OUT LINE

Yarn and yarn forms

Classification of yarn Spun and filament yarns

Ring, rotor and air jet spinning systems

Structure of ring, rotor and air jet spun yarns Spun yarn characteristics by spinning system

Compact ring spinning

Core yarn spinning Yarn quality for knitting

New concepts for knitting yarn selection

Yarn twist, irregularity, friction, flexural and torsional rigidity
Major yarn faults contributing 25% to the rejections

Yarn
An assembly of substantial length and relatively small cross-section of fibers or filaments with or without twist.

Yarn forms
A number of fibers twisted together (spun yarn); A number of filaments laid together without twist A number of filaments laid together with a degree of twist; A single filament with or without twist (a monofilament); or A narrow strip of material, such as paper, plastic film, or metal foil, with or without twist, intended for use in a textile construction

Classification of Yarn Yarns

Staple Spun Yarn Filaments
Monofilament

As per Fiber Length 1. Short staple (<60 mm) 2. Long Staple

As per Yarn Construction 1. Single

As per Spinning System Regular 1. Ring Spun Compact 2. Rotor Spun 3. Core spun

Multifilament

2. Plied
3. Cabled 4. Braided 5. Fancy

(>60 mm)

4. Air Jet Spun

5. Twistless Spun 6. Friction Spun 7. Wrap Spun

Intermingled

Textured

8. Fasciated Spun

Tape

SPUN YARN
The yarn consists of staple fibers which are assembled and bound together by various means to produce the required characteristics such as strength, handle, appearance etc is called spun yarn.

FILAMENT YARN
The yarn consists of parallel filaments lying close together and virtually straight running the whole length of yarn. The yarns with one filament are referred to as monofilaments and those with more than one as multifilament's.

RING SPINNING

ROTOR SPINNING

AIR JET SPINNING

A- Image of ring yarn structure (Helically aligned fibers) B- Image of rotor yarn structure (Surface with the wrapper fibres)

C- Image of vortex air jet yarn structure (Equivalence with ring yarn)

COMPACT RING SPINNING

Filament Core Yarn Spinning

Elastic Core Yarn Spinning

YARN QUALITY
Yarn quality refers to whether the yarn meets the minimum requirements of the knitter. Yarn unevenness, imperfections (thin, thick and neps), hairiness, strength, elongation, twist, uniform waxing and appearance are of much importance. High fluctuation in yarn quality is an evil for any end-use. It is better to keep medium level of yarn quality by strict quality control than achieving high level but without consistency. Hence it is advisable to fix the standards for different yarn characteristics for cotton spun yarns for different end uses. Next slide provide an example to fix quality requirement for knitting

QUALITY STANDARDS FOR COTTON COMBED YARN

Yarn Characteristic Average count Count C.V% Twist Multiplier TPI C.V% U% -50% thin place / 1000m -30% thin place / 1000m +50% thick place / 1000 m +200 Neps / 1000m Total Imperfection / 1000 m RKM ( tenacity) gms /tex RKM C.V% Elongation % Hairiness H Hairiness Standard Deviation Objectionable classimat faults(both short and long) Required value for 30S Combed 30 ( 29.6 to 30.4) less than 1.5 3.5 to 3.6 less than 2.5 9.2 to 9.8 less than 4 less than 650 less than 30 less than 50 less than 85 more than 16.5 less than 7.5 % more than 5.5 4.0 to 4.5 less than 1.5 less than 1 per 100 km other combed counts nominal count plus or minus 1.3% less than 1.5% 3.5 to 3.6 less than 2.5% 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value more than 16.5 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value more than 5.5 <> 25% Uster stat value less than 1 per 100 km

Total classimat faults H1- thin faults

shade variation on cones in UV lamp

less than 150 less than 5 per 100 km

no shade variation

5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value 5 to 10 % Uster Stat . value

no shade variation

Unevenness It is mass variation within the sample of yarn Imperfections Thick and thin places have a length equal to the fiber mean length, while neps are those thick places which are shorter than 4 mm. Thin and thick places are counted at sensitivity levels of 50 % and +50 % below and above the mean thickness of yarn while neps are counted at sensitivity level of + 200 % above the mean thickness. Hairiness Hairiness is a measure of the amount of fibres protruding from the structure of the yarn. The hairiness index H corresponds to the total length of protruding fibres within the measurement field of 1cm length of the yarn.

NEW CONCEPTS IN KNITTING YARN SELECTION

The practice for the assessment of hosiery yarn quality is on the lines with the established norms for weaving or for general understanding of yarn grade rather than anything specific to knitting, except waxing. The purchase of yarn is based on the general parameters like count, U%, imperfections, strength, elongation and twist. Most of the knitters test only the count for setting the GSM of the fabric. If so, do the knit structure and knitting process have no specific requirements compared to the weaving! As we know that knit fabrics and their process requirements are different from weaving. So it is necessary to think on these lines to improve the quality of knit fabrics because the quality of the knit fabrics in the future will be defined for variation in loop parameters at micro level such as loop-to-loop variation in dimension, geometrical shape of loop and localized variation in loop density.
So there should be specific system for assessing the yarn quality according to the requirements of knitting process and knitting fabrics.

An Ideal Loop AB Loop length, AC & BD Loop arms

The quality of knitting yarn has to be considered with due weightage to the new aspects. Uniform loop dimensions (loop length, loop width and loop height), even loop geometrical shape and controlled localized variation in loop dimensions are very important to improve the knit structure. Similarly, variation in GSM, spirality are the problems encountered regularly. For this, understanding the effects of yarn twist, irregularity, coefficient of friction, flexural and torsional rigidity are very important .

YARN Twist
Twist in knitting yarn should be less, a fact known to all technologists. Still in a few cases, one finds yarn of higher twist being preferred on the ground that it performs well in knitting in terms of lesser yarn breakages. That is true but the benefit is at the cost of fabric quality.
Knit structures are formed by bending the yarn into a loop and then interlacing them to create a fabric. The curvature of loop would be smooth and well defined if the bulkiness of the yarn is higher. The bulkiness eliminates sharp bending and improves resiliency of the structure, and these fabrics are expected to stretch easily and recover during use. The very purpose of using low twist yarn is to achieve this smooth curvature to loops and high resiliency to fabric.

YARN IRREGULARITY
For obtaining smooth curvature to loop and its uniformity , the yarn should be uniform in thickness and imperfections should be minimum. The thin place in yarn receives more twist resulting in compact structure, and thus sharp bends in loop while thick place receives less twist and forms a large curvature at loop. The co-efficient of friction at thin places might be higher due to increased twist, which might be further aggravated by probable low wax pick-up.

CO-EFFICIENT OF FRICTION
Waxing to cotton knitting yarns is done to reduce the friction from 0.24 to 0.14. If waxing is not uniform, it can definitely change knitting tension and loop dimensions due to variation in yarn coefficient of friction. Similarly, uniform moisture in the cones is important, because coefficient of friction also varies as a function of moisture.

a) Uniform loop

b) Deformed loop

FLEXURAL AND TORSIONAL RIGIDITY

Flexural and torsional properties of spun yarns depend on bending, torsional, and tensile properties of staple fibres, twist in yarn, thickness of yarn, compactness and strain energy stored in yarn, etc. All these parameters can vary from yarn to yarn due to changes in spinning condition and yarn conditioning after spinning, though their general properties are more or less same. The loop dimensions can, therefore, vary when yarns of different flexural and torsional properties are mixed or if the yarn has continuous variation in these parameters.

Major yarn faults contributing 25% to the rejections

Unevenness, thin, thick and neps

Stiff yarn - Higher TPI ( holes)

Higher friction High hairiness variation

Mixed properties of yarn - "Barre"

White specs(immature fibres) Kitties ( vegetable matters, dust content) Lower elongation and elasticity Contamination

FURTHER POINTS
Cotton-spun yarns for knitting should exhibit good hand or softness. This is made easier, because these yarns do not need to be as strong as weaving yarns and therefore need less twist. This lower twist leads to softer yarn and fabric. Yarn torque or liveliness should be at a minimum to help prevent excessive fabric shrinkage, skew, and torque Good elongation values in the yarn will reduce fabric holes

Good evenness values will prevent machine stops and fabric holes
Thick places in the yarn need to be minimized because they can lead to yarn tension problems, broken needles, and bent latches.