Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 17, June 1992,pp. 72-76

Effect of backsuction on the twist-tensile strength characteristics of

polyester open-end friction-spun yarns
ARB Ibrahim
Department of Textile Science and Technology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Received 25 February 1991; revised received 4 February 1992; accepted 28 February 1992

Six yarn packages were spun under different spinning conditions using a laboratory open-end
friction-spinner to observe the effect of back suction on the twist-tensile strength characteristics of polyester
open-end friction-spun yarns. An optical method based on tracer fibre technique was used to investigate the
distribution oftwists in the yarn structure and a Textechno Statimat M Test Machine (a computerised tensile
strength tester) was used to determine the tensile-strength characteristics. It is observed that backsuction
increases the amount of twists along the length of yarns while the magnitude of pressure used in spinning
influences this effect. The yarns spun with backsuction show higher tenacity, breaking elongation, initial
modulus and work to rupture than the yarns spun without backsuction. Backsuction reduces the yarn
diameter, makes the yarn finer and so should be employed for better mechanical properties of the yarns. Twist
distribution in open-end friction-spun yarns varies much, probably due to the complexity of the mechanics
of twist insertion. The highest tenacity (14.85 cN/tex) shown by the package backsuctioned at 1320.8 mm
pressure is still low for commercial utilization of the yarns.

Keywords: Backsuction, Friction-spun yarn, Open-end friction spinning, Polyester yarn, Twist-tensile
strength characteristics

1 Introduction formed. The shear field is created by one or more

The need to have increased production in yarn
spinning for the money invested has led to the
introduction of new yam production systems. In both
ring- and rotor-spinning systems, the spinning speed
is strictly dependent on the count and twist, about 20
m/min for ring and 150 m/min for rotor spinning,
whereas in OE friction spinning, speed does not
depend on count and twist and is above 200 m/rnin I.
But, the spinning speeds in ring- and rotor-spinning
can be increased up to 30 m/min and 200 m/min
respectively, while the speed in OE friction-spinning
system can be increased up to 450 m/rnin. Open-end
friction-spinning system gives extremely high
machine productivity, higher than all other
commercial systems. But the product from this new
spinning system still suffers from low tensile strength
due to lack of proper fibre orientation in the structure
of the yarns. Lord et al? reported that open-end
friction-spun yams have about 60% of the tenacity of
ring-spun yarns or about 90% of that of rotor-spun
yams. In this spinning system, yams are consolidated
by supplying separated fibres to a torque zone within
a shear field followed by removal of yarn being
solids rotating in the same direction, e.g. cylinders.
Open-end friction-spun yarns can also be produced
by introducing fibres to the appropriate zones", and a
popular solution is to make at least one of the moving
surfaces a non-flat revolving solid. This permits a
fibre supply channel to be brought close to the torque
zone, which helps control the fibre-assembly process.
In this case, the torque is generated by the oppositely
moving surfaces, and the arriving fibre is carried into
mesh with the yarn by one of those surfaces or by the
yarn itself. However, the emerging yarn does not
rotate, and only a rotating envelope of fibres at
open-end is capable of twisting in the arriving fibres.
The direction of arrival of the fibres is said to be more
or less opposite to the direction of departure of the
yarn. This is called backward spinning. Though, it is
possible for the fibres to approach at other angles with
respect to the yam, the best arrangement is not known
yet.
The concept of enclosing the yarn between two
frictional surfaces is found in all OE
friction-spinning methods published in the patent
literature. Twist can be imparted by friction using two
f
\.
IBRAHIM: EFFECT OF BACKSUCTION ON CHARACTERISTICS
rotating symmetrical bodies. Either outside or inside
friction may be used". OE friction-spun yarns have
no systematically formed wrapped fibres', with lower
fibre straightened.and orientation compared to the
ring and rotor yarns. It remains to be seen whether the
advantages of the yarn structure, considering the
restricted application field due to lower strength,
offer so many economic advantages that a market
introduction of OE friction-spinning technology is
justified". Brockmanns and Lunenschloss' reported
that both the tenacity and elongation of OE
friction-spun yarns depend, to different degrees, on
the final yarn count and spinning speed. Due to the
tensional torsion insertion during open-end
friction-spinning the mass variation in the fibre
feeding stream leads to changes in the friction
conditions and also to stronger twist variations" in
the yarn. A large number of fibres in the rotor yarns
are loosely wrapped around the yarn, with some
forming rings or wrappers around the yarn giving a
bulk appearance". This is also found in open-end
friction-spun yarns and is a contributing factor to
yarn imperfection.
As with all spinning systems, the mass irregularity
of open-end friction-spun yarns depends on the
count" with optimum passage of drafting. The quality
and structure of open-end friction-spun yarns
depend essentially on the arrangements for fibre
opening and fibre feeding". The regularity of the fibre
flow and the degree offibre stretching and orientation
during the attachment of the fibre to the rotating yarn
end are, in particular, of major importance 1o. Due to
the mechanics of yam formation' ~the yam is weak.The
present study was aimed at seeing the effect of
backsuction on the structure and twist-tensile
strength characteristics of polyester open-end
friction-spun yarns for full commercial utilization.
2 Materials and Methods
For spinning, 100% polyester fibres were used and
six different yarn packages were spun in the count
range of 9.42-14.20 tex. These fine counts were
chosen to forecast the limitations of OE
friction-spinning system using single sliver feed
method which has not been employed commercially
because of the low strength of yams obtained from
this method. The OE friction-spinning machine
using single sliver feed method, installed in the
spinning laboratory of the Department of Textile
Industries, University of Leeds, UK was used for
spinning the yarn packages. The packages were spun
under different spinning conditions. The count of the
polyester fibre used was 1.3 dtex while that of the
sliver 2.8 g/m with four drawing passages and a draft
OF FRICTION-SPUN YARNS 73
of 140. The fibres were in the staple form with a staple
length of 32 mm. The tracer fibre used for twist
investigation was obtained from France. It was made
from viscose rayon fibre and dyed black and had a
count of 1.5 den with a staple length of 32 mm. The
amount of tracer fibre used in the bulk materials was
of the order of I %. This amount was adequate for
twist investigation to be carried out properly.
Methylsalicylate solvent was used to isolate the
polyester fibres for twist investigation. The
remaining materials include microscope, camera,
video and television.
2.1 Preparation of Yarn Samples
All the yarn packages were spun with I % tracer
fibres at a speed of 160 m/min using OE
friction-spinning machine based on single sliver feed
method (Platt Saco Lowell). Single sliver was
supplied to the torque zone, which after its opening
into single fibres was fed perpendicularly to the yarn
take off direction. The operations involved in the OE
friction-spinning method used can be shown in a
simplified form as given below:
Single Separation Collection of Twist
sliver ~of sliver -+ fibres in the ~ insertion into
feed into torque zone the collection of
individual created by fibres by friction
fibres frictional to produce a
elements yarn
t
Winding yarn
onto package
The fibre opening device plays an important role
here in determining the yarn characteristics since all
the fibres have to be oriented, straightened and
parallel for better yarn properties. The best opening
device position to the spinning zone and the types of
opening and feeding devices to obtain the best results
are not known yet, and hence the poor performance of
the yams from the system. In this study, the feeding of
the sliver was kept perpendicular to the spinning
zone.
Of the six packages, three were spun with
backsuction and the remaining three without
backsuction under three different spinning pressures
of 1219.2, 1320.8 and 1422.4 mm water gauge to
observe the effects of suction and pressure on the
spinning system. Packages I and 2 were spun under a
pressure of 1.219.2 mm water gauge while the
packages 3 and 4 were spun under 1320.8 mm water
gauge and the packages 5 and 6 were spun under
1422.4 mm water gauge.
74 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 1992

2.2 Optical Method of Twist Investigation
The presence of wrapper fibres on the surface of
open-end friction-spun yarns and the complexity of
the yarn structure make the methods used for
investigating twist characteristics in conventional
yarns unacceptable for this type of yarn
structure'? -15. Hence, the optical method was used
for this study. The twist t in a yam can be expressed in
terms of the twist angle 9 as:
tan (J
(=--
nD
where D is the yarn diameter. If the twist angle is
measured along with the corresponding diameter of
the yarn with the help of an optical microscope, the
absolute yarn twist may easily be calculated without
actually untwisting the yarn. Thus, the principle is to
measure the absolute twist in the core of open-end
friction-spun yarns.
A long-stem camera was set over an ordinary
microscope and the camera was connected to a
television through a video. Each yarn sample was
suitably mounted on a glass microslide by wrapping
at parallel and lengthwise. The yarn ends were fixed at
the slide ends with the help of a quick drying adhesive.
The yarn wraps from one side of the slide were
removed with the help of a razor blade. For the optical
isolation of tracer fibres in the polyester yarns, a few
drops ofmethylsalicylate solvent were spread evenly
on these yarns with the help of a slide cover. These
slides were then mounted on an optical microscope
having a micrometer scale in the eye-piece for
measuring the yarn diameter after the structure has
been fully focussed on the television screen. A
protractor, graduated in degrees, was used to
measure the angle of twist of the focussed tracer fibres
on the television screen. The magnifications used for
optical camera and microscope were x IS and x 10
respectively, making the total magnification x 150.
Since it was the angle of twist (9) of the tracer fibres in
the core of the yarns that was measured with respect to
the yarn axis, the diameter corresponding to
inflexions of the tracer fibre on the surface of the core
in each case was observed on the microscale and was
corrected for magnification to provide the values in
meter. On an average, seven slides with 8-10 yarns on
each were prepared for each of the yam packages to
measure the twist by the optical method using Eq. (l).
One hundred results were obtained from each of the
six packages spun.
2.3 Determination of Tensile Strength
The strength characteristics of the yarn packages
were determined using Textechno Statimat M Test
Machine, a computerized tensile strength tester.
Twenty tests were carried out for each of the six
packages and the mean values noted.
3 Results and Discussion
The average mean and the coefficient of variation
(CV%) of twist characteristics are given in Tables 1
and 2 and the tensile strength characteristics are given
in Table 3. The results show that the effect of
backsuction on twist characteristics of polyester
open-end friction-spun yarn is significant. The yarn
packages spun with backsuction have much higher
tpm than those spun without backsuction at all the
pressure levels (Table 1). However, the difference is
more for packages spun under 1320.8 mm water
pressure. This suggests that the spinning pressure
(water gauge) alscaflects the twist distribution in
open-end friction-spinning system. The present
study has shown that the higher the tpm, the higher
the strength. The yarn package 3 (backsuctioned)
with the highest tpm (982.2) has the highest tenacity
(14.85 cN/tex). But, this tenacity is still low for
commercial utilization and is about 60% of that of
ring-spun yarns or about 90% of that of rotor-spun
yarns". If the individual values of twist angle and yarn

Table I-Yam twist characteristics (mean values)

Property Package No.

la 2 3" 4 sa 6
(1219.2)b (I219.2)b (I 320.8)b (1320.8)b (1422.4)b (1422.4)b
Overall mean twist angle, tanS 28.13 27.66 24.25 24.70 22.15 21.61
Overall mean numerical value of tanS 0.5464 0.5389 0.4603 0.4600 0.4114 0.4037
Overall mean diameter, mm 0.2034 0.2179 0.1586 0.1925 0.1758 0.1927
Overall mean turns/mm 0.8896 0.8163 0.9822 0.8038 0.7590 0.6794

"Backsuctioned packages; "Spinning pressure, mm

 IBRAHIM: EFFECT' OF BACKSUCTION ON CHARACTERISTICS OF FRIcnON-SPUN YARNS 75

diameter of these yarns are considered even on the the yarn twist characteristics. It is observed that CV%
same package, it is observed that the yarns vary much values of twist angle (tan 0) for all the yarns spun with
along their structures. This is in agreement with the backsuction are lower than those for the yarns spun
findings of Lunenschloss and Brockmanns I. This without backsuction. Similarly, the CV% values of
study has shown that in open-end friction-spinning tpm for backsuctioned packages are lower than those
system, there is probably a maximum spinning
pressure under which the yarns are hard twisted and
above this pressure the tpm would reduce and hence Table 3- Tensile strength characteristics
the changes in the structure and properties of the Yarn Mean Mean Mean work Count
yarns (Table l). All the yarn packages spun with package tenacity elongation to rupture tex
backsuction have lower diameter than those spun cN/tex % N cm
without backsuction. Fig. 1 shows the average la 13.49 10.66 7.40 14.20
force-elongation curves for the open-end 2 10.03 9.69 5.45 11.08
friction-spun yarns. It could be seen from the curves 3a 14.85 11.30 9.52 13.81
that all the backsuctioned packages have higher 4 11.96 10.47 6.30 9.42
initial modulus and elongation than those spun 5" 14.60 11.32 8.76 12.89
without backsuction and hence the higher work to 6 11.81 10.62 6.69 12.81
rupture (Table 3).
Table 2 shows the coefficient of variation (CV%) of "Backsuctioned

Table 2-Yam twist characteristics (CV% values)

Property Package No.

I" 2 3" 4 5" 6

(I219.2)b (I219.2)b (1320.8)b (1320.8)b (I 422.4)b (I 422.4)b
Overall CV% of twist angle tane 10.49 12.63 4.69 5.61 6.49 8.00
Overall CV% of numerical value of tanf) 12.68 15.69 6.06 5.46 7.54 8.84
Overall CV% of diameter 11.89 11.41 9.82 13.56 5.62 5.29
Overall CV% of turns/mm 17.47 12.16 8.88 15.14 5.38 7.75

"Backsuctioned packages; bSpinning pressure, mm

15 Packag~ 1 Packag~ 2 Packag~ 3

( Backsuction~d ) (Backsuction~ )

10

~ 15 ,-------------,
Package 4 Packag~ 5 Packag~ 6
••v (Backsuctio~ )
~ 10

o 3 6 9 12
Elongation, .,.

Fig. I-Average force-elongation curves of the yarns as given by Textechno Statimat M test machine
76 INDIAN J. FmRE lEXT. RES., JUNE 1992

for packages spun without backsuction except for
package 1. But the CV% values of yarn diameter
follow a different trend with some backsuctioned
packages having higher values than their
counterparts spun without back suction (Table 2).
The shapes of the average force-elongation curves
also show the effect of backsuction in open-end
friction-spinning. All the yarns spun with
backsuction have their curves moved more to the
average force axis than the yarns spun without
backsuction.
Acknowledgement
This research work was-performed by the author at
the Department of Textile Industries, University of
Leeds, Leeds, UK. The author gratefully
acknowledges the help and encouragement given by
the members of the staff of the University of Leeds.
References
I LunenschlossJ & Brockmanns KJ, Int Text Bull, Spinning, (3)
(1985) 29.
2 Lord P R, 100 C W & Ashizaki T, J Text Inst, 78 (4) (1987)
237.
3 Lunenschloss 1 & Brockmanns K J, Melliand Textilber (Eng.
Ed), 63 (3) (1982) 174.
4 Lunenschloss J & Brockmanns K J, Int Text Bull, Spinning, (2)
(1986) 7.
5 Brockmanns K 1 & Lunenschloss 1, Int Text Bull, Spinning, (3)
(1984) 15.
6 Lunenschloss J, Brockmanns K J & Phoa T K, Int Text Bull,
Spinning, (2) (1986) 7.
7 Louis G L, Salaun H L & Kimmel L B, Text Res J, 55 (6) (1985)
344.
8 Gilhaus K F, Ernst H & Wulfhorst B, Chemiefasernl Text-Ind,
34/86 (1984) 629, E84.
9 Brockmanns K 1 & Johnson N, Int Text Bull, Spinning, (3)
(1986) 27.
10 Lunenschloss 1 & Brockmanns K 1, Betrachtugen Zum DE
Friktions Spinnen, MTB. 63 (1982)
II Lunenschloss 1 & Brockmanns K 1,1111 Text Bull. Spinning, (3)
(1984) 30.
12 Lunenschloss 1 & Brockmanns K J, Melliand Textilber, 63
(1982) 15.
13 Stalder H, Chemiefasern Text-Ind, 34 82 (1980) 43.
14 Lunenschloss 1 & Brockmanns K J, Melliand Textilber, 63
(1982) 262.
15 Schlafhorst Information, 8 (1983) 8.