Selected Properties of Predominantly-Cotton Staple-Core Knitted Fabrics

L. B. Kimmel and A. Paul S. Sawhney


 
ABSTRACT

The present study of single jersey knit fabrics is the first to report on the basic properties of staple-core knits. Prior studies demonstrated certain functional and aesthetic advantages of woven staple-core fabrics when compared to 100% cotton or intimate-blend fabrics of the same construction. Nominal 20s count, staple-core yarns were spun on a modified Saco-Lowell Spinomatic ring-spinning frame which incorporated refinements to previously patented spinning methods. The staple-core yarns contained a Trevira polyester core, and a cotton sheath comprising two thirds of the yarn. The fabrics were knitted on a Lawson Hemphill single-feed jersey knitter, with a 3.5-inch diameter, 20-gauge cylinder. Fabric properties were examined after 5 home-laundering cycles, in the greige state, after scouring, and after scouring and heat setting. The staple-core knits were substantially stronger, less permeable, and significantly more abrasion resistant than the cotton controls. They also showed less differential shrinkage and looked consistently better than the controls after laundering. Greater spirality was evident in the greige staple-core knits than in the cotton knits, but the skewness of all fabrics decreased with additional processing, and was substantially eliminated by substituting S for Z-twist staple-core yarn. Relaxed S-twist staple-core fabrics were also denser and greatly more abrasion resistant than comparable Z-twist knits, suggesting that a reduction of yarn torque might further improve the superior properties and performance of staple-core knits. Additional study is required to optimize the heat setting procedures and to provide for meaningful discussion of the dimensional stability of staple-core knit fabrics.



Reprinted from Proceedings of the 1994 Beltwide Cotton Conferences pg. 1675
©National Cotton Council, Memphis TN

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Document last modified Sunday, Dec 6 1998