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Influence of Yarn Count and Cover Factor On Mechanical Comfort Aesthetic and Hand Properties of Ladies Summer Apparel Fabrics
Influence of Yarn Count and Cover Factor On Mechanical Comfort Aesthetic and Hand Properties of Ladies Summer Apparel Fabrics
Fatima Iftikhar, Zulfiqar Ali, Tanveer Hussain, Ahsan Nazir & Dominique C.
Adolphe
To cite this article: Fatima Iftikhar, Zulfiqar Ali, Tanveer Hussain, Ahsan Nazir & Dominique C.
Adolphe (2019): Influence of Yarn Count and Cover Factor on Mechanical, Comfort, Aesthetic
and Hand Properties of Ladies’ Summer Apparel Fabrics, Journal of Natural Fibers, DOI:
10.1080/15440478.2019.1692322
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Fine cotton fabrics are extremely popular for ladies’ summer apparel in the Cotton; woven fabrics;
Sub-continent, the Middle East and those parts of the world which are thermal comfort;
known for hot and humid summer seasons. The purpose of this study PhabrOmeter; tear strength
was to investigate the mechanical, comfort, and hand properties of fine 关键词
cotton fabrics by systematically varying the fabric cover factor using two of 棉花; 机织物; 热舒适性;
the most commonly used yarn counts. After undergoing the same pre- 溴化计; 撕裂强度
treatment processes, fabric test results revealed improvement in fabric
wrinkle recovery, smoothness, and resilience with increase in cover factor
values from 21 to 26, while deterioration in fabric tear strength, air perme-
ability, moisture management capability, drapability, and softness. It was
also revealed that when fabric tear strength and resilience is a priority,
production of a specific cover-factor fabric with coarser yarn count gives
better results, whereas for better wrinkle recovery, drapability, smoothness,
softness, moisture management capability, and air permeability, production
of the same cover-factor fabric with finer yarns gives more desirable results.
摘要
在亚欧大陆、中东和世界上以炎热潮湿的夏季著称的地区,优质棉织物非
常受女士们夏季服装的欢迎. 本研究的目的是利用两种最常用的纱线数,
系统地改变织物的覆盖系数,以研究细棉织物的机械性能、舒适性和手感.
经过相同的前处理工艺后,织物的测试结果表明,随着覆盖因子值从21增
加到26,织物的起皱回复性、平滑度和弹性都有所提高,而撕裂强度、透
气性、吸湿性、悬垂性和柔软性则有所下降. 研究还表明,当织物的撕裂
强度和弹性是优先考虑的因素时,生产纱线数较粗的特定覆盖系数织物会
获得更好的效果,而为了获得更好的折皱回复性、悬垂性、平滑性、柔软
性、水分管理能力和透气性,用更细的纱线生产相同覆盖系数的织物,可
获得更理想的效果.
Introduction
Comfort and durability are considered two of the most important requirements in all apparels.
Thermo-physiological clothing comfort depends primarily on the fabric air permeability, water
vapor resistance, and moisture management capability in summer. Sensorial comfort depends
mainly upon the fabric softness and resilience. Garment appearance or esthetics is influenced mainly
by its drapability and wrinkle recovery. Garment durability is affected by its fabric strength, and in
case of thin fabrics, good tear strength is more important in offering resistance against ripping due to
contact with any sharp objects or rough surfaces (Kamalha et al. 2013).
CONTACT Zulfiqar Ali drzulfiqarali70@gmail.com Comfort Textile Research Group, National Textile University,
Sheikhupura road, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wjnf.
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
2 F. IFTIKHAR ET AL.
Major factors which contribute to the overall fabric strength are fiber and yarn strength, yarn
count, weave design, crimp, and fabric density (Behera and Mishra 2007; Fatahi and Alamdar Yazdi
2010; Jahan 2017). Apparel comfort is the key concern of today’s consumer (Goldman 2005). The air
permeability and the moisture management features of clothing are related to the thermo-
physiological comfort of human body, whereas, fiber type, fineness, fabric weight, yarn count, fabric
density, cover factor, porosity, and other structural parameters can have substantial effects on air,
heat, and moisture resistivity of fabrics (Altas and Sevda 2013; Dinardo 2011; Mechanics et al. 2011).
The judgmental instinct of humans toward clothing by touching the fabric is termed as hand properties,
as interaction of fabric with the skin provokes heat and mechanical perceptions. It is very difficult to define
sensorial comfort because it is the sensitivity of wearer when clothing is worn next to the skin (Pan 2007).
The surface properties of fabric such as softness, smoothness, fullness, and some mechanical instability such
as drape and wrinkling are most important visual and tactile/handle characteristics of fabrics.
There are many purposeful methods available for the evaluation of hand properties of fabrics such as
KES-FB (Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics), FAST (Fabrics Analysis by Simple Tests), FTT
(Fabric Touch Tester) and PhabrOmeter (A. Das and Alagirusamy 2011). The PhabrOmeter is one of
the simplest methods for the measurement of resilience, softness, smoothness, drape, relative hand
value, and wrinkle recovery properties (Kan and Lau 2018; Rous et al. 2018; Yim et al. 2017). In
PhabrOmeter testing, the fabric undergoes low stress mechanical properties such as bending, compres-
sion, shear, tensile, and frictional forces during extraction process (Das and Alagirusamy 2010).
Cotton fine woven fabrics are preferred by ladies as summer apparels in Pakistan and other countries of
the sub-continent as well as in Middle East, because of their desirable properties like hand-feel and comfort,
which become more crucial when the weather is hot-dry and sometimes hot-humid. Many research studies
have explored the comfort and hand properties of cotton fabrics for winter and summer seasons. However, to
the best of our information, no study has been reported for the investigation of mechanical, comfort, visual,
and hand properties of fabrics for ladies’ woven summer apparels by systematic variation in fabric cover
factors and yarn counts. This study hopes to give better insight to fabric developers for the optimization of
mechanical, comfort, visual, and sensorial properties of fine cotton fabrics for summer apparel.
Methods
Fabric manufacturing
The ring-spun yarns were sized on lab scale single-end sizing machine (Model: CCI SS 565 Taiwan)
and warped as per the construction plan on lab-scale single-end warping machine (Model: CCI SW
550 Taiwan). The recipe used for yarn sizing is given in Table 2. Two sets of plain-woven fabrics
(each comprising five fabric samples) were prepared for achieving the same cover factor ranging
from 21 to 26, by varying the yarn counts and fabric densities. The fabric cover factor was calculated
using Peirce formula (Peirce 1937) given in Eq. (1):
Ends Picks
Fabric cover factor ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
inch
þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
inch
ffi (1)
WarpCount WeftCount
The constructional parameters of each fabric set are given in Table 3. The selected fabric construc-
tional parameters represent the most commonly used range of cover factors and fabric densities used
for ladies’ cotton summer apparel.
Pre-treatment processes
All fabric samples were desized, scoured, and bleached under the same conditions as a single lot. Pilot-scale
jet dyeing machine (Texam P-300, Nagoya Japan, 1992) was used for fabric pre-treatment processes. The
pre-treatment recipes and process conditions are consolidated in Table 2. The samples were rinsed with hot
and cold water after bleaching and treated with acetic acid for neutralization of fabric pH. The fabrics were
dried at 120°C on lab-scale Monfort Stentor machine (VPM-250-A, Tsujii machine manufacturing Co.) All
samples were first pre-conditioned at the temperature of 47 oC and relative humidity of 10–25% for 4 h in
a hot air oven and then conditioned according to BS EN ISO 139:2005 before testing.
Testing
Fabric tear strength. Tear strength is the force required to propagate a tear in fabric under the
quantified load. Fabric specimens were cut by a slit of 20 mm ± 0.5 mm, which was allowed to
propagate by applying force on the Elmendorf Tear Tester to determine the tearing strength
according to standard test method of ASTM D 1424–07. From each sample, five specimens were
prepared in both the warp and weft direction, for calculating the mean values.
Fabric hand properties. The significance of fabric hand or sensorial comfort cannot be under-
estimated in case of ladies’ apparel. The PhabrOmeter instrument measures some important fabric
sensory attributes. It was developed by Dr. Ning Pan and his coworkers at Nu Cybertek, Inc. in
California, USA. The working principle of instrument is based on nozzle extraction method used to
evaluate the handle properties of fabric objectively. Three circular specimens of 100 cm2 from each
JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 5
fabric sample were extracted through the particularly designed nozzle. The additional test plates of
weight (i.e., 453.6 gm) were added in relation to fabric linear density. Through fabric deformation
process, the fabric specimen undergoes low stress mechanical forces such as bending, friction,
compression, tensile, and shears, similar to stresses occurred when a consumer handles the fabric
(Das, Majumdar, and Gupta 2016; Pan 2007). The load-displacement curve is generated which holds
all the information for the fabric hand attributes including (stiffness, softness, smoothness, drape,
wrinkle recovery, and relative hand value) according to standard test method AATCC TM 202.
Figure 2. (a) Comparison of Warp Tear Strength for fabric samples of set 1 & set 2. (b) Comparison of Weft Tear Strength for fabric
samples of set 1 & set 2.
higher cover factor due to more warp and weft thread density and less number of pores within fabric
cross-section so ultimately lower air permeability. It is evident from the slopes of the regression
equations given in Figure 3 that with one unit increase in fabric cover factor, there is approximately
a decrease of 20 to 22 cm3/sec/cm2 air permeability of the fabric, the negative slope of set 1 fabrics
being slightly greater than that of set 2 fabrics.
Fabrics produced from finer yarns (set 1) have higher air permeability values as compared to those
made from coarser yarns (set 2). For the same cover factor, fabrics produced from finer yarns have, on
average, around 14 cm3/sec/cm2 (~17%) higher air permeability as compared to coarser yarn fabrics. This
difference is statistically significant with P value of 0.003, which is less than 0.05. This may be due to lower
thickness of finer yarn fabrics as compared to that of coarser yarn fabrics (Tastan et al. 2017).
Figure 3. Comparison of Air Permeability for fabric samples of set 1 & set 2.
response variables. The tested fabrics in this study did not show any statistically significant difference
(P-value = 0.604 > 0.05) for water vapor resistance. Furthermore, Ret values of all the samples fall in “very
good” rating range as defined by the Hohenstein Institute Germany in Table 4 (Relji et al. 2016).
increased with the increase in cover factor. Increase in cover factor of finer yarn fabrics (set 1) does
not result in as sharp increase in resilience as that in case of coarser yarn fabrics (set 2). Coarser
yarns seem to contribute more to fabric resilience than the finer yarns. It could be due to the
presence of higher number of fibers per cross- section in the coarser yarn as compared to those in
the finer yarn.
The resilience values of set 2 fabrics were around 20% higher on average than set 1 fabrics. This
difference of resilience value is highly significant as per ANOVA analysis with P value of 0.000. It
might be due to that finer yarn with lower yarn diameter result in lower fabric thickness leading to
lower fabric resilience (Nilgün et al. 2014).
Softness
The softness is defined as the property of fabric, which is opposite to stiffness. It can also be
described as the reverse of firmness or hardness. The fabric is softer when value of softness will be
JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 9
high. Figure 6 shows that softness is decreased with the increase in fabric cover factor. However,
decrease in softness remains below 1 unit with per unit increase in fabric cover factor.
From Figure 6, it can also be observed that the softness values of set 1 fabrics are higher than set 2
fabrics. However, the difference is just around 2% on average, which may not seem practically
significant. However, it is significant statistically by analysis of variance (i.e., P-value = 0.014 < 0.05).
Smoothness
A smooth fabric surface provides a bigger contact area with the skin, while a more rough fabric
surface has less contact area. Therefore, a smoother fabric surface provides a cooler feeling. The
fabric is smoother when value of smoothness will be high. From Figure 7, it can be observed that
smoothness of fabrics is increased around one unit with one unit increase in fabric cover factor. The
smoothness values of set 1 fabrics seems a little higher due to less waviness of finer yarn during
interlacement than set 2 fabrics. This difference of smoothness is insignificant since the P value is
0.435. The results of yarn crimp (mean crimp %age of set 1 is 9.5% while for set 2 is 14%) also justify
this finding. However, the difference seems to be too little to be perceptible with real hand-feeling.
Drape
Drape is the fabric’s ability to bend when it is subjected under its own weight. The drape of two set
of fabrics are depicted in Figure 8. The property of drape depends on bending stiffness of fabric.
Drape coefficient of fabrics is increased with the increase of cover factor. As the cover factor is
increased then the stiffness of fabric is also increased; so drapability of fabric will be reduced (Jeong
and Phillips 1998). Higher is the drape coefficient of fabric; lower will be the drapability. It can be
revealed from results that the drape coefficient of set 1 fabrics were higher than set 2 fabrics. This
difference of drape values is insignificant when they are analyzed statistically with P value of 0.09. It
may be because the plain coarser fabric (set 2) with loose structure has higher drapability due to
lower bending rigidity. Simultaneously, the drapability of fabric is reduced in case it was produced
from finer yarn (set 1) with higher twist because increased twist in yarn enhanced the fabric stiffness
(Choudhary and Bansal 2017).
Wrinkle recovery
The creases on fabric surface due to the action of stresses, which disturb the morphology and
appearance, can be defined as the wrinkling behavior of fabric. The recovery of fabric from wrinkling
is related to viscoelasticity and friction between fibers within yarn structure. The wrinkle recovery of
fabric has increased with the increase in cover factor (Figure 9). From Figure 9, it can also be noticed
Figure 8. Comparison of Drape Coefficient for fabric samples of set 1 & set 2.
Figure 9. Comparison of Wrinkle Recovery Rate for fabric samples of set 1 & set 2.
JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 11
that set 1 fabrics, on average, have 14% higher wrinkle recovery than set 2 fabrics. This difference of
wrinkle recovery values is statistically significant with P value of 0.001. This may be because of the
more inter-fiber friction due to high twist and tightness of fibers within finer yarn structure as
compared to coarser yarn.
Conclusions
Increase in cover factor of ladies’ cotton summer apparel fabrics, from 21 to 26, leads to decrease in fabric
tear strength, air permeability, moisture management capability, drapability, and softness. However,
fabric wrinkle recovery, smoothness, and resilience improve with increase in cover factor values from 21
to 26. For a same specific cover factor between 21–26, fabrics produced with finer yarn counts give better
wrinkle recovery, drapability, smoothness, softness, moisture management capability, and air perme-
ability; whereas fabrics produced with coarser yarn counts give better tear strength and resilience.
ORCID
Ahsan Nazir http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5141-3767
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