Solved QP of Knit tech April/May 2023

Part A

1. Compare the woven, bonded and knitted fabrics in terms of their structure and properties.

Structure/property Woven Bonded Knitted

Construction Interlacement of Bonding of Intermeshing of
warp and weft fibres or yarn loops
filaments
Stretch Moderate stretch Low stretch High stretch
Drape Moderate Low High
Air permeability Moderate Low High
Crease formation High Moderate Low

2. List the yarn quality requirements for knitting a quality knitted fabric.

Yarn should possess good strength, good elastic recovery, low hairiness, minimum
imperfection and yarn faults, low yarn twist, texturized synthetic filaments, low yarn
unevenness.

3. How is technical face of weft knitted fabric differentiated from technical back?

In case of non-reversible fabrics, legs of loops are visible like a ‘V’ in technical face whereas
in technical back, the heads of the needle loops and the bases of the sinker loops form olumns
of interlocking semi-circles. In single jersey fabrics, the fabrics curl towards the face at top
and bottom and curl towards back at the sides.

4. What are all the basic elements in knitted loop?

a. Needle loop consisting of needle loop with head and two side limbs or legs.

b. Sinker loop which connects the adjacent needle loop.

c. Intermeshing of two loops form a stitch.

In addition, warp knitted loops are with closed lap or open lap and the underlapping connects
the wales.

5. Analyze the causes of spirality in the weft knitted fabric.

Spirality is generally found in single jersey structures. The main source of spirality is the
twist liveliness of the yarn used. Loop formation involves both twisting and bending,
resulting in twist redistribution in the arms of the loop. The loop shape is affected as the yarn
in the fabric is prevented from snarling by its contact with adjacent loops. The net result is
that all the loops in the fabric take up an inclined position giving the fabric a spiral
appearance and the wale lines are no more at right angles with the courses. Spirality of more
than 5° is clearly visible and objectionable. The spirality value generally increases after
washing due to relaxation of the residual torque of the yarn. Yarn with higher twist multiplier
always produces higher spirality than a yarn with low twist multiplier.
Other factors for spirality are,
 Tightness factor of the fabric (spirality decreases with increase in tightness factor)
 Feeder density in the machine (spirality increases with increase in number of feeders)
 Machine gauge
 Yarn linear density
 Variation in knitting tension and yarn frictional properties
 Spinning technology (friction > ring > rotor >air jet)
 Residual torque of the yarn

6. For a wet relaxed plain knitted fabric the stitch density is 86.4. Estimate the number of
courses/cm and wales/cm. The wet relaxed constant of worsted plain knitted fabric is
Kc/Kw=1.29.
Kc/Kw = C/W = 1.29 where C-courses/cm and W=Wales/cm.
C x W = stitch density = 86.4.
C/W = 1.29 or C=1.29W
Stitch density = courses/cm x wales/cm = 1.29W x W = 1.29W2
86.4 = 1.29 W2,
86.4
therefore W (wales/cm) = √(1.29 ) = 8.184
Courses/cm = 1.29W = 1.29 x 8.184=10.56

7. List any three derivatives of single jersey knitted fabrics.

a. La-Coste
b. Cross tuck
c. Satin

8. calculate the production of knitted fabric in terms of yards per hour and width of the fabric
for a knitting machine running with the following data:
Machine speed=20 rpm
number of feeders=12
courses/inch (CPI)=24
number of needles=490
wales/inch=29
Fabric production in Yards / Hour is= machine rpm x no.of feeders x 60 / (CPI x 36)
= 20 x 12 x 60 / (24 x 36) = 16.67 yards/hour.
Width of fabric = total number of needles/wales per inch = 490/29 = 16.90 inches.

9. State the principle of pattern wheel in warp knitting machine.

Pattern wheel is a solid circular disc which doesn't have chain links and its periphery is
shaped into crest and tough like profile. A follower connected to the guidebars thro levers
follow the profile path of pattern wheel thus giving a lateral displacement to the guide bar.
The pattern wheel speed is based on the number of courses it controls per rotation.
10. List the machine requirements for developing a terry pile fabric using warp knitting
machine.
1. Separate guide bar is used in warp knitting to feed the terry yarn.
The press-off method has proved particularly suitable for knitting terry fabrics for towelling
and fitted bed linen. A compound needle tricot machine has been specially developed for the
technique. In the needle bar, which is in the gauge range E 20 to E 24, normal compound
needles alternate with large-head needles.The guide bars are threaded (I • I •) with the ground
guide bar overlapping only the normal compound needles and the terry guide bar overlapping
only the large-head needles. In the latter case, this occurs only at alternate courses so that at
the next knitting cycle the large-head needles knock over the terry pile loops without
receiving a new overlap, thus pressing-off their loops. Patterning mechanism should also be
configured for terry structure.
Part C
16. (a) In a circular plain knitting machine of 24 gauge, 30” diameter, 96 feeders and 35 rpm
speed, find out the optimum knitting conditions of the following parameters:
i. optimum yarn tex
ii. optimum loop length
iii. Run-in
iv. courses/cm and wales/cm
v. fabric width and length (m)
vi. fabric areal density (g/m2)
The efficiency of the machine is 90%. Assuming the finished state constants Kc=5.5, and
Kw=4.2 and the optimum tightness factor , K=15.

Explanation for the problem

i) Tightness Factor
It is the ratio of the area covered by the yarn in one loop to the area occupied by that loop.
Tightness factor, K = √𝑡𝑒𝑥 / l where l is loop length in cm.
Tightness factor ranges from 11 (for slack fabrics) to 19 ( for tight fabrics) and an average of
15 is preferable, which is optimum in general.
(ii) Machine Gauge
It is the number of needles per inch arranged on the needle bed. Yarn number and machine
gauge are related as
(a) Yarn Tex = (100/G)2
(b) Worsted count = G2 / 10 where G = Needles / inch
(iii) Input tension = 0.1 gms /tex
(iv) Loop length (l) = √𝑡𝑒𝑥 /K cms, where K is tightness factor
(v) Course length, L = Loop length x number of needles per course.
Course length is the length of yarn consumed for full course during knitting.
(vi) Run in
Run-in is the yarn in take length at each feed (metres or inch per min) for a given machine
speed. It can be calculated by knowing the loop length, number of needles and machine
speed.
Calculation:
i. tex= (100/G)2 = (100/24)2= 17.3 tex or 18 tex approx. or 32sNe.
ii. loop length, (l) = √𝑡𝑒𝑥 /K cms, where K is tightness facto
(l) = √18/15 = 0.28 cm
iii. input tension = 0.1 gram/tex = 0.1 x 18 = 1.8 gram
iv. course length = loop length x no.of needles = 0.28 x dia x 𝜋 × gauge = 0.28 x 30 x 24 x 𝜋
= 633.6 cm
v. run-in (inches/min) = course length x rpm = 633.6 x 35/100 = 221.7 m/min
vi. courses/cm = Kc/l, wales/cem = Kw/l
Finished relaxed state, Kc=5.5, Kw=4.2
Courses/cm = 5.5/0.28 = 19.5
Wales/cm = 4.2/0.28 = 14.9
vii. Fabric width = total needles/wales per cm = 2263/14.9 = 152 cm or 1.52 m
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 ×𝑟𝑝𝑚×𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒×𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑦 96×35×60×0.9
Fabric length = = = 93 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠/𝑐𝑚 19.5×100
𝑐𝑝𝑐𝑚×𝑤𝑝𝑐𝑚×𝑙× 19.5×14.9×0.28×18
vii. GSM at relaxed state = = = 146.4 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑞. 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒
10 10

16. b. (i) For a 130 inch wide, 2400 rpm high speed tricot warp knitting machine of 90%
efficiency producing 2.5 metre wider fabric having 30 courses per centimeter and 105 grams
per square metre, calculate the production in running metre per hour (rmph), square metre per
hour, and kilograms per hour.
𝑟𝑝𝑚×60 2400×60
i. production in running metre per hour = 𝑐𝑝𝑐𝑚×100 = = 48 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
30×100
ii, square metre per hour = running metres per hout x fabric width = 48 x 2.5
= 120 sq.metres per hour.
iii. kilograms per hour = GSM x sq.metres per hour/1000 = 105 x 120/1000
= 12.6 kilograms per hour.

(ii) A fully threaded two guidebar fabric is produced on a 28 gauge, 172” wide, 1800 rpm
speed machine. The run-in of 40 dtex yarn at front and back guide bars are 2.15 m/rack and
1.05 m/rack respectively. Calculate the production of the machine in Kgs/hour.
Yarn run-in in front guide bar=2.15 m/rack or 2.15 m/480 courses
Yarn run-in in back guide bar=1.05 m/rack or 1.05 m/480 courses
Total number of threads in each guide bar=gauge x width = 28 x 172 = 4816 threads
Total length of yarn consumed for front guide bar = rpm x 4816 x 2.15 x 60/480
= 23,29,740 metres per hour
Total length of yarn consumed for back guide bar = rpm x 4816 x 1.05 x 60/480
= 10,83,600 metres per hour.
Total length of yarn consumed for both the guide bars = 23,29,740 + 10,83,600
= 34,13,340 metres/hour.
Fabric production in kilograms per hour= 34,13,340 x 40/(10000 x 1000)
= 13.65 kgs/hour