. Although the two test methods are
conducted at temperatures differing by 15 ◦ C, the correlation
between the two is excellent.
The water vapour transmission rate data from the new
method were plotted against the WVT data generated with the
inverted cup test. As can be seen in figure 3, the coefficient
of determination was 0.99. Again, the new method correlated
well with the inverted cup test method. Therefore, the accuracy
of the new method is comparable to ASTM E96 BW.
In order to investigate the sensitivity of the new measuring
apparatus, substituting ‘Rf + Rb’ for Rt in equation (7) gives
C
m= . (10)
Rf + Rb
 A new test method for measuring the water vapour permeability of fabrics

covered with a piece of waterproof but vapour permeable

Resistance from the new method, s/m

4000 PTFE membrane laminate was utilized to produce the vapour

3500 saturation condition for one side of the sample. A dry nitrogen
3000 r 2 = 0.998 stream was used to sweep the moisture vapour off. The water
2500
vapour transmission rate was determined by monitoring the
relative humidity of the outgoing nitrogen stream. This test
2000
method allows us to examine the ability of fabrics to transport
1500
water vapour in a short period of time by using a small piece
1000 of specimen. The low boundary air layer resistance and high
500 humidity gradient across the sample contribute to heighten the
0
sensitivity for measuring water vapour permeability of fabrics.
0 100 200 300 400 The test results indicate that the new test method is in very good
Intrinsic evaporative resistance from hot plate, m2 Pa/W agreement with ISO 11092 and ASTM E96.
Figure 2. Correlation between intrinsic water vapour resistance
from the new method and intrinsic evaporative resistance from the Acknowledgments
sweating guarded hot plate test.
Financial support for this study was funded, in part, by Wuhan
University of Science and Engineering under University Grant
WVT from new method, g/m2/day

12000
WUSE-20053116. We specially thank Shanghai Uno-Tech
10000 Co., Ltd for supplying fabrics.

8000 r 2 = 0.995 References

6000
4000
2000
0 sweat accumulation and thermal comfort using different
0 2000
Water vapor transmission rate from E96-BW, g/m2/day
Figure 3. Correlation between water vapour transmission rate from
the new method and the water vapour transmission rate from the
inverted cup test.
Differentiating the water vapour flux with respect to intrinsic
diffusion resistance of the sample yields
dm C
=− . (11)
dRf (Rf + Rb )2
Apparently, the lower the diffusion resistance of the boundary
air layer, the higher the change of water vapour flux per unit
of sample diffusion resistance, the higher the sensitivity of
the instrument. As mentioned early, the boundary air layer
resistance was 88 s m−1, which was relatively low compared
with those of most fabrics.
Above all, a high humidity gradient across the sample also
contributes to improve the sensitivity. The relative humidities
for the top of the sample and bottom incoming stream were set
to 100% and 0%, respectively, constituting a maximum vapour
concentration difference. Therefore, this new method provides
high sensitivity for measuring the water vapour permeability
of fabrics.
5. Conclusions
A new measurement apparatus was introduced to measure the
water vapour permeability of fabrics. An aluminium cylinder
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3047