Absorptivity of Certain Textile Fabrics

ABSORPTIVITY OF CERTAIN TEXTILE FABRICS by FERN MARIE OLINE A. B., Sterling College, 1926 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE KANSAS STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND APPLIED SCIENCE 1937 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 PRESENT STATUS OF KNOWLEDGE 1 Terry Fabric Construction 2 Durability of Turkish Towels 5 Absorption of Turkish Toweling 9 METHOD OF PROCEDURE 13 Selection of Fabrics 13 Analysis of Fabrics 14 Tests for Absorption 18 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22 Fabric Analysis 22 Tests for Absorption 27 CONCLUSION 35 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 36 LITERATURE CITED 37 1 23142 1 INTRODUCTION Terry toweling fabrics must be durable and absorbent to be most useful to the consumer. Certain standards have been set up for durability in these fabrics but little is known concerning their ability to absorb moisture. Knowledge of the amount and rate of absorption is important in the wise purchase of such fabrics. The purpose of this study is to compare certain towels representative of terry fabrics of double-loop and single- loop construction as to (1) ability to absorb moisture in terms of rate of absorption, (2) ability to absorb moisture in terms of amount of absorption, (3) durability in terms of breaking strength. PRESENT STATUS OF KNOWLEDGE It is thought that the ability of a fabric to absorb moisture is largely dependent upon the amount of surface exposed and the twist and ply of the yarns used in its construction. The pile loops increase the surface area of a terry fabric and largely determine how much moisture it can absorb and how quickly. Producers agree that to be most ef- fective the loops must be soft, reasonably close together, 2 and sufficiently long. There should be little twist in the yarns and the foundation fabric should be loosely woven. Terry Fabric Construction Johnson (1927) describes clearly the process of weaving terry fabrics. Such fabrics form a branch of the pile in- dustry and require special mechanism for their production. Turkish towels come under the classification of fabrics of terry weave. This weave is obtained by using two different warps in the loom, one called the ground warp, the other the pile warp, which are wound on different beams. The ground warp is held as tense as the strength of the material will permit, and when interlaced with the filling, the groundwork of the fabric is formed. The pile warp is not held as tightly as the ground warp so that it may form the necessary loops during weaving. Since the pile yarns are used only in making the loops, it is evident they do not contribute materially to the strength of the fabric. Both ground and pile threads are interlaced with the weft threads. Generally the ground and pile warps are used in equal proportions, arranged alternately in the loom or in alternate pairs. According to Fox (1922), from one to six picks are inserted to each transverse line of loops and are beaten 3 back in groups rather than separately. Between the last pick of the first group and the first of the second one, a gap is left whose width is varied to suit the length of pile to be manufactured. In beating back a group of three picks this gap must be closed by making the weft slide along the tense ground warp, and so draw the pile warp forward with the weft, thus forming loops upon the upper and lower surface. By using a suitable shedding harness each thread may be looped above or below at pleasure, but all must loop either in one direction or the other. Hence, a Turkish toweling fabric differs from true terry, because in the latter the same number of loops need not be formed in every line. In some of the cheapest towels, according to Johnson (1927), the producer employs what is known as a one-pick weave, that is, a weave in which only one filling thread interlaces with the warp for every horizontal row of loops. Viemont, Hays, and O'Brien (1936) in their study of towels found that most of the terry towels on the market today have three filling yarns to every horizontal row of loops. This makes what is called a three-pick terry. Occasionally four or five rows of filling are inserted for each row of loops resulting in a four or five-pick terry weave, but these higher picks are found chiefly in upholstery fabrics, rarely in towels. 4 They found also that in some towels one pile yarn was used for each ground warp, in other words, the ground and pile yarns alternated. This gave the same number in each set of yarns to the inch. In other towels there were two pile yarns to each ground warp. This arrangement resulted in twice as many pile as ground yarns to the inch. Such towels are sometimes called double thread towels. Most important among these types of terry fabrics are those of three-pick construction some having single, others double loops. According to Consumer Research (1936) most Turkish towels may be classified into four types of construction as follows: Type 1. Single-ply ground with half as many ground as pile yarns; single-ply filling. Type II. Single-ply ground warp with an equal number of ground and pile yarns; single-ply filling. Type III. Two-ply ground warp with an equal number of ground and pile yarns; single-ply filling. Type IV. Two-ply ground warp with half as many ground as pile yarns; single-ply filling. Viemont, Hays, and O'Brien (1936) give the same classification as a result of their investigation. Both seem to agree that type four is less common and not particularly to 5 be desired. Durability of Turkish Towels As a result of some studies of terry fabrics certain standards have been set up by which the wearing qualities may be judged. Cook (1931) states that the strength and durability of a towel depend largely on the construction of the background. In warp direction, according to Consumer Research (1936) the fabric strength depends upon the strength of the threads and the number per inch which forms the groundwork, i.e., the part of the warp not involved in forming the pile loops. In the most common weaves a strong durable towel has the ground warp yarns equal in number to the pile yarns, whereas a weak towel has only one-half as many ground as pile yarns. When the number of ground yarns equals the number of pile yarns the ground yarns may common- ly be either single-ply or two-ply, and when the ground yarns equal one-half the number of pile yarns, the ground yarns usually, but not universally, are single-ply. According to Consumer Research (1936), it is compar- atively easy to determine by inspection whether the construction of a towel is such that the number of ends or threads of the ground is equal to one-half the number of ends or threads out of which the pile or raised part of 6 the towel is formed, because it appears to be universally the practice in the double-loop towels to weave two pile threads as one so that all loops occur in pairs, that is as double loops. In weaving other towels, pile threads are woven singly so that all loops occur one by one. By simple inspection at the store the housewife can, with the present weaving practice, reject towels having the commonest type of undesirable construction, namely, those having twice as many pile as ground yarns. Cook (1931) states that pile loops may be long or short according to the quality and design of the towel. The entire purpose of the pile is to increase the surface area in order to aid in the amount and rapidity of absorption. Long loops therefore increase both these factors but a proper balance must be maintained between the weight of the pile and the strength of the background to secure max- imum service. This author states that the pile loops are separated by the filling threads. In the poorest towels one thread is used between rows of pile with the quality of the towel increasing with each added filling thread between pile rows until six, the highest number, has been reached. Since the filling yarns hold the pile in place it is easy to see that there must be a relation between the weight of the pile and 7 the number of the filling between each set of pile loops. A towel having too few filling yarns makes a weak structure so that the loops are easily pulled out. A towel con- structed with a heavy pile and a weak background will pull apart. Viemont, Hays, and O'Brien (1936) state that the warp- wise breaking strength of the fabric is perhaps the best indicator of durability in bath towels. Breaks generally appear first in this direction because the ground warp yarns get the strain of weaving and much of the strain of wear as well. The strength of the ground warp yarns is influ- enced by the length and the amount of fiber used as well as by the amount of twist put into the yarn. In general, twisting increases the strength of the yarns and helps to hold the short fibers in place. To some extent the number of yarns to the inch also influences the breaking strength of the cloth. They also state that the filling has little strain on it, and requires less twist than does the ground warp.

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