Objective:

Optimization of hairiness in synthetic yarn.

Material used:
Any synthetic fiber (polyester, viscose and their blends)

Technology used:
Ring spinning.

Process parameters:
1. To test the competitors single yarn for all yarn characteristics especially for hairiness. Note- hairiness could be tested on Uster tester and Zweigle hairiness tester if possible.
2.

Finding the parameters giving the least hairiness as in that of the competitors yarn. Varying the twist in the rowing, such that least amount of hairiness is obtained. Preparing the samples for yarns imparting the parameters which give the least hairiness.

3.

4.

End uses:
Yarns are used for knitting, weaving, making yarn rope, tying packages, decorating purpose, etc.

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION:

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, knitting, weaving, embroidery and rope making. Spun yarn is made by twisting or otherwise bonding staple fibers together to make a cohesive thread. Spun yarns may contain a single type of fiber, or be a blend of various types. Combining synthetic fibers (which can have high strength, lustre, and fire retardant qualities) with natural fibers (which have good water absorbency and skin comforting qualities) is very common. The most widely used blends are cotton-polyester and wool-acrylic fiber blends.

How yarns are created?

There are three major spinning processes: cotton, worsted or long-staple, or wool. Synthetic staple fibers can be made with any of these processes. 1) Preparing the fibers Fibers are shipped in bales, which are opened by hand or machine. Synthetic fibers require separating only. The picker loosens and separates the lumps of fiber and also cleans the fiber if necessary. Blending of different staple fibers may be required for certain applications. Blending may be done during formation of the lap, during carding, or during drawing out. Quantities of each fiber are measured carefully and their proportions are consistently maintained. 2) Carding The carding machine is set with hundreds of fine wires that separate the fibers and pull them into somewhat parallel form. A thin web of fiber is formed, and as it moves along, it passes through a funnel-shaped device that produces a ropelike strand of parallel fibers. Blending can take place by joining laps of different fibers.

FIBRE

BLOW ROOM

CARDING

Br. DRAW FRAME

Fr. DRAW FRAME

SPEED FRAME

RING FRAME

CONE WINDING

FINAL PACKAGE

3) Combing

When a smoother, finer yarn is required, fibers are subjected to a further paralleling method. A comb like device arranges fibers into parallel form, with short fibers falling out of the strand. 4) Drawing out After carding or combing, the fiber mass is referred to as the sliver. Several slivers are combined before this process. A series of rollers rotating at different rates of speed elongate the sliver into a single more uniform strand that is given a small amount of twist and fed into large cans. Carded slivers are drawn twice after carding. Combed slivers are drawn once before combing and twice more after combing. 5) Twisting The sliver is fed through a machine called the roving frame, where the strands of fiber are further elongated and given additional twist. These strands are called the roving. 6) Spinning The predominant commercial system of yarn formation is ring spinning. In ring spinning, the roving is fed from the spool through rollers. These rollers elongate the roving, which passes through the eyelet, moving down and through the traveler. The traveler moves freely around the stationary ring. The spindle turns the bobbin at a constant speed. This turning of the bobbin and the movement of the traveler twists and winds the yarn in one operation.

Hairiness in yarns

Hairiness is defined as the sum of fiber ends and loops protruding out from the main compact yarn body. In the past, hairiness was not considered so important. But with the advent of high-speed looms and knitting machines, the hairiness has become a very important parameter. Hairiness is a measure of the amount of fibres protruding from the structure of the yarn. Protruding fibres, loops (from the surface of yarn) and loosely wrapped wild fibres constitute hairiness. Hairiness is a unique feature of staple fibre yarns that distinguishes it from filament yarns.

Why is hairiness undesirable?

Hairiness is generally regarded as undesirable because of the following reasons: 1) It adversely affects the appearance of yarns and fabrics. Hairiness determines the appearance grade of the yarn. Higher hairiness downgrades the appearance grade. Hairiness in yarns leads to fuzzy and hazy appearance of fabric. 2) It affects performance of yarn in subsequent stages. Adjoining warp threads cling together in the loom shed because of long hairs in yarn, which in turn resist separation of sheet during shedding. This leads to more warp breaks and fabric defects like stitches and floats. 3) Excessive lint droppings in sizing, loom shed and during knitting are encountered with hairy yarns because of shedding of hairs and broken hairs. 4) In printed goods, prints will be hazy and lack sharpness if yarn is hairy. 5) In sewing, breakages will be high with hairy yarns
6) Pilling tendency will be more with higher hairiness.

Benefits of hairiness

In spite of the drawbacks, hairiness has some beneficial effects. It adds to the textile character of the fabric and contributes to comfort, liveliness, skin friendliness and warmth. Warmth found in woolen cardigans, shawls and flannel fabrics is to some extent due to hairiness. Hairiness also adds to fullness and cover of fabric.

Removal of hairiness
Hairiness is removed or suppressed by singeing, waxing, application of lubricant, enzyme treatment and sizing. Singeing can be done at yarn or fabric stage. The material is passed through a gas or electric burner. Size of the flame and setting between yarn/fabric and flame must be carefully chosen to prevent scorching and damage to material. Singeing is not preferred in polyester blends as bead formation is encountered which could lead to specks in dyed fabrics and result in a rough feel. Sewing threads are passed through a liquid containing silicone based surface-active agent to lay the fibres on the body and make the surface smooth. In general, yarn spun with Indian cotton show high level of hairiness due to the following reasons. 1. 2. 3. High short fibre content in mixing. Low uniformity ratio. High spindle speeds.

Hence most of the Indian yarns have a hairiness index above 50% Uster standards.

Testing of hairiness

Measurement of hairiness
Hairiness consists of protruding fibres, looped fibres and loosely wrapped wild fibres. A) Subjective methods Yarns can be graded for hairiness by comparison of appearance. Relative levels of hairiness in two yarns can be easily judged by 1. Visual comparison of bobbins. 2. Wrapping the yarn on a black board and comparing them for grading hairiness. Uster has developed yarn hairiness grade standard boards which assists in grading of yarns. B) Microscopic methods Before instruments were developed, hairiness was measured by viewing the yarn under a microscope. Image of yarn was projected on a screen and number of protruding hairs and loops in a known length were counted. Length of protruding hairs is also measured with the help of micrometer eyepiece scale. From this, total length of hairs per unit length is determined. C) Photoelectric method There are two major testing equipments available in the market used for evaluating the yarn hairiness: 1. Uster hairiness tester 2. Zweigle hairiness tester

USTER HAIRINESS INDEX:

The most popular instrument is the Uster hairiness system. This is the common method followed in India. The hairiness index H corresponds to the total length of protruding fibres within the measurement field of 1cm length of the yarn. The hairiness H is an average value and giving no indication of the distribution of the length of hairs. Main aim of this contribution is to analyze the yarn hairiness distribution for compact yarns according to the possibility of fitting bimodal function; i.e. dividing the hairiness to two types of hairiness. The individual values of yarn hairiness were extracted from Uster tester 4 and fed to a computer program HYARN written in Matlab code for complex characterization of yarn hairiness. The results show that in general, the fiber hair distribution has a bimodal shape and comprises a mixture of two Gaussian distributions. Also the data was used for complex evaluation of yarn hairiness in time and frequency domain. Uster Evenness tester has a hairiness attachment. Measuring field consists of homogenous rays of parallel light from an infrared light source. Scattered light from the protruding hairs of yarn, placed in this field, reach an optical sensor, which converts it into an electronic signal. The body of yarn itself is dark as it is not transparent and so does not contribute to the measurement. The protruding fibres are bright and reflected light from these fibres alone contributes to measurement. Hairiness thus measured is an estimate of total length of protruding fibres in a cm length and is termed as Hairiness index. Hairiness index of 4 means that the total protruding length of hairs in 1 cm length is 4 cm.

ZWEIGLE HAIRINESS INDEX:

This zweigle hairiness measurement (S3) gives the number of protruding fibres more than 3 mm in length in a measurement length of one meter of the yarn. The numbers of hairs of different lengths are counted separately. In addition to the S3, value is given as the sum of the number of hairs 3 mm and longer. This also uses a measuring head with a photocell and a laser light source. The instrument measures hairiness of 9 length zones from 1 to 12 or 15mm fibre length in a single run of the yarn and produces a running chart of hairiness. Faults of a periodic nature can be detected. The equipment is controlled by a PC, which carries out statistical analysis of the results. There is facility for checking and matching all the optical channels with the reference value set. Calibration with the yarn that has been checked on a master Hairiness tester is also possible. The above facilities improve reproducibility of results. An automatic bobbin changer up to 24 bobbins is available which makes the instrument fully automatic. Most of the research work on hairiness is based on tests on this instrument.

Thus we infer that Uster hairiness index gives the total length of hairs whereas zweigle hairiness testers give the absolute number of fibres. Though the later measurement is more accurate, most of the spinners are still following Uster hairiness index only. The information obtained from both systems is limited. Both the methods compress the data into a single value (deletion of the important information about statistical behavior) or convert the entire data set into a spectrogram. Other methods dealing with image processing are time consuming. Modern USTER devices have possibility to give raw data about whole yarn hairiness in the length interval of hundreds of meters. The raw data are in fact realization of spatial process (hairiness spatial process - HSP) and can be used for more complex evaluation of hairiness characteristics in the space and frequency domain.

Another instrument available for measurement of hairiness based on photoelectric method is

Shirley-Atlas Hairiness Tester

A measuring head consisting of a photocell placed close to the yarn counts the number of interruptions made by the protruding hairs to an LCD beam. The measuring head is infinitely adjustable from 1 to 10 mm from the surface of yarn. This enables measurement of hairiness as per the length of hairs. Nip rollers at 50 to 300 m/min drive yarn by an electronic variable speed drive. Latest version is operated by a PC. Continuous chart of hairiness can also be obtained through a recorder or printer.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE HAIRINESS:

The factors affecting the hairiness can be sub divided into 3 major components. a) b) c) The fibre properties. Yarn parameters. Process parameters.

The fibre properties:

Fibre length, Uniformity ratio, Micronaire, rigidity and short fibre content are the properties exerting high influence on hairiness. Among the above the length and short fibre content exert major influence. For a particular count, higher length of fibre leads to lesser hairiness and high short fibre content leads to high hairiness. In yarns made on ring spinning, shorter and coarser fibre constituent occupies preferentially the surface and so will contribute more to hairiness.

Yarn parameter:
Count and twist have considerable influence on hairiness. Hairiness is dependent on the number of fibres present in the cross section of the yarn. Coarser yarns have more hairiness than finer yarns because of higher number of fibres in cross-section.

The yarn twist is another major factor as higher twists lead to less hairiness up to a certain extent. Hairiness reduces with increase in twist because of shorter spinning triangle and more effective twisting-in of surface fibres into yarn. With firmly bound fibres chances of release due to abrasion at traveler/ring junction is minimized.

However in a mill condition, the fibre parameters and yarn parameters cannot be adjusted. Hence the process parameters assume very high significance, as this is the only available option at the mill level to reduce the hairiness.

Process parameter:
The preparatory machines have a big influence on hairiness. The Speed frame, Ring frame and the Cone winder are the machines to be attended for reduction in hairiness.

PREPARATORY PROCESSES:
It was found that fibre parallelization reduces hairiness. Hairiness therefore comes down with increase in number of draw frame passages. With more draw frame passages, fibre orientation is increased and fibre hooks are reduced. As a result fibre extend along the length of strand, length gets increased, which is the reason for reduction in hairiness. For the same reason combed yarns have less hairiness than carded yarns. Further with combing, short fibre content is reduced which is another reason why hairiness is reduced. A compact roving by use of front zone floating condenser at speed frame will bring down hairiness, as this will reduce strand width at ring frame.

Given below are the various process parameters that can be attended for reducing the hairiness.

A) SPEED FRAME: 1. ROVING HANK: It plays a major role in the reduction of hairiness. For a particular count, the hairiness of the yarn goes down, as the roving hank is made finer. 2. SPACER SIZE: It is the normal tendency of the technicians to use spacer as thin as possible to reduce the U% and imperfections. But thinner spacers lead to higher hairiness.

B) RING FRAME: 1. SPINDLE SPEED: Higher spindle speed is generally found to increase hairiness. When yarns are spun at different spindle speed, the centrifugal force acting on fibers in the spinning zone will increase. This will cause the fibers ends as they are emerging from the front rollers to be deflected from the yarn surface to a greater extent. Further, at high spindle speed, the shearing action of the traveller on the yarn is likely to become great enough to partially detach or raise the fibers from the body of the yarn. As against the above factors, at higher spindle speeds, the tension in the yarn will increase. The increase in hairiness is noticed in the results suggesting that the forces involved in raising fibers from the yarn surface are greater than those tending to incorporate them within the body of the yarn at higher spindle speeds. This is because of the larger balloon at higher speed. With a larger balloon, traveller tilt will be more and this will reduce the space available for yarn passage and there will be chafing and abrasion of yarn. Twist flow at lappet will also be reduced. Moreover, yarn will dash against separator with bigger balloon thereby generating hairiness.

2. RING TRAVELLER: The traveller plays a major role in hairiness. Weight, profile and type of cross-section of traveller have critical influence on hairiness. Heavier traveller up to a limit reduces hairiness because of improved flow of twist to front roller nip. Higher tension associated with heavier traveller will also help to firmly twist the surface fibres into yarn. Elliptical traveller has a low bow size and as a result limited space is available for passage of yarn. Chafing of yarn will therefore be more resulting in increased hairiness. 'C' shape traveller has a high bow size, which provides ample space for passage of yarn. Hairiness will be least with this traveller. But as centre of gravity is higher with 'C', it results in unstable flight and traveller fly especially at high speeds. This is because the yarn contact point with the traveller is quite far away from the ring and traveler contact point. If the traveller is run for a long time, the hairiness will not increase. But the breakage rate will increase. 3. RING: Bigger the ring diameter, lower the yarn hairiness. It is the general opinion of some technicians that lubricated rings give 30-40% lower hairs and imperfections in polyester/ viscose yarns. However for cotton yarns, such reduction is negligible. It is also believed by technicians that older rings give more hairiness.

4. SPACER SIZE: Size of the spacer plays significant role in reducing the hairiness. Many technicians have a tendency to use the thinnest spacer for reduction in U% and imperfections. However it leads to significant increase in hairiness.

5. TPI IN THE YARN: Increasing the TPI leads to reduction in hairiness and this is more significant in the case hosiery yarn.

6. LAPPET HEIGHT: Reduction in lappet height leads to direct reduction in hairiness. However care should be taken to ensure that the yarn does not touch the tip of the Empties.

7. SUCTION TUBE SETTING:

The suction tube should be set such that the yarn does not touch the tip of the suction tube in running. If the yarn touches the suction tube due to improper setting, it will lead to increase in hairiness.

8. TRAVELLER SIZE: Usage of heavier traveller leads to reduction in hairiness.

9. LIFT AND RING DIAMETER: Using lesser lift and lesser ring diameter will lead to direct and significant reduction in hairiness.

C) CONE WINDER:

There will be a significant difference between the hairiness of the yarn at cop stage and at cone stage. The cone winding process increases the hairiness by 15 to 20%, which is unavoidable

1. WINDING SPEED: The speed of winding plays a significant role on increase in hairiness. The increase in winding speed leads to direct increase in the hairiness. The hairiness increases more and more with the increase in the winding speed. By selecting the right speeds at different stage of the cop the increase in hairiness can be controlled to a great extent.

2. YARN TENSION DURING WINDING: By optimizing the yarn tension the increase in hairiness can be controlled. The hairiness can also be reduced by optimizing the winding tension.

EFFECT OF TWIST ON HAIRINESS:

TPI (twists per inch or turns per inch) is a term used in the textile industry. It measures how much twist a yarn has, and can be calculated by counting the number of twists in an inch of yarn.

Variation per yarn

Twist is needed in yarn to hold the fibres together, and is added in both the spinning and plying processes. The amount of twist varies on the fibre, thickness of yarn, preparation of fibre, manner of spinning, and the desired results. The amount of twist in a yarn helps to define the style of yarn. Experiments are reported on the hairiness of spun yarns, by means of visual examination, board wrapping, etc. The importance of fibre thickness is confirmed. Increasing the fibre length reduces hairiness less than it might be expected from the fewer fibre ends available. The hairiness of coarse yarns is predictably greater than that of fine ones, but changing the singles or folding twist or both by 10% from normal scarcely affects it. Oil added to the sliver reduces hairiness, the optimum amount being 4%. Varying the draft gives the most marked effects, the lowest draft (and finest roving) producing by far the least hairy yarn as assessed by the longest fibre projections. It is suggested that the hairiness is caused by some of the leading fibres at the edge of the issuing drafted roving avoiding capture by the twist, though added hairiness results from yarn movement.