Comfort and Mechanical Properties of Cotton and Cotton Blended Knitted Khadi Fabrics
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© Kamla-Raj 2014 Stud Home Com Sci, 8(2-3): 69-74 (2014) Comfort and Mechanical Properties of Cotton and Cotton Blended Knitted Khadi Fabrics Suman Pant1* and Rajkumari Jain2 Clothing and Textiles, Faculty of Home Science, Banasthali University, Banasthali304022, Rajasthan, India Mobile: 09352141493, E-mail: [email protected] KEYWORDS Thermal Conductivity. Air Permeability. Strength.Abrasion Resistance. Pilling. Knitted Fabric ABSTRACT Main aim of present study was to develop hosiery material for khadi cottage industry. Hand spun cotton and cotton: polyester yarns were utilized to construct knit fabric in manually operated knitting machine. Plain knit and rib knit fabrics (1x1, 2x2) were developed in flat bed cotton hosiery machine of 14 gauge 40 inch. Comfort and mechanical properties of knitted fabrics constructed from hand spun cotton and cotton: polyester yarns were tested by standard procedure. It was found that cotton knitted khadi fabric is more comfortable than cotton: polyester khadi knit with less pilling tendency. On the other hand, strength and abrasion resistance of cotton:polyester khadi fabric is better than cotton knit fabric. INTRODUCTION sumers are changing rapidly, so there is a need to bring innovative changes and new designs in Khadi is hand spun and hand woven cot- clothing. Khadi industry is also under continu- ton, silk and woolen cloth. There is also khadi ous pressure to meet growing consumer’s aspi- cloth made of mixture of natural and manmade ration and demand through constant product fibers called poly khadi viz. poly cotton, poly innovation, improved quality and competition. wool. Woollen knitted garments, especially Present study is toward product innovation for sweaters, are also produced to some extent. cottage khadi industry. Khadi can be considered the vocal representa- Today’s consumer demands well-fitted, com- tive of the Indian cottage industry. Khadi ac- fortable, and easy to care for garments, which counts for about two percent of total cloth pro- can be washed and worn. This demand is easily duced in India. It coexists with most modern met by knits. Cotton and its blends fabrics are spinning and weaving mills and faces tough more suitable to Indian climatic condition that is competition from mill sector. This is because of why the demand of these fabrics is increasing availability of mill made fabric in varying com- day-by-day. position of fibers, yarns and structure. An attempt has therefore been made in this Cotton khadi is a versatile fabric. It has the study to utilize hand spun cotton and cotton unique property of keeping the wearer warm in blend yarns for development of knitted fabrics winter as well as cool in summer season. How- in manually operated knitting machine for khadi ever, it gets easily crumpled therefore in order to sector. keep it firm and smooth; starching and ironing is Clothing comfort is an extremely complex frequently required which increases maintenance phenomenon and has drawn the attention of cost. many textile research workers. It can be classi- In today’s world of modernization and in- fied into three groups, namely psychological, dustrialization, tastes and preferences of con- tactile and thermal comfort. Thermal comfort is the factor governed by the movement of heat, moisture and air through the fabric. The thermal Address for correspondence: Dr. Suman Pant properties of cotton and polyester based single Clothing and Textiles jersey of 1×1 rib and interlock structure were Faculty of Home Science statistically investigated by Oglakcioglu and Banasthali University, Marmarali (2007). The result indicated that each Banasthali304022 knitted structure tends to yield rather different Rajasthan, India Mobile: 09352141493 thermal comfort properties. Interlock and 1×1 rib E-mail: [email protected] fabric had a remarkably high thermal conductiv- 70 SUMAN PANT AND RAJKUMARI JAIN ity and thermal resistance value. On the other Khadi Gramodhyog of Kaladera, Jaipur, Rajas- hand, single jersey fabrics had higher relative than. Yarns, which are being spun by khadi vil- water vapor permeability values than 1×1 rib and lage cottage industry for weaving, were used interlock fabrics, and gave a warmer feeling with for knitting in the study. lower thermal absorptivity values. Su et al. (2007) studied moisture absorption Methods and release of polyester and cotton composite knitted fabrics. Experimental results revealed that Determination of Properties of Selected Yarns the diffusion rate and drying rate become better with decreasing cotton content. However, knit- Following properties of yarns were tested- ted fabrics made of profiled polyester alone Yarn evenness-Cutting and weighing meth- showed the worst water absorption ability, which od was used to determine yarn evenness (Booth can be improved with the addition of cotton fiber. 1996). Percent irregularity was calculated. Durability of fabric is one of the very impor- Lea strength (IS: 1671-1977) and Count tant criteria for consumers. Durability is affect- strength product ed mainly by strength, abrasion resistance and Yarn count (IS: 1671-1977) -Yarn count in other related mechanical parameters. Sawhney Cotton English system was determined. et al. (1991) did the comparison of fabrics made with cotton covered polyester staple-core yarn Construction of Knitted Fabric and 100% cotton yarn. Cotton covered/polyes- ter staple-core yams and conventional 100% Knitted fabrics were prepared on manually cotton yarns of equivalent size were woven and operated flatbed cotton hosiery machine of 14 knitted into various fabrics for evaluation. The gauge 40 inch. Two types of stitches were used woven fabrics were tested for abrasion resis- for the construction of knitted fabric- tance and tear and tensile strengths. The knit- (a) Single jersey ted fabrics were tested for bursting strength, (b) Rib - 1x1rib and 2x2 rib abrasion and pilling resistance. The staple- core yams, which were only modestly stronger than Determination of Physical Properties equivalent 100% cotton yams, produced fabrics of Developed Fabrics remarkably improved in all the important proper- ties when compared to the fabrics made with Following physical properties of knitted fab- conventional 100% cotton yams. rics were determined as per the established stan- It is on the basis of above the context that dards- the present study has been planned. Weight (IS: 1964-1970), thickness (IS: 7702- 1975), and stitch density(Joseph 1986) Objectives of the Study Mechanical Properties Bursting strength (IS: 1966–1975 RA 2006), 1) To construct cotton and cotton: polyester Abrasion resistance (IS: 12763-1989 RA 05), Pill- knitted khadi fabrics. ing (IS: 10971-1984 RA06) 2) To study the effect of type of yarn on com- Comfort Properties fort and mechanical properties of knitted Thermal conductivity- Thermolabo II – (Heat khadi fabric. flow method) method was used to test thermal 3) To study the effect of type of stitch on conductivity of knitted fabrics. comfort and mechanical properties of knit- Air Permeability ted khadi fabric. Air permeability of knitted fabric was deter- mined by constant air flow method using KES- MATERIAL AND METHODS F8-AP1 instrument. The resolution of pressure measurement is 2 Pa, assuring high precision. Material Wicking Ability The ability of a fabric to absorb water, espe- Cotton and Cotton: Polyester (60: 40) blend- cially by a wicking or capillary action, may be ed hand spun yarns of 20s count were used for observed by timing the rate at which water climbs the study. These yarns were purchased from the up a narrow strip of fabric suspended vertically PROPERTIES OF KNITTED KHADI FABRICS 71 with its lower end dipping into the water. Rate of fabrics. The reason may be difference in density wetting was calculated. of cotton and polyester fibers. Density of poly- ester fiber is less than that of cotton that is why RESULT AND DISCUSSION presence of polyester in blends has made cot- ton: polyester blend lighter in weight. Plain knits Table 1 shows properties of yarns selected were lighter in weight than rib fabrics. 2x2 rib for the study.Although yarns of 20s count were was heaviest and thickest fabric. This is due to purchased, analysis of yarn count in laboratory difference in their structure (Spencer 2001). revealed that there is difference in yarn count of Thickness of cotton knitted fabrics was more cotton and cotton: polyester yarns. Cotton yarn than that of cotton polyester blend fabrics was found to be finer than cotton: polyester yarn though cotton yarn is finer than cotton: polyes- (Indirect system of yarn count). This may be ter yarn. The reason is that due to higher un- due to hand spinning system used by khadi evenness in cotton yarn, it was breaking fre- cottage industry. Variation in hand spun yarn is quently during knitting therefore, two yarns were bound to be there. used together. That is why cotton knits were thicker than cotton: polyester knits. Thickness Table1: Physical properties of yarns of plain knit fabric was less than rib fabrics. Among rib fabrics, 2x2 rib was thicker than 1x1 S. No. Name of property Type of yarn rib in both cotton and cotton: polyester knitted Cotton Cotton: fabrics. This variation in thickness of knitted Polyester fabrics may be due to the difference in structure 1. Yarn Count (Ne) 19.35 15.53 of the stitch type.Relaxed rib fabrics are thicker CV% of yarn count 3.6 2.9 than plain knit fabrics. 2. Lea strength (lbs) 96.59 266.52 In general stitch density of cotton knit was CV % of lea 3.33 2.93 higher than that of cotton: polyester fabrics, only strength exception being 1x1 rib. As knitted fabrics were 3. Count Strength 1772.42 3606.01 Product made of hand spun yarns on manually operated 4. Yarn evenness 17.63 12.14 machines, there are bound to be some variation. (% irregularity) Mechanical Properties Lea strength of cotton yarn was less than that of cotton polyester blended yarn.