Yarn Twist

Yarn Twist: Definitions of twist, determination

of twist of single and ply yarn.
Learning outcomes
1. Describe the working principle of single yarn
and ply yarn twister
2. Illustrate the concepts of yarn twist, twist
factor and their relationship to yarn count
Twist :
• It is the measure of the spiral turns given to
yarn in order to hold the fibres or threads
together.
• Twist is necessary to give coherence and
strength to the yarn.
• Twist is primarily inserted into a staple yarn to
hold the constituent fibres together, thus giving
strength to the yarn.
The effects of the twist are twofold:
As the twist increases,
• The lateral force holding the fibres together is
increased so that more fibres could be contributed
to the overall strength of the yarn.
• The angle that the fibres make with the yarn axis
increases, which prevents them from developing
their maximum strength, which occurs when they
are oriented in the direction of the applied force.
• As a result, at certain point the yarn strength
reaches a maximum value after which the strength
is reduced as the twist is increased still further
Quantity of Twist
• In a given length l of yarn, let there be n turns.
• Turns per unit length = n/l
• The amount of twist is usually expressed in
Turns per Centimetre (TPC)
Turns per Inch (TPI)
 Turns per Meter (TPM)
Direction of twist
• The direction twist is expressed as either
S – Twist or
Z - Twist
S-twist:
• The twist in yam due to which its spirals are in line
with the central portion of the letter S, when the
yarn is held in a vertical position.
Z-twist:
• The twist in yarn due to which its spirals are in line
with the central portion of the letter Z, when the
yarn is held in a vertical position.
Twist Factor or Twist Multiplier
• The amount of twist in terms of TPI or TPM
does not take into account the count (thickness
or diameter) of the yarn.
• A 20s yarn with 20 tpi and a 80s yarn the same
20 tpi will have vastly different properties.
• By using an expression known as ‘twist factor’
or ‘twist multiplier’ it is possible to appreciate
the twist character of a yarn even without the
knowledge of the count of the yarn.
Twist factor (K) is defined as:
K= (turns/unit length)/√count
Value of K differs with each count system.
• (a) In Tex (direct system): K= TPM x √Tex
• (b) Indirect system: K= TPI /√Cotton count
TWIST = TM × √count
Twist Per Inch (TPI) = Twist Multiplier X √count

Twist Per Inch

Twist Multiplier (TM) = ----------------------
√count
Twist Angle
• The twist angle θ is the angle between a tangent to
the helix formed by the fiber and the yarn axis.
• By “unrolling” the surface layer we see that the
fibers becomes the hypotenuse of a right-angled
triangle.
• Let the yarn diameter be D unit and let be the
length of yarn occupied by one complete turn of
twist. Then, tanѲ = ∏D /L
• The greater the diameter of the yarn, the larger is
the angle produced by on turn of twist. As 1/L is
equivalent to turns per unit length then:
Classification twist tester
• The Straightened Fibre Method
- Single yarn twist tester
- Continuous Twist Tester
• Twist Contraction Method
Tension types twist tester
• Twist to break method
• Optical method
• Take-up Twist tester
• Electronic twist tester
Twist Contraction Method
• This method is called as Untwist and Retwist.
• The tension type twist tester is working on the principle of
twist contraction.
• Suppose a yarn is twisted in Z direction and has a length L.
• Let the twist be completely removed to produce an untwisted
strand of length L + C where C is the contraction due to
twist.
• If the strand is now twisted in S way with a number of turns
equal to those removed, it can be expected that the strand will
again contract to the original length L.
• This method is suitable for single yams.
• Tension scale reading
= 156 / English count
• The tension-type twist tester as shown above
has two jaws (fixed and rotating) for fixing the
yarn.
• The position of the non-rotating jaw is variable
according to the gauge length.
• The pointer connected to the rotating jaw
moves over a scale having two graduations.
• The rotating jaw shaft has a worm at the middle to give drive
to the mechanical counter.
• A pinion is provided at the other end of the shaft and is rotated
by the hand wheel through the gear.
• As the handle rotates, the rotating jaw rotates and the rotations
are transferred to the mechanical counter which consists of
two discs, one at the bottom and one at the top.
• The top disc is graduated into 100 divisions and has 100 teeth.
• Placed over the top disc is a pointer which is connected to the
bottom disc that has 99 teeth.
• Therefore, for one revolution of the top disc, the pointer
moves only 99 teeth and always lags one tooth.
• This helps in determining the dial reading more than 100.
• The rotating jaw assembly has a spring-loaded
knob.
• By pushing this, the two discs of the counter can
be disengaged from the worm for zero setting.
• There is an index mark on the frame of the
rotating jaw.
• For zero setting, the pointer and the zero mark
of the counter should coincide with the mark on
the frame.
Procedure
• The two discs are disengaged from the worm and
are rotated such that the pointer and zero mark
coincide with the index mark.
• The yarn is first gripped in the fixed clamp. After
being led through the rotating jaw, the yarn is
pulled through until the pointer lies opposite a
zero line on a small quadrant scale.
• The jaw is then closed.
• At this stage, the specimen is under a small
tension and has a nominal length (gauge length).
• As the twist is removed the yarn gets extended and
the pointer reaches a vertical position.
• Eventually all the twist is taken out, but the jaw is
kept rotating in the same direction until sufficient
twist has been inserted to bring the pointer back to
the zero mark.
• When the pointer coincides with the mark, the dial
reading is noted and the twists per inch can be
calculated using the following formula:

• Twist per inch = dial reading / (gauge length × 2)

Take-up Twist tester
• Take-up twist tester consists of two jaws for
fixing the yarn rotating and non – rotating.
• The position of the non-rotating jaw can be
varied to test the material at different gauge
length.
• To base of the instrument, a scale is fixed.
• Load = tex / 2 g