Transcript Slide 1

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
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
Outline
 Motivation of this research
 Research Approach
 Materials and Methods
 Summary of results and discussions
 Concluding remarks
 Future research plans
 Acknowledgements
Motivation of this research
Weaving is by far the largest market for the value-added
utilization of cotton
(~75% market share, worldwide)
Textile Processes
(Combed)
Spinning
Raw
Cotton
Warping
and Sizing
Weaving
Finishing
(Carded)
Spinning
Can we eliminate the costly process of warp sizing and the subsequent fabric desi
Motivation of this research
CHALLENGE: ABRASION OF YARN DURING WEAVING
Research Approach
 Production of a yarn structure that has most of the
most desirable attributes* for size-less weaving (* viz., low
hairiness, 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 beam
for weaving without the traditional sizing.
 Modification of critical loom components, mainly the
reed, to minimize abrasion of warp yarn in weaving.
 Manipulation of weaving parameters and conditions,
including fabric construction, weaving speed, and
machinery settings, to study their effects on the
weaving performance and fabric quality.
Materials and Methods
Cotton (Acala)
 HVI Strength: 32.14
 Rd 80.11; +b 8.89
gf/tex
 Leaf content 1.4
 Elongation 11.7%
 Area: 0.44
 UHML 1.193”
 Cut 9; Grade 11-2
 Uniformity Ratio
 Maturity Ratio 0.906
84.3%
%
 Short Fiber Index
 Fineness 163.7 mtex.
6.78
 Micronaire 4.092
Materials and Methods
YARN PRODUCTION
 The selected cotton was opened and cleaned (using
Whitin hopper-feeder, Superior inclined cleaner,
and Fiber Controls Corporation Vertical Fine
Opener).
 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.
Materials and Methods
YARN PRODUCTION
 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 Schlafhorst
Autocoro 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.
Materials and Methods
YARN PREPARATION: BEAMING
START OF
BEAMING
Split zone
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.
1
57 Yards
2
Split zone
~ 20 m
Size Box
3
57 Yards
4
Split zone
~ 20 m
Size Box
Materials and Methods
YARN PREPARATION: BEAMING
5. Third Treatment: The yarn was
washed in boiling water and dried on
heated cylinders at 2200 F.
4
5
6. The yarn was sitting on the heated
cylinders, while a typical PVA size
mix/formulation (as a control) was
being prepared.
7. Fourth Treatment: The warp was
slashed with the traditional size.
6
7
Split zone
~ 20 m
Size Box
57 Yards
Split zone
~ 20 m
Size Box
Approx.
57 Yards
END OF
BEAMING
Materials and Methods
WEAVING
 Machinery: A modern high-speed, flexible-rapier
weaving machine, with maximum speed of 500 picks
per minute (ppm), was used.
 Fabric Construction: ½ -Twill with face down; ~61
ends/inch (epi); and 20 – 50+ 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)
Summary of results and
discussions
YARN PROPERTIES
 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 very
low numbers of imperfections).
The yarn performed very well with no major
failure during warping and beaming.
Summary of results and
discussions
MECHANICAL WEAVING PERFORMANCE
 Very Good!!
 For the first time ever, ~ 100 yards of 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 fabric
construction (ppi) was 500 ppm and the
Summary of results and
discussions
FABRIC QUALITY
 Unsatisfactory
(mainly due to
presence of tiny
, fuzzy-ball-like
defects on
either face of
the fabric)
Progressive abrasion of yarn
during weaving
Fabric Defects: Ball formation
Summary of results and
discussions
FABRIC QUALITY
 A preliminary inspection of the size-free woven
fabrics (greige) indicates that the pick density of
40 ppi and the corresponding weaving speed of
400 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.
Summary of results and
discussions
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES of SIZE-FREE WOVEN FABRICS
Fabric Sample*
500 ppm/30 ppi
500 ppm/40 ppi
500 ppm/50 ppi
Tensile (Breaking)
Strength*** (MPa)
Tear Strength***
(MPa)
23.870 2.82 (Warp)
15.857 2.21(Weft)
30.628 5.10 (Warp)
15.810 4.40 (Weft)
0.996 0.10 (Warp)
0.996 0.329(Weft)
1.260 0.071(Warp)
1.038 0.24 (Weft)
34.565 2.893(Warp)
27.745 1.951(Weft)
1.566 0.23 (Warp)
1.118 0.221(Weft)
***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 washed
in the boiling water and dried on the cylinders at 220 F.
Summary of results and
discussions
 The weaving speed does not seem to be as
critical as the pick density and/or the weave
type. (For example, the 50 ppi density at 400 ppm
presented a rather difficult condition by way of
producing 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 with
numerous fuzzy-ball formations.
Summary of results and
discussions

The presence 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 fabric
showed 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.
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.
 The yarn quality must be superior and more consistent
than that of a run-of-the-mill yarn.
 Ordinary heat setting of warp yarn may be adequate to set
the yarn’s 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.
Acknowledgements
• The authors greatly appreciate the ARS National
Program Staff and the ARS- MSA and SRRC
managements for providing the necessary resources to
conduct this vital research
• They also acknowledge the 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 significant input and cooperation of our
technicians, especially Jim Sandberg and Jerome
Jeanpierre, are also recognized.