Studies on cotton-acrylic bulked yarns produced from different spinning technologies. Part II: fabric characteristics

Abstract

The present work is concerned with the study of the characteristics of plain woven fabric produced with cotton-acrylic high-bulk yarns from different spinning technologies. The effects of different factors, namely spinning technologies (ring, rotor and DREF-II, i.e. Group A fabrics), position of shrinkable acrylic feed sliver in DREF-II friction spinning system (Group B fabrics) and proportion of shrinkable acrylic core fibre in core-sheath type DREF-III friction spun yarns (Group C fabrics) on various properties of cotton-acrylic blended bulked yarn fabrics have been reported. The influence of these three variables on the mechanical, handle and comfort properties of fabrics have been studied. The properties of fabrics made of bulked yarns from different spinning technologies are found to be different from the normal 100% cotton yarn fabrics in all respect. Even though the bulked yarns were used only in weft direction, the fabrics with modified yarn structures show appreciable improvement in thermal resistance, moisture vapour transmission, wicking and air permeability. The bending rigidity of the fabrics in weft direction also reduced with improvement in crease recovery in weft direction.