Qmax Warm / Cool Touch Test

Another hand property, calculated from measures of thermal transport, is the qmax value (watts/m²°C). This evaluation is used to assess the surface warm / cool sensations of a garment fabric and indicates the instantaneous thermal feeling sensed when there is initial contact of the material with the skin surface. Simulating initial touch when shopping or when donning the fabric in wear, the qmax value largely depends on the contact area between skin and fabric surface. Thus, the surface characteristic of a material is important to sensations on how warm or cool a fabric feels to an individual. A higher value of qmax denotes that there is more rapid movement of heat from the body to the fabric surface resulting in a cooler feeling fabric.