Development and evaluation of multifunctional knitted protective gloves

Traditional sewn protective gloves are plagued by issues such as multi-layer overlapping seams and heavy materials, which lead to bulkiness, discomfort, and significantly restricted gripping flexibility. Based on hand characteristics and functional requirements of different parts, the gloves were designed with zoned functions and produced using computerized flat knitting machine for seamless integration. A knitted protective glove with cut resistance, slip resistance, and impact protection functions was developed and evaluated both subjectively and objectively. The results show that by analyzing hand functional requirements, the gloves were zoned as a reinforcement area, non-slip area, impact protection area, elastic area, and breathable area; corresponding knitting structures for each area include air-layer tuck stitch, relief structure, air-layer spacer fabric, mock rib structure, and hole structure. The multi-functional knitted protective gloves produced by a computerized flat knitting machine had minimal impact on hand strength, fatigue, and flexibility in both subjective and objective evaluations, demonstrating excellent cut resistance, non-slip, and impact protection performance. This optimized the overall wearing comfort of multi-functional gloves and provided theoretical and technical reference for the design and product development of multi-functional knitted protective gloves.