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 (Carded) Spinning Warping and Sizing Weaving Finishing

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
1. First (Zero) Treatment: No application of any heat &/or fluid.
START OF BEAMING Split zone 1 57 Yards Split zone ~ 20 m Size Box 57 Yards Split zone ~ 20 m Size Box

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.

Materials and Methods

YARN PREPARATION: BEAMING
5. Third Treatment: The yarn was washed in boiling water and dried on heated cylinders at 2200 F. 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.
4 Split zone ~ 20 m Size Box 57 Yards Split zone ~ 20 m Size Box Approx. 57 Yards

5 6 7

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: -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

Tensile (Breaking) Strength*** (MPa)

23.870 2.82 (Warp) 15.857 2.21 (Weft) 30.628 5.10 (Warp) 15.810 4.40 (Weft) 34.565 2.893 (Warp) 27.745 1.951 (Weft)

Tear Strength*** (MPa)

0.996 0.10 (Warp) 0.996 0.329 (Weft) 1.260 0.071 (Warp) 1.038 0.24 (Weft) 1.566 0.23 (Warp) 1.118 0.221 (Weft)

500 ppm/40 ppi

500 ppm/50 ppi

***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 yarns 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.