Comfort performance of woven structures made of various types of ring spun yarns like carded, combed, and compact spun yarns has been reported in the present study. Carded, combed, and compact spun yarns are entirely different in structure in terms of fibre migration inside the yarn body, level of free space inside the yarn, number of hairs, and length of hairs on yarn surfaces. In this study, 197 dtex and 144 dtex (30s Ne and 40s Ne) ring spun combed yarns are used as a warp. The same cotton mixing was used to manufacture 30s Ne and 40s Ne carded, combed, and compact yarns. Both 30s and 40s Ne linear density yarns were prepared by all three carded, combed, and compact yarn manufacturing routes. The structure of fibre strand in filling yarn has a great impact on comfort related properties, that is, thermal conductivity,
Can yarn engineering influence the comfort management of woven fabric? Yes, because yarn engineering changes the configuration of constituent fibres in yarn body. Comfort is qualitative attribute, and it is one of the most demanding aspects from clothing customers of present era. Comfort is a collective feeling generated by summation of impulses sent to the nerves from different receptors in the human brain [
The comfort performance of clothing depends on the structure and properties of fibre and yarn used. Alteration in yarn structure is able to make some revolutionary changes in fabric quality from comfort point of view. More than 70 percent of yarns are still ring spun yarns used for clothing purposes. Carded, combed, and compact are three different routes to manufacture ring spun yarns. As the yarn structure changes in carded, combed, and compact spun yarns, various types of external and internal changes take place in resultant yarns. Fibre configurations remain different in carded, combed, and compact yarns. Hence, a systematic research is required in this field to understand the role of ring yarn structure on fabric comfort. In order to investigate the effect of ring yarn type on fabric comfort, a focused research is required.
The sole object of this study is to find out the comfort performance of woven fabric samples made out of carded, combed, and compact spun yarns.
Most of the shirting fabrics are made of spun yarns which is the most comfort demanding segment of textiles clothing. By opting systematic changes in yarn structure by engineering the yarn, comfort aspect can be managed up to some extent. This concept is the major source of inspiration in this study.
Twelve 100% cotton plain woven fabrics were manufactured on airjet loom with pick density 88 and 108 for all three carded, combed, and compact spun ring yarns and two different weft counts 30s and 40s Ne using 40s Ne combed warp thread. The warp density in weavers beam 110 per inch was kept for all twelve samples. The nomenclature and details of fabric set are given in Table
Cotton fabric sample details.
S. no. | Sample Code | Sample detail | Thickness (mm) | Fabric |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30CaF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, carded weft count 30s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.348 | 115 |
2 | 30CaF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, carded weft count 30s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.357 | 122 |
3 | 40 CaF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, carded weft count 40s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.341 | 110 |
4 | 40CaF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, carded weft count 40s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.346 | 115 |
5 | 30CoF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, combed weft count 30s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.334 | 117 |
6 | 30CoF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, combed weft count 30s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.339 | 123 |
7 | 40CoF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, combed weft count 40s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.329 | 115 |
8 | 40CoF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, combed weft count 40s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.336 | 120 |
9 | 30CtF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, compact weft count 30s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.328 | 119 |
10 | 30CtF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, compact weft count 30s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.331 | 123 |
11 | 40CtF88 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, compact weft count 40s Ne, PPI 88 | 0.326 | 115 |
12 | 40CtF108 | Compact warp count 40s Ne, Ne, EPI 120, compact weft count 40s Ne, PPI 108 | 0.329 | 124 |
Fabric set of fabric samples was measured with the help of counting glass according to ASTM D3775-03 standard. Fabric thickness was calculated as per the ASTM D1777-96 standard using Paramount thickness tester at a pressure of 20 gf/cm2 with an accuracy of 0.01 mm. Fabric areal density and yarn linear density were determined according to ASTM D1059 standard. An average of 20 observations is reported here. Fabric and yarn pictures are captured by Kyowa ME-POL2 microscope at magnification of 40.
The measurements of thermal behaviour of finished fabrics made of different types of filling yarns with various linear densities were performed with the help of ALAMBETA instrument constructed in Czech Republic. Various researchers have accepted the importance of thermal contact, in order to ensure thermal resistance of a fabric and found Alambeta a suitable instrument. Ten measurements were made on both face and back sides of the fabric in four-layer form. The arithmetic mean of twenty observations is reported here for each sample.
Air permeability of the fabric samples was measured using TEXTEST FX 3300 air permeability tester. The testing was carried out using test area 5.08 cm2 and test pressure 100 Pa as per ASTM D737. An average of 30 observations is reported here.
The Permetest instrument was used to evaluate the relative moisture vapour transmission as per ISO 11092 as used by Nida and Arzu [
The lab made wicking tester was used for capillary rise evaluation similar to YG (B) 871 capillometer as per BS3424 method 21(1973) [
Thermal properties of samples.
S. no. | Sample code | Thermal conductivity coefficient, |
Thermal diffusability, |
Thermal absorbability, |
Thermal resistance |
Peak heat flow density, |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30CaF88 | 19.81 | 0.051 | 63.82 | 26.75 | 0.368 |
2 | 30CaF108 | 19.55 | 0.053 | 62.45 | 25.25 | 0.302 |
3 | 40 CaF88 | 19.62 | 0.046 | 62.14 | 26.21 | 0.387 |
4 | 40CaF108 | 20.11 | 0.051 | 62.05 | 0.356 | |
5 | 30CoF88 | 20.62 | 0.058 | 65.31 | 26.21 | 0.389 |
6 | 30CoF108 | 23.88 | 0.062 | 64.99 | 26.36 | 0.399 |
7 | 40CoF88 | 21.96 | 0.053 | 64.53 | 28.12 | 0.402 |
8 | 40CoF108 | 24.18 | 0.055 | 63.83 | 29.33 | 0.423 |
9 | 30CtF88 | 21.56 | 0.060 | 66.19 | 38.76 | 0.404 |
10 | 30CtF108 | 23.12 | 0.066 | 65.91 | 30.24 | 0.426 |
11 | 40CtF88 | 25.28 | 0.057 | 64.95 | 30.87 | 0.476 |
12 | 40CtF108 | 22.92 | 0.059 | 64.13 | 33.25 | 0.491 |
The value of
Effect of yarn count and fibre configuration on
The thermal conductivity measurement by Alambeta is based on following principle [
Effect of yarn count and fibre configuration on thermal conductivity.
The thermal diffusion measurement by Alambeta is based on the following equation:
Effect of yarn type on thermal diffusion.
The thermal resistance is the consequence of fabric thickness and thermal conductivity of fibrous material [
The thermal resistance is a key parameter to establish thermal insulation behaviour of fabrics.
When fabric set is kept identical, fabric thickness is largely governed by fibre packing arrangement in yarn body. The fibre migration inside the yarn body will depend on the type of yarn like carded, combed, and compact as ideally shown in Figure
Ideal configuration of carded, combed and compact ring yarns.
Effect of yarn type on absorbability.
Thermal absorption measurement is based on the expression [
Effect of filling yarn density on absorbability.
Various types of ring yarns.
Some representative fabric samples.
The air permeability is expressed by the following relationship:
Transmission properties of samples.
S. no | Sample code | Air Permeability (cm3/cm2/sec) | Wicking height (mm) after 10 min | Moisture vapour transmission rate (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30CaF88 | 11.58 | 388 | 52.68 |
2 | 30CaF108 | 10.34 | 380 | 50.13 |
3 | 40 CaF88 | 12.42 | 379 | 50.32 |
4 | 40CaF108 | 10.85 | 366 | 48.44 |
5 | 30CoF88 | 12.53 | 489 | 54.34 |
6 | 30CoF108 | 11.95 | 478 | 53.56 |
7 | 40CoF88 | 13.13 | 439 | 53.12 |
8 | 40CoF108 | 12.47 | 422 | 51.48 |
9 | 30CtF88 | 13.26 | 408 | 57.04 |
10 | 30CtF108 | 12.74 | 402 | 56.19 |
11 | 40CtF88 | 13.84 | 393 | 54.34 |
12 | 40CtF108 | 13.26 | 386 | 52.49 |
The carded yarn offers higher drag resistance against the flow of air stream than combed and compact yarns. The fabric samples consisting of compact yarn has the highest air permeability due to less number of hairs on surface of most compact yarn body than carded and combed filling yarns. It is evident from air permeability data of Table
The wicking behaviour of various fabrics depends on the capillary action, primly on capillary rise in constituent yarns [
It can be seen that the warp way wicking height was always higher than weft way in all fabric samples consisting of carded, combed, and compact filling yarns. Table
Water vapour permeability (WVP) values of various specimens are given in Table
Various transmission behaviours of cotton shirting fabrics have been studied. It is inference from the study that compact spin yarns are able to manufacture a fabric of higher cool touch effect. Fabric samples made with compact weft yarns posses higher water vapour permeability than combed and carded weft yarn fabrics. Carded weft yarn based fabric samples shown higher resistance against air drag than combed and compact weft yarn filled fabric samples. Compact spun filling yarns are suitable to form shirting for summer wear for subcontinent. Carded yarns are able to manufacturer fabrics of higher thermal insulation suitable for winter wear.