Weaving With Unsized Yarn

8/3/2019 Weaving With Unsized Yarn

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Sawhney, A.P.S., Singh, K.V.*, Condon, B. and

Pang, S.S.**

Southern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA,New Orleans, LA 70124

* Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Miami

University, Oxford, OH 45056

** Department of Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana State University,

Baton Rouge, LA 70803

SIZE-FREE WEAVING OF COTTON FABRICS ON A

MODERN HIGH-SPEED WEAVING MACHINE:AN UPDATED PROGRESS REPORT

Beltwide Cotton Conferences

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

January 9-12, 2007


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Outline

Motivation of this research

Research Approach

Materials and Methods

Summary of results and discussions

Concluding remarksFuture research plans

Acknowledgements


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Textile Processes

Weaving is by far the largest market for the value-added

utilization of cotton

(~75% market share, worldwide)

Motivation of this research

Raw

Cotton

(Combed)

Spinning

Finishing

(Carded)

Spinning

WeavingWarpingand Sizing

Can we eliminate the costly process of warp sizing and the subsequent fabric des


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Research Approach

Production of a yarn structure that has most of themost desirable attributes* for size-less weaving (* viz., lowhairiness, high abrasion resistance, and excellent uniformity and consistency of other characteristics)

Development of a method to set (stabilize) twist

torque/liveliness of the yarn and prepare a loom beamfor weaving without the traditional sizing.

Modification of critical loom components, mainly thereed, to minimize abrasion of warp yarn in weaving.

Manipulation of weaving parameters and conditions,including fabric construction, weaving speed, andmachinery settings, to study their effects on theweaving performance and fabric quality.


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HVI Strength: 32.14

gf/tex

Elongation 11.7%

UHML 1.193

Uniformity Ratio

84.3% Short Fiber Index

6.78

Micronaire 4.092

Rd 80.11; +b 8.89

Leaf content 1.4 Area: 0.44

Cut 9; Grade 11-2

Maturity Ratio 0.906%

Fineness 163.7 mtex.

Cotton (Acala)


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The selected cotton was opened and cleaned (using

Whitin hopper-feeder, Superior inclined cleaner,

and Fiber Controls Corporation Vertical FineOpener).

Chute fed to a Crosrol Mark 4 single card; carded at

about 60 lb per hour.

The card sliver was drawn once with auto-leveling

on a Hollingsworth 990SL DF.

The drawn sliver was converted into laps with a

modified Whitin Super Lapper.

YARN PRODUCTION


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The laps were combed using a Hollingsworth

comber running at 200 nips per minute and

removing 12% noils.

The combed sliver was drawn once with

autolevelling, using the same drawframe.

A 30 tex (Ne 20/1) yarn was spun on a SchlafhorstAutocoro with the rotor speed of 110,000 rpm and

twist multiplier of 140 ( TM 4.51 E); Corolab was

set to remove major yarn imperfections.

YARN PRODUCTION


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YARN PREPARATION: BEAMING

START OF

BEAMING

Split zone

57 Yards

Split zone

Size Box

~ 20 m

57 Yards

Split zone

Size Box

~ 20 m

1

2

4

3

1. First (Zero) Treatment: No application

of any heat &/or fluid.

2. The yarn was sitting on the cylinders,

while the latter were being heated from

room temperature to 2200 F.

3. Second Treatment: cylinders at 2200 F.

4. The yarn was sitting on the cylinders at

2200 F, while the water for yarn washing

was being boiled in the (size) box.


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END OF

BEAMING

Split zone

Size Box~ 20 m

57 Yards

Split zone

Size Box~ 20 m

Approx.

57 Yards

4

5

6

7

5. Third Treatment: The yarn was

washed in boiling water and dried on

heated cylinders at 2200 F.

6. The yarn was sitting on the heated

cylinders, while a typical PVA size

mix/formulation (as a control) wasbeing prepared.

7. Fourth Treatment: The warp was

slashed with the traditional size.

YARN PREPARATION: BEAMING


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Machinery: A modern high-speed, flexible-rapier

weaving machine, with maximum speed of 500 picks

per minute (ppm), was used.

Fabric Construction: -Twill with face down; ~61

ends/inch (epi); and 2050+ picks/inch (ppi).

Evaluation of Weaving Performance: Was done by

the number of machine stoppages due to a yarn

breakage and/or failure and by the fabric quality

(appearance, defects, hand, and other properties)

WEAVING


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Summary of results and

discussions

The 20/1 Ne (30-tex) rotor-spun yarn had

excellent metrics.

Single-Strand Mean Breaking Strength: 500 cN

Count-Strength Product: 128 kN/tex

Uster Unevenness CV Index: 12.8% (with verylow numbers of imperfections).

The yarn performed very well with no major

failure during warping and beaming.

YARN PROPERTIES


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discussions

Very Good!!

For the first time ever, ~100 yardsof 100%-

cotton twill fabrics of light construction were

produced under mill-like conditions without

sizing and, more importantly, with no warp

yarn failure or breakage. The maximum

weaving speed for a particular fabricconstruction i was500 m and the

MECHANICAL WEAVING PERFORMANCE


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discussions

Unsatisfactory(mainly due to

presence of tiny, fuzzy-ball-likedefects oneither face ofthe fabric)

FABRIC QUALITY

Fabric Defects: Ball formation

Progressive abrasion of yarn

during weaving


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discussions

A preliminary inspection of the size-free woven

fabrics (greige) indicates that the pick density of

40 ppi and the corresponding weaving speed of400 ppm may be the optimum weaving

conditions for obtaining a reasonable fabric

quality with a few defects that probably can be

tolerated only in certain fabric styles.

FABRIC QUALITY

S f lt d


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discussions

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES of SIZE-FREE WOVEN FABRICS

Fabric Sample* Tensile (Breaking)

Strength*** (MPa)

Tear Strength***

(MPa)

500 ppm/30 ppi

500 ppm/40 ppi

500 ppm/50 ppi

***The tests were conducted in accordance with the ASTM D5035 standard for

Breaking Force and Elongation of Textile Fabric and ASTM D2261 standard for

Tearing strength of Fabrics by the Tongue (Single Rip) Procedure.

*The fabric samples were corresponding to the fifth treatment (The yarn was washedin the boiling water and dried on the cylinders at 220 F.

(Warp)82.2870.23

(Weft)21.2857.15

(Warp)10.5628.30

(Weft)40.4810.15

(Warp)893.2565.34

(Weft)951.1745.27

(Warp)10.0996.0

(Weft)329.0996.0

(Weft)24.0038.1

(Warp)23.0566.1

(Weft)221.0118.1

(Warp)071.0260.1


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discussions

Theweaving speed does not seem to be as

critical as the pick densityand/or the weave

type. (For example, the 50 ppi density at 400 ppm

presented a rather difficult condition by way ofproducing a much higher frequency/number of

fabric defects, compared to the pick density of 30

ppi at 400 and even 500 ppm).

Plain weave, as expected, was very difficult

even at 40 ppi and 400 ppm. The weave produced

a fabric of totally unacceptable quality withnumerous fuzz -ball formations.


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discussions

Thepresence of fabric defects generally was random,

but it appeared that the frequency of defects was

particularly greater on one side of the fabric width.

However, occasionally, a couple of yards of fabricshowed no defects at all. This indicated a possibility of

eliminating these defects with further research on the

yarn structure and quality and the weaving conditions.

The ceramic-coated loom reed appeared to have

generated fewer fabric defects, compared to the

conventional reed.


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Conclusions

Size-less weaving on a modern high-speed weaving

machinery is feasible at least for some fabric types, where

minor fabric defects may not be critical.

Theyarn quality must be superior and more consistent

thanthat of a run-of-the-mill yarn.

Ordinary heat setting of warp yarn may be adequate to set

the yarns twist torque and enable size-free weaving.

Further research on improvements of yarn structure and

weaving parameters is essential to minimize yarn abrasion in

weaving, which is critical to expand the scope and

fundamental understanding of size-less weaving.


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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate theARS National

Program Staff and the ARS- MSA and SRRC

managements for providing the necessary resources to

conduct this vital research

They also acknowledgethe input and cooperation of the

National Cotton Council of America and Cotton

Incorporated for providing the industrial prospects,

research materials, and overall guidance

As always, the significantinput and cooperation of our

technicians, especially Jim Sandberg and Jerome

Jeanpierre, are also recognized.

Documents

Weaving With Unsized Yarn