International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology

Thickness and compressional characteristics of air-jet textured yarn woven fabrics

A. Mukhopadyhay A.K. Dash V.K. Kothari

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A. Mukhopadyhay A.K. Dash V.K. Kothari, (2002),"Thickness and compressional characteristics of air-jet
textured yarn woven fabrics", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 14 Iss 2 pp. 88
- 99
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IJCST
14,2

88

Thickness and compressional

characteristics of air-jet
textured yarn woven fabrics
A. Mukhopadyhay

Received March 2001

Accepted October 2001

Senior Lecturer, The Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences,

Haryana, India

A.K. Dash
Downloaded by New York University At 04:18 17 June 2015 (PT)

Research Scholar, The Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences,

Haryana, India, and

V.K. Kothari
Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Department of Textile
Technology, New Delhi, India
Keywords Yarns, Compression, Woven fabrics
Abstract The effect of pick density, constituent filament fineness and heat-setting on the fabric
thickness and compressional properties have been studied before and after laundering. With the
increase in pick density fabric thickness, compression and compressibility increases up to a certain
extent. Coarser filament textured yarn fabric have higher thickness, compression and
compressibility than that of finer filament textured yarn fabrics. Heat-set fabrics possess higher
thickness, compression and compressibility than the grey textured yarn fabrics. However, fabric
compressional recovery and resiliency are mainly influenced by the fabric pick density rather than
the effect of heat-setting and filament fineness of constituent textured yarns. On laundering, fabric
thickness, compression and compressibility improve particularly for the fabric of lower pick density.
The effect of laundering is marginal on fabric compressional recovery and resiliency.

International Journal of Clothing

Science and Technology,
Vol. 14 No. 2, 2002, pp. 88-99.
q MCB UP Limited, 0955-6222
DOI 10.1108/09556220210424198

Introduction
Among several attributes, thickness and compressional properties of the fabric
are very important characteristics in view of fabric handle. Compressibility is
one of the most important properties for the fabrics used in garment
manufacture. Fabric compressional characteristics depend on several factors
like the compressional properties of the constituent warp and weft threads and
the structure of the fabric.
In earlier work (Dupuis et al., 1995; Sengupta et al., 1990), thickness and
compressional behaviour of fabrics with various types of spun yarns with
different compressional properties have been studied. The effect of fabric
parameters on the thickness and specific volume of the fabric for a given air-jet
textured yarn bulk has also been studied (Kothari et al., 2000). It should be
noted that the efficacy of the texturing process depends upon its stable bulkier
structure depending on its end use. The realisation of textured yarn bulk in

fabric could be influenced by numerous factors. In this regard, it is important to

study the change in compressional properties of the fabrics made from textured
yarns of different levels of bulk in relation to heat-setting. Further to judge the
long term performance of the fabric, it is also important to study the above
characteristics after a number of laundering cycles.

Thickness and
compressional
characteristics

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89
Specimen preparation
Plain woven fabric samples were prepared with 14.7 tex polyester-viscose
(67:33) spun yarn warp. For weft yarns, two different materials, 70 denier/36
filament and 70 denier 72 filament drawn polyester filament yarns were
textured on ELTEX AT/HS air-jet texturing machine. Two ends of parent
yarns were fed together in a parallel-end air-jet texturing machine using
HemaJet with T100 core. Details of the process parameters used in the
production of air-jet textured yarn are as follows:
Overfeed to jet: 26.7 per cent
Air Pressure: 900 kPa
Texturing speed: 300 m/min
Amount of water used per jet: 1 litre/hr
Water pressure: 2 kgf/cm2
Stabilising stretch: 4.7 per cent
Stabilisation heater temperature: 1808C
Winding underfeed: 0.7 per cent
The linear densities of 70 denier/72 filament and 70 denier/36 filaments
textured yarns were 17.44 tex and 17.54 tex respectively. Four different pick
densities (24.4, 27.6, 30.7, 33.9 picks/cm) were used on the loom and the fabrics
were heat-set on a stenter at 1808C temperature and 20 m/min. speed with 3 per
cent overfeed, allowing 5.1 per cent widthwise shrinkage.
Both the grey and heat-set fabrics were laundered in a washing machine
under the following conditions:
Bath composition: 5 g/l soap solution
Temperature: 258C
Time/cycle: 15 minutes washing
Rinsing and drying: 15 minutes rinsing followed by 5 minutes drying
Material and liquor ratio: 1:50
The fabric samples were dried centrifugally after every laundering cycle.
Based on an initial trial, fabrics were subjected to 20 laundering cycles so
that further to this no significant changes occur in the above fabric

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90

characteristics. Before taking measurements, all the samples were pressed

by a steam press and conditioned for 24 hours. The fabric particulars are
given in Table I.
The physical bulk of textured yarn was measured by package density
method using spindle driven winder on the basis of equal diameter of
25 mm. The bobbins were built on empty package of 12.16 mm outer
diameter with 60 mm traverse. The average winding tension was adjusted
to 0.3 gf/tex. The physical bulk of coarser filament (2.16 dtex) and finer
filament (1.08 dtex) textured yarns was 237 g/tex and 213 g/tex
respectively.
Fabric thickness was measured on an Instron (Model 4411) tester in
compressional mode, using a compression plate of 49 mm diameter and
compression rate of 1.2 mm/min. Thickness values at different pressure levels
viz. 5 gf/cm2, 20 gf/cm2 and 50 gf/cm2 were obtained. The compression,
compressibility, compressional recovery and the resiliency behaviour were
studied by extending the jaw movement distance in the graph (which is plotted
on x-axis) as shown in the Figure 1. The following parameters are obtained
from the equations given below:
Compression mm t0 2 t f

Fabric particulars without laundering

Sample code

Table I.
Textured yarn
woven grey and
heat-set fabric
particulars with and
without laundering

ends/cm

picks/cm

GT
GT
GT
GT
GT
GT
GT
GT

72/62
36/62
72/70
36/70
72/78
36/78
72/86
36/86

36.2
36.0
36.0
36.0
36.0
36.0
36.3
36.2

24.2
24.4
27.3
27.7
30.4
30.6
33.9
33.9

HT
HT
HT
HT
HT
HT
HT
HT

72/62
36/62
72/70
36/70
72/78
36/78
72/86
36/86

37.8
37.2
37.8
37.0
38.0
37.4
38.0
37.6

26.2
26.6
28.6
28.7
31.5
31.6
34.0
34.0

Weight (g/m2)
Grey fabrics
103.6
101.8
106.5
105.9
113.9
112.3
120.0
118.1
Heat-set fabrics
110.7
108.2
114.8
114.7
118.2
117.8
120.8
119.0

Fabric particulars with laundering

ends/cm

picks/cm

Weight (g/m2)

37.4
37.6
37.4
37.4
37.1
37.6
37.0
37.8

25.6
25.8
28.4
28.6
31.0
31.1
34.0
34.0

111.0
110.6
113.2
113.0
119.4
117.8
120.7
119.3

38.0
37.6
37.9
37.4
38.4
37.4
38.4
37.6

26.6
27.0
28.9
29.0
31.8
31.9
34.0
34.0

112.6
110.8
114.7
114.5
118.6
117.9
120.9
119.0

G Grey, H Heat-set, T Textured, Nominal end density 36 ends/cm, Nominal pick density
varying between 62 to 86 picks/inch.

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91

Figure 1.
Compression and
recovery graph obtained
on INSTRON tester

Compressibility; %

t0 2 tf
100
t0

Thickness recovery; %

tr
100
t0

Compressional energy f W 1
Recovered energy f W 2
Resiliency %

W2
100
W1

Where, t0 is the initial thickness, tf is the final thickness after the fabric is
compressed, tr is the thickness obtained after the fabric recovered from the
compressed state after 1st cycle, W1 is the weight of the chart paper of the area
below the compression curve, W2 is the weight of the chart paper of the area
below the recovery curve, and f is the conversion factor.

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Discussion of results
Effect of pick density, constituent filament fineness and
heat-setting on fabric thickness before and after laundering
Figures 2 and 3 show the effect of pick density on fabric thickness at different
levels of pressure. It is observed that fabric thickness increases up to a certain
extent with the increase in fabric pick density, particularly when the thickness
is measured at lower pressure level. At higher pressure levels, changes in fabric
thickness due to the change in pick density is very small. The above finding is
in agreement with the earlier finding (Kothari et al., 2000). It is also noted that
the textured yarn fabric thickness is higher after heat-setting for both
laundered and unlaundered fabrics. The thermal shrinkage during the heatsetting leads to increase in fabric thickness. It is further observed that the
difference in thickness values of grey and heat-set fabrics is much higher at
5 gf/cm2 pressure compared to that of 20 gf/cm2 and 50 gf/cm2 pressure during
the thickness measurement.
It is noted from the Figures 4 and 5 that the thickness of laundered fabric is
significantly higher than that of unlaundered fabrics at lower pick density and
at lower pressure. Further after laundering, change in thickness with increase
in pick density is very marginal. The changes in thickness with the increase in
pick density depend upon relative and absolute values of crimp amplitudes of
warp and weft threads, diameters of warp and weft yarns, compressibility of
threads in the fabric structure and the surface irregularity of the fabric. After
laundering, pick density increases particularly for the fabric of lower pick
density leading to greater dimensional change of the said fabric.
It is also observed from the above figures that thickness of coarser filament
textured yarn fabric is higher than that of finer filament textured yarn fabric
before and after laundering. This is due to the higher yarn bulk of coarser
filament textured yarn as compared to finer filament textured yarn. It is further
observed that the effect of laundering is more on heat-set fabric particularly for
the fabric at lower pick density.
Effect of pick density, constituent filament fineness and
heat-setting on fabric compression and compressibility before
and after laundering
Table II shows that with the increase in pick density the compression of fabric
increases up to a certain level of picks/cm for both grey and heat-set textured
yarn fabrics before and after laundering. However, the compression values of
laundered fabrics is significantly higher than that of unlaundered fabric at
lower pick density for both the above said fabrics. It is further observed that
the coarser filament textured yarn fabric has higher compression values than
that of finer filament textured yarn fabric before and after laundering. This is
due to the higher bulk of coarser filament textured yarn which provides greater
compression. On heat-setting the difference in compression values of finer and

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93

Figure 2.
Effect of pick density on
thickness of coarser
filament textured yarn
fabric at different
pressures without
laundering

Figure 3.
Effect of pick density on
thickness of finer
filament textured yarn
fabric at different
pressures without
laundering

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Figure 4.
Effect of pick density
and constituent filament
fineness on thickness of
grey textured yarn
fabrics before and after
laundering

Figure 5.
Effect of pick density
and constituent filament
fineness on thickness of
heat-set textured yarn
fabrics before and after
laundering

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coarser filament textured yarn fabric became lower. It is also noted that, in
general, the fabric compression is higher for heat-set fabric before and after
laundering. The effect of heat-setting is much higher than the effect of
laundering.
Table II and Figures 6 and 7 show that with the increase in pick density, the
compressibility of both coarser and finer filament textured yarn grey and heatset fabrics increase only up to a certain picks/cm. After laundering, fabric
compressibility becomes higher for the fabric of lower pick density. From the same
figures it is observed that, on heat-setting the difference in compressibility
values of finer and coarser filament textured yarn fabric reduces. The above
reduction in difference in compressibility of finer and coarser filament textured
yarn fabric is also shown by the fabric compression results (Table II). After
heat-setting there is an increment in compressibility of both coarser and finer
filament textured yarn fabric with and without laundering (Table II). This may
be attributed to increase in compressible part of the fabric after heat-setting.
The effect of laundering on fabric compressibility is much lower than the effect
of heat-setting.
Effect of pick density, constituent filament fineness and
heat-setting on compressional recovery and resiliency before
and after laundering
Table II and Figures 8 and 9 show that with the increase in pick density the
recovery and resiliency of both grey and heat-set laundered and unlaundered
textured yarn fabrics increase. This may be attributed to the increase in
number of cross-over points of warp and weft threads within the compression
zone of the fabric which results greater mass of fabric contributing towards
compressional recovery and resiliency. From the same figures it is observed
that constituent filament fineness has little influence on recovery and resiliency
both before and after laundering. However, after laundering the fabric
compressional recovery and resiliency increases slightly for both the coarser
and finer filament textured yarn fabric. Further, it is observed that heat-setting
has little influence on both the compressional recovery and resiliency for
coarser and finer filament textured yarn fabric (Table II).
Conclusions
With an increase in pick density of textured yarn fabric, the fabric thickness
increases up to certain extent when thickness is measured at lower pressure. At
higher pressure, the effect of pick density on fabric thickness is marginal.
However, after laundering the effect of pick density on thickness is marginal at
all pressures. The difference thickness values of grey and heat-set fabric is
much higher at 5 gf/cm2 pressure compared to that of 20 gf/cm2 and 50 gf/cm2
pressure both before and after laundering.

Thickness and
compressional
characteristics
95

Table II.
Effect of pick
density, constituent
filament fineness
and heat-setting on
fabric
compressional
parameters

0.076
0.104
0.121
0.118

0.110
0.119
0.120
0.120

0.143
0.174
0.185
0.179

0.193
0.204
0.204
0.197

24
28
31
34

24
28
31
34

24
28
31
34

24
28
31
34

Pick density,
picks/cm
(Nominal)

96

0.148
0.160
0.159
0.150

0.114
0.148
0.167
0.165

0.054
0.070
0.069
0.066

0.036
0.050
0.066
0.066

22.1
28.5
31.1
31.5

Grey fabrics
12.0
19.7
22.3
23.3
Grey laundered fabrics
29.0
16.9
30.7
21.5
31.4
21.9
32.1
22.0
Heat-set fabrics
33.0
28.2
35.4
34.5
37.6
37.6
38.5
37.7
Heat-set laundered fabrics
39.8
37.0
40.5
38.2
41.2
39.0
40.8
38.0
86.2
91.6
94.7
96.8

83.5
86.1
89.1
95.0

83.8
87.8
91.8
96.8

80.0
84.9
88.0
94.0

87.9
92.9
95.0
97.0

84.0
87.0
90.7
95.9

85.7
89.7
93.6
96.2

81.1
85.0
88.6
94.1

70.1
74.7
78.7
84.8

68.4
71.4
75.3
82.7

68.1
72.1
75.3
83.9

66.4
71.4
74.9
81.9

71.1
74.9
78.7
85.9

69.1
71.5
75.4
82.8

69.9
72.1
76.1
84.0

67.1
71.3
75.6
82.7

Compression (mm)
Compresibility (per cent)
Recovery (per cent)
Resiliency (per cent)
Finer
Coarser
Finer
Coarser
Finer
Coarser
Finer
Coarser
filament
filament
filament
filament
filament
filament
filament
filament
textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn textured yarn
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric

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IJCST
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Figure 6.
Effect of pick density
and consntuent filament
fineness on
compressibility per cent
of grey textured yarn
fabrics before and after
laundering

Figure 7.
Effect of pick density
and constituent filament
fineness on
compressibility per cent
of heat- set textured yarn
fabrics before and after
laundering

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Figure 8.
Effect of pick density
and constituent filament
fineness on recovery per
cent of heat-set textured
yarn fabrics before and
after laundering

Figure 9.
Effect of pick density
and constituent filament
fineness on resiliency per
cent of heat-set textured
yarn fabrics before and
after laundering

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With the increase m fabric pick density, fabric compression and compressibility
increase up to a certain extent. Fabric compressional recovery and resiliency
are mainly influenced by fabric pick density rather than the effect of heatsetting and filament fineness of constituent textured yarns.
On heat-setting, the textured yarn fabric possesses higher thickness,
compression and compressibility than that of grey textured yarn fabrics with
little difference in compressional recovery and resiliency.
Coarser filament textured yarn fabrics have higher thickness, compression
and compressibility than that of finer filament textured yarn fabrics but there
is no significant difference in fabric recovery and resiliency.
On laundering, fabric thickness, specific volume, compression and
compressibility improve particularly for the fabric of lower pick density.
However, the effect of laundering is marginal on fabric compressional recovery
and resiliency.
References
Dupuis, D., Popov, G. and Viallier, P. (1995), Evaluation of grey state fabrics as a function of
yarn structure, Textile Research Journal, 65, pp. 309-16.
Kothari, V.K., Mukhopadhyay, A. and Kaushik, R.C.D. (2000), Bulk characteristics of air-jet
textured yarn woven fabrics, Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research, 25, pp. 37-41.
Sengupta, A.K., Kothari, V.K. and Srinivasan, J. (1990), Effect of repeated laundering on the
properties of air-jet textured cotton/filament composite fabrics, Textile Research Journal,
60, pp. 573-9.

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characteristics
99