Original article

Textile Research Journal

2021, Vol. 91(1–2) 168–174

Size formulations for cotton yarn weaving ! The Author(s) 2020

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at lower relative humidity DOI: 10.1177/0040517520934880
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Hailiang Wu1,2 , Yanqin Shen1,2 , Yijun Yao1,2 and

Bin Zhang3

Abstract
In this paper, size formulations for cotton yarns suitable for weaving fabrics in an environment of lower relative humidity
(RHs) are investigated, which is desirable for both human comfort and the reduction of energy costs during fabric
production. Moisture regain, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of cotton yarns sized with different size formula-
tions were studied at 28 C and various RHs. While the tensile strength of sized yarns with different size formulations
was hardly affected by RH, both their abrasion resistance and weavability vary significantly with RH. Better abrasion
resistance and weavability of cotton yarns sized with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and modified starch were achieved at 60%
RH, and they were obtained at 70% RH for cotton yarns sized with PVA, modified starch and polyacrylic acid size. It was
thus concluded that the selection of suitable size formulations could enable corresponding sized yarns to be weaved at
lower RH. The suitable size formulation was composed of 60% oxidized starch, 30% PVA1799 and 10% polyacrylic acid
size. It was noticed that better abrasion resistance of yarns sized with solely modified starches were obtained at 65% RH.

Keywords
cotton warp yarn, relative humidity, sizing, weaving

Textile warp sizing is an important process to reduce
warp breakages in weaving because it can protect the
yarns from the stress, strain and abrasion.1,2 However,
only if sized warps have been woven in a workshop of
high relative humidity (RH) at high temperature can
the looms can be kept at high weaving efficiency.
Temperature and RH are currently at 28–30 C and
74–80% RH, respectively.3 When RH is above 70%,
the skin wettedness feeling is unacceptable and physical
responses are more tired. In Japan, RH indoors is lim-
ited between 40% and 70% RH.4–6 Not only are work-
ers uncomfortable in the hot-humid weaving room, but
also it is harmful to their health. Theunissen et al.7
showed that bacteria had a higher activity and easily
caused health problems and discomfort in the high
humidity condition. Moreover, it is disadvantageous
to machines and there is extra energy consumption at
high RH. The cost of humidification at 80% RH is
comparable to that for driving the loom and approxi-
mately twice as much as that at 65–70% RH.8
The research on the effects of temperature and
humidity on properties of yarns was started early.
However, only some of them were found. Peirce and
Stephenson9 studied the effects of humidity on the
strength, elongation and other properties of sized and
unsized cotton yarns in early 1926. Hari and Tewary8
Behera and Hari10 investigated the relationship
between the RH and properties of sized cotton yarns.
They also studied the relationship between sizing mate-
rials and moisture regain of sized polyester yarns. Chen
et al.11 reported the influences of RH on the adhesive-
ness of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and soy protein sizes to
polyester and polyester/cotton rovings, respectively.
We studied the effects of moisture regain of size films
on their mechanical properties.12,13 From the perspec-
tive of thermal comfort in weaving, there has been no
research on warp sizing. The objective of our study was
1
School of Textile Science and Engineering, Xi’an Polytechnic University,
China
2
Key Laboratory of Functional Textile Material and Product (Xi’an
Polytechnic University), Ministry of Education, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
3
College of Textiles, Donghua University, China
Corresponding author:
Bin Zhang, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Songjiang
District, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Email: zhangbin@dhu.edu.cn
Wu et al.
to investigate the size formulations of cotton yarns
for the purpose of accomplishing weaving in the
environment of lower RH because it not only provides
comfort for workers, but also reduces maintenance
costs.
Experimental details
Materials
The combed ring-spun cotton yarns used in this study
were obtained courtesy of Xi’an Textile Group Limited
Liability Company, China. The linear density of the
yarn was 9.7 tex.
The granular starches SPR and A115 were kindly
supplied by AVEBE Co. Ltd (Holland). Both of them
were starch derivatives. Starch SPR modified by ether-
ification was sodium carboxymethyl starch. Starch
A115 was made by oxidization. PVA was obtained
from Chongqing Sinopec SVW Chemical Co. Ltd
(China). The degree of polymerization was 1700 and
degree of hydrolysis was 99 mol%. Polyacrylic acid
(PAA) was offered by Shanghai Liming Auxiliary Co.
Ltd (China). It was 30% solid content of aqueous solu-
tion. Starches SPR and A115, PVA and PAA were all
commercially available products.
Size formulation design
Nowadays starch, PVA and PAA size are usually used
as primary materials in warp sizing. In our size formu-
lations they were chosen as size base materials. Size
formulation used for warp yarns also contains some
additives, such as lubricants and softeners. The addi-
tives act to increase one or more of the desirable prop-
erties of sizing. However, sizing additives were not used
in our experiments. It was possible to weaken the var-
iations of sizing efficiency when primary size materials
or RH were changed and this was a disadvantage of our
research.
Table 1. Size formulations
Mass fraction of sizes /%
Starch Starch
No. A115 SPR PVA1799 PAA
1 62.5 0 37.5 0 12.5
2 75 0 25 0 12.5
3 60 0 30 10 (wt%)
4 25 75 0 0
PVA: polyvinyl alcohol; PAA: polyacrylic acid.
169
We adopted four size formulations from some prac-
tical textile factories, which are shown in Table 1.
Formulation 1 is a traditional formulation and was
widely used to size cotton warp yarns in textile sizing
industry. However, a large amount of PVA was used
and caused environmental pollution because PVA was
not easily biodegraded. There is a tendency in decreas-
ing PVA nowadays and we have tried to reduce the use
of PVA in sizing. The amount of PVA was therefore
reduced in Formulation 2. In Formulations 3 and 4
some high-performance sizing materials, such as
starch SPR and PAA size, respectively, were chosen
to use. Considering Formulation 1, the proportions of
them were applied in accordance with the information
of practical sizing in some textile factories.
Size preparation and sizing
According to the size formulation in Table 1, the
required amount of starch, PVA, PAA size and water
were added to a cooking kettle and stirred for
10–15 min at room temperature. The size slurry was
heated slowly to 95 C and cooked for 30 min. Then
the size liquid was pumped into a size box. All yarns
used in our studies were sized on a Benninger sizing
machine, which was equipped with a single size box,
having an immersion roll and two pairs of squeeze
rolls. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the size
box and its essential components.
The warp yarns were passed through a single size
box at 95 C. The squeeze pressure was 4.2 kg per
linear cm. Yarns were dried on four cylinders heated
to 120 C. The sizing machine was run at the rate
(generally about 14 m/min) required to dry yarns to a
moisture regain of 3.0%, as indicated by a Strandburg
moisture monitor. The width of the warp sheet was set
so that the yarns occupied 40% of available space at the
squeeze rolls.
Solid
content /%
12.5
12.5
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the size box.
170 Textile Research Journal 91(1–2)

Measurement of tensile properties of sized and Weaving

unsized yarns The sized yarns were woven into satin fabrics on a
Before testing, the samples were conditioned for 48 h in Picanol 1360 air jet loom with a weaving rate of
a standard atmosphere (20 C, 65% RH). A HD021N 450 r/min at 28 C. The weaving was carried out at dif-
electronic single yarn strength tester (Nantong Hongda ferent RHs, that is, 56%, 60%, 65%, 70% and 74%.
Instrument Co., Ltd, China) was used to measure the The linear density of the weft yarn was 9.7 tex and it
breaking strength of sized and unsized yarns. The pro- was a combed ring-spun cotton yarn. The construction
cedure specified by ASTM method D2256-2015 was of the fabric was 200 ends and 90 picks per inch and its
followed using at least 30 successful samples for each width was 200 cm. Warp stops were recorded per 10,000
sizing condition.14 picks. The weaving efficiency is the ratio of the
actual weaving length to the theoretical weaving
Measurement of abrasion resistance of sized and length in 24 h.
unsized yarns
Before testing, the samples were conditioned for 48 h in Results and discussion
a standard atmosphere (20 C, 65% RH). Abrasion Properties of cotton yarns sized with starch and
resistance of sized and unsized yarns was measured
on a Y731 abrasion tester (Changzhou Textile
PVA at various RHs
Instrument Plant, China) with a preliminary tension Cotton yarns were sized with the mixtures of PVA and
of 19.6 cN per end and an abrasion speed of 120 rpm. modified starch in different proportions because starch
The average number of abrasion cycles at break for at and PVA are usually selected as primary materials in
least 30 successful samples in each sizing condition was warp sizing. According to Formulations 1 and 2 in
used.15 Table 1, the mass ratios of starch A115 to PVA1799
were 62.5 to 37.5 and 75 to 25, respectively. The proper-
Measurement of moisture regain of sized and ties of sized yarns at various RHs are shown in Table 2.
From Table 2 the properties of sized yarns at
unsized yarns
various RHs are observed. No matter whether using
The moisture regain of sized and unsized yarns was Formulation 1 or Formulation 2 to size cotton yarns,
measured in accordance with Chinese National similar changes are shown.
Standard GB/T9995-1997 based on ASTM D 2654- Moisture regain of sized yarns increased with
1989. The yarns were dried in an oven at 100 C until increasing RH. Since RH increased, there are more
a constant weight was achieved for each sample and the
dry weight was recorded. They were then conditioned
at 28 C and a required RH for 48 h. The wet weight Table 2. Properties of yarns sized with polyvinyl alcohol and
was recorded. Moisture regain of yarn was calculated starch at various relative humidities
by the following equation Abrasion
Relative Size Moisture Tensile resistance/
W  W0 humidity/% pick-up/% regain/% strength/cN cycles
Moisture regainð%Þ ¼ 100:
W0
Formulation 1
where W is the wet weight of yarn at different RHs and 56 10.0 6.4  0.3 200  5 200  8
W0 is the dry weight of yarn. 60 6.8  0.2 207  4 231  10
65 7.7  0.4 206  5 218  5
70 8.7  0.3 205  6 205  10
Measurement of size pick-up of sized yarns 74 10.0  0.5 198  7 198  9
The yarns were weighed before and after sizing and the 78 10.7  0.4 196  3 126  7
size pick-up of sized yarn was calculated by the follow- Formulation 2
ing equation16,17 56 10.7 6.2  0.2 215  6 154  6
60 6.4  0.1 220  3 167  8
G  G0 65 7.6  0.3 218  4 165  6
Size pick-upð%Þ ¼ 100%:
G0 70 8.2  0.4 217  6 163  7
74 8.9  0.2 216  4 161  5
where G is the weight of sized yarn and G0 is the weight
78 10.6  0.4 210  5 120  6
of unsized yarn.
Wu et al. 171

water molecules in the environment, causing sized yarns
to absorb more water molecules.
Tensile strength and abrasion resistance of sized
yarns increased with increasing RH of the environment,
reached a maximum at 60%, and then decreased gra-
dually. This might be attributed to the following rea-
sons: when RH was controlled below 60%, more water
molecules were absorbed into sized yarns with increas-
ing RH. Because of the plasticization of water mole-
cules, there was improved flexibility of sized yarns.
Consequently, it brought about some increase in tensile
strength and abrasion resistance. Above 60% RH, a
large number of water molecules were absorbed in
sized yarns, leading to swelling. This caused an increase
in the distance between macromolecular chains of cel-
lulose and broke some bonding forces between them.
Moreover, since excessive water molecules in sized
yarns and size films may weaken and soften, this will
cause a decrease of the adhesiveness of sizes to yarns.
So, the tensile strength and abrasion resistance of sized
yarns decreased.
The traditional Formulation 1 was suitable for sizing
cotton yarns and was widely used in the textile sizing
industry. PVA has excellent film-forming ability, so it
became one of the industry’s most vital and most ver-
satile polymers for sizing. However, PVA is not easily
biodegraded and causes environmental pollution. Now
PVA has been banned for textile warp sizing in Europe.
There is also a proposal to limit the use of PVA in
textile mills in China.18,19 Use of Formulation 2, in
which the amount of PVA was decreased, was
attempted. Compared with the properties of yarns
sized with Formulations 1 and 2 in Table 2, it was
found that moisture regain and abrasion resistance of
yarns sized with Formulation 1 were higher than those
with Formulation 2, and the tensile strength of yarns
sized with Formulation 1 was lower than that with
Formulation 2. Because it is widely accepted that the
abrasion resistance of sized yarns is one of the key
factors controlling their weavability, effective of
Formulation 1 was superior to Formulation 2.
fractions of starch A115, PVA1799 and PAA were 60,
30 and 10, respectively. The properties of sized yarns at
various RHs are shown in Table 3.
Similar results are shown in Table 3. The moisture
regain of sized yarns increased with increasing RH.
Tensile strength and abrasion resistance of sized yarns
increased with increasing RH, reached a maximum at
70% and then decreased gradually.
Compared with the properties of yarns sized with
Formulations 3 and 1 in Tables 2 and 3, respectively,
it was found that moisture regain and tensile strength of
yarns sized with Formulation 3 were lower than those
with Formulation 1. However, abrasion resistance of
yarns sized with Formulation 3 varied complicatedly.
Abrasion resistance of yarns sized with Formulation 3
was lower than that with Formulation 1 at below 65%
RH. That with Formulation 3 was significantly higher
than that with Formulation 1 at above 70% RH. Better
properties of yarns sized with Formulation 1 and
Formulation 3 were achieved at 60% and 70% RH,
respectively.
This might be attributed to the following reasons:
PAA size offered a good ability of moisture absorption
on account of some hydrophilic groups in its molecular
chains. A significant number of water molecules were
absorbed into sized yarns and plastified size film. This
caused some increase in flexibility and wear resistance.
Comparing starches with PAA sizes, the strength of
starch film and flexibility of PAA size film are superior.
Therefore, yarns sized with PAA had better mechanical
properties only at high moisture regain.
Properties of cotton yarns sized with starches at
various RHs
Nowadays, PVA has been more and more limited to
use in warp sizing in China because of its pollution. In
order to reduce the application of PVA we added PAA
size into Formulation 3. However, after all, it was a
synthetic material. Starch is a natural material. It is a

Properties of cotton yarns sized with polyacrylic Table 3. Properties of yarns sized with polyacrylic acid at var-
acid at various RHs ious relative humidities

From the above research it is demonstrated that the Abrasion

requirements of sizing cannot be met by merely decreas- Relative Size Moisture Tensile resistance/
humidity/% pick-up/% regain/% strength/cN cycles
ing the amount of PVA. Some other high-performance
size materials should be considered. PAA has been used 56 12.6 5.9  0.2 193  4 176  3
in warp sizing because it is noted for strong adhesive- 60 6.2  0.4 199  5 212  5
ness, tough films and good solubility, and may be read- 65 7.3  0.5 200  7 215  4
ily removed by light scouring.20,21 It is a valuable 70 8.3  0.4 204  4 308  10
material for sizing. It was attempted to size 9.7 tex 74 9.3  0.3 193  2 215  6
cotton yarns with PAA as well as PVA and starch.
78 10.5  0.2 192  4 173  4
According to Formulation 3 in Table 1, the mass
172
trend in sizing materials because of environmental pol-
lution. So, we attempted to size with an all-starch for-
mulation. It was attempted to use starch SPR modified
by etherification to size 9.7 tex cotton yarns because it
had excellent properties, such as high tensile strength,
high flexibility and good adhesion.
According to Formulation 4 in Table 1, the mass
fractions of starch A115 and starch SPR were 25 and
75, respectively. The properties of sized yarns at various
RHs are shown in Table 4.
It is shown in Table 4 that RH had a similar influ-
ences on moisture regain, tensile strength and abrasion
resistance of yarns only when starches were used to size.
The moisture regain of sized yarns increased with
increasing RH. Tensile strength and abrasion resistance
of sized yarns increased with increasing RH, reached a
maximum at 65% and then decreased gradually.
Compared with properties of yarns sized with
Formulations 4, 3 and 1 in Tables 2, 3 and 4, respec-
tively, it was found that the moisture regain of yarns
sized with Formulation 4 was higher than that with
Formulation 3 and slightly different from that with
Formulation 1. This was because starch SPR was mod-
ified by etherification and some anionic carboxyl
groups were introduced into the starch molecules. So,
the moisture absorption of starch SPR was improved
and was superior to that of PAA size. The tensile
strength of yarns sized with Formulation 4 was slightly
different from that with Formulation 3 and was lower
than that with Formulation 1. However, abrasion resis-
tance of yarns sized with Formulation 4 was signifi-
cantly lower than that with Formulations 3 and 1.
Although the flexibility of starch SPR was improved
by modification, it still had the primary characteristics
of starch. Starch SPR film was relatively brittle and
stiff, such that the elasticity of sized yarns was inferior
to that of yarns sized with PVA or PAA size.
Better properties of yarns sized with Formulations 1,
3 and 4 were achieved at 60%, 70% and 65% RH,
respectively. The suitable RH of Formulation 4 was
Table 4. Properties of yarns sized with starch SPR at various
relative humidities
Abrasion
Relative Size Moisture Tensile resistance/
humidity/% pick-up/% regain/% strength/cN cycles
56 9.5 6.7  0.4 187  4 103  8
60 7.1  0.6 193  6 126  10
65 7.8  0.3 201  7 154  15
70 8.7  0.4 198  3 130  8
74 9.7  0.5 196  6 120  9
78 10.6  0.6 193  5 104  12
Textile Research Journal 91(1–2)
higher than that of Formulation 1. This was because
Formulation 4 was totally composed of starch. Starch
films are quite stiff and brittle. The RH profoundly
affects the stiffness or rigidity of yarns sized with
starches. The plasticization of absorbed water could
enhance the flexibility and wear resistance of sized
yarns at high RH. Therefore, in contrast with
Formulation 1, the yarns sized with Formulation 4 dis-
played their better properties only at high RH.
In conclusion, the summary of the above four types
of size formulations is as follows.
Although there were some differences between ingre-
dients of size formulations, the RH had a similar influ-
ence on moisture regain, tensile strength and abrasion
resistance of sized yarns. Moisture regains of sized
yarns increased with increasing RH. Tensile strength
and abrasion resistance of sized yarns increased with
increasing RH until the maximums were reached at
a certain RH and then decreased gradually. With
regard to Formulations 1, 2, 3 and 4, better properties
of sized yarns were achieved at 60%, 60%, 70% and
65% RH, respectively.
Although RH had an influence on the tensile
strength of sized yarns, variations were very slight. It
may be thought that the tensile behavior of sized yarns
was not sensitive to changes of RH. However, RH had
a great influence on the abrasion resistance of sized
yarns.
Up to now, although the performance of modified
starches has been remarkably improved, an all-starch
formulation cannot meet the requirements of sizing 9.7
tex cotton yarns, especially in terms of the abrasion
resistance of sized yarns.
Weavability of yarns sized with different size
formulations
The prime purpose of sizing is to produce weavability
in warps. In order to evaluate the efficiency of sizing,
the weavability of sized yarns was determined. Because
of the considerable expense of experiments, we could
only choose part of them to weave in a practical mill.
Since the traditional Formulation 1 and the compara-
tively perfect Formulation 3 were representative, warp
yarns sized with them were woven to form satin fabrics,
for which the construction was 200 ends and 90 picks in
per inch. A comparison of weaving production in envir-
onments of various RHs at 28 C is shown in Table 5.
In our experiments it was also attempt to weave
fabrics with sized yarns at 78% RH. However, the
weaving work did not go well, in that the automatic
data system of the loom could not get the available
weaving information. So, it was regretful that the wea-
vability of sized yarns at 78% RH cannot be shown in
Table 5.
Wu et al.
Table 5. Weavability of yarns sized with different size formulations in various relative humidities
Formulation 1
Relative Warp stops per Weaving
humidity/% 10,000 picks efficiency/%
56 18 74.6
60 14 86.3
65 14 81.6
70 34 78.1
74 20 71.5
From Table 5 it was observed that the RH of the
weaving workshop had an influence on warp stops and
weaving efficiency. The cotton yarns sized with
Formulations 1 and 3 provide maximum weavability
at 60% and 70% RH, respectively. It was coincident
with RH when properties of yarns were perfect, as
shown in Tables 2 and 3. The number of machine stop-
pings was reduced and the weaving efficiency was sig-
nificantly improved in comparison with weaving in
other RH conditions. The weavability of yarns sized
with Formulation 3 was superior to that with
Formulation 1. This was because PAA size was added
in Formulation 3 and it resulted in improved elasticity
and flexibility of sized yarns. However, better proper-
ties of sized yarns were achieved at high RH. Therefore,
the suitable RH of Formulation 3 was higher than that
of Formulation 1 for the maximum weaving efficiency
of sized yarns.
Conclusions
For weaving at lower RH, size formulations of starch,
PVA and PAA size had been investigated. The proper-
ties of sized yarns had different changes at various RHs.
An increase in RH increased the moisture regain of
sized yarns and changed the tensile strength slightly.
The RH had a great influence on abrasion resistance
and weaving performance. Cotton yarns sized with
PVA, modified starch and PAA size achieved better
abrasion resistance and weaving performance at 70%
RH compared to that with PVA and modified starch at
60% RH. The all-starch formulation showed better
abrasion resistance at 65% RH.
The size formulation of 60% oxidized starch, 30%
PVA1799 and 10% PAA size was suitable for cotton
yarn weaving at lower RH. The properties of sized
yarns were satisfactory at 70% RH. It was possible to
weave at a lower RH by adjusting the size formulation.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
173
Formulation 3
Warp stops per Weaving
10,000 picks efficiency/%
27 70.3
24 73.8
12 87.4
10 91.1
19 81.1
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship and/or publication of this
article: This work was supported by the National Key R&D
Program of China (Project No. 2017YFB0309100) and the
Science and Technology Program of Shaanxi Province
(Project No. 2019GY-177).
ORCID iDs
Hailiang Wu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5675-814X
Yanqin Shen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0049-4090
Yijun Yao https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3487-5265
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