A study of weave structures and their effect on comfort and dyeability of cotton fabrics

Abstract

After reviewing past work on characterisation of weave structures and their relationships with various properties of fabrics, an account is given of the present knowledge of them on comfort properties which represents one of the major an area that has been neglected in garments. Although a large number of studies have been conducted on comfort, there have been no systematic studies of weave structures and their impact on comfort. The first phase of the study involves studies on the effect of diagonal feeding of roving, both in respect of conventional and compact spinning systems, on the yarn characteristics, in particular, on their hairiness, as earlier studies were conducted on woollen and cotton ring spun yarns. The conventional and compact cotton yarns of (9.84 tex) were doubled in three modes, namely conventional / conventional, compact / compact and conventional / compact. Doubled yarns using the hybrid combination, namely, conventional / compact were produced in order to reduce the cost, as compact yarn is expensive in comparison to the conventional yarn. All the three yarns were tested for tenacity, elongation and hairiness. The second phase consisted of production of eleven weave structures comprising plain, 2/2 twill, 4/4 twill, 2/2 pointed twill, 8 thread twilled hopsack, 8 thread weft sateen, 8 thread honey comb, 8 thread Brighton honey comb, 8 thread Huck-a-back, 8 thread crepe cord and 8 thread pin head crepe from these three combinations. Essential parameters, namely crossing over firmness factor (CFF), floating yarn factor (FYF), fabric firmness factor (FFF), weave factor (P1) and geometrical properties thickness, porosity and areal density were determined and the fabrics were tested for various comfort properties, namely, air resistance, wickability, thermal conductivity and overall moisture management capacity. These fabrics were dyed with two reactive dyes to find out the response of weave structures and the type of doubled yarn to dye uptake. They were also tested for yarn pull out force with a view to finding out the effect of weave structures on it. The results showed that the left diagonally produced single yarns had lower value of hairiness in both conventional and compact spinning methods in comparison to normal and right diagonally produced yarns. The hybrid combination of doubled yarn was found to be on par with those made by conventional / conventional and compact / compact combinations. The air resistance was found to be affected by the weave parameters, crossing over firmness factor (CFF), floating yarn factor (FYF), fabric firmness factor (FFF) and geometrical properties namely, thickness and porosity. Yarn pull out force was found to be highest in the plain weave studied followed by brighton honey comb and crepe cord. Wickability was found to be greater in brighton honey comb. Overall moisture management capacity showed an increase in brighton honey comb weave. Dye uptake of fabrics produced from conventional / conventional was found to be higher in comparison to those made by compact / compact and conventional / compact combinations, Thermal conductivity exhibited an increase in brighton honey comb weave. Thus the response of weave structures was found to be different in respect of fabric properties and in the light of the results obtained the usersv can decide the particular weave depending on the desired properties. They also provide guidelines for designing fabrics for certain specific end uses. One of the revelations of the study is that it is not sufficient if only weave parameters are considered for correlating them to comfort properties as it will lead to considerable imprecision as was noticed in the previous studies. The other geometrical parameters, namely, areal density, thickness and porosity have to be taken into account together with weave parameters in an attempt to obtain a full understanding of the relationship between the comfort properties and the properties of fabrics. Only then will a clearer picture emerge. The important industrial implications of the study are fully discussed.