Moisture management and wicking behavior of textiles

Textiles are versatile engineered products that can be designed to have desired types of interaction with liquid water or moisture vapor. Wetting of textiles leads to spontaneous flow of water in the in-plane as well as in the trans-plane directions. The wetting followed by capillary flow in textiles is generally known as wicking. Moisture management in textiles is explained as engineering the materials, structure, and finishes used in textile products as a single layer or multiple layers of fabrics to tune the flow of moisture vapor or liquid water through the textile to achieve specific, often differential or anisotropic, moisture transfer properties along a preferential path or direction in the final product. The role of moisture management and wicking in determining the comfort of clothing has been discussed. Finally, the role of moisture management, vapor permeability, and wicking on various technical textile applications have been discussed.