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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #276606
Title: A prototype yarn evaluation tester to rapidly assess comparative weavability of warp yarns without weaving

Author
item Sawhney, Amar
item SINGH, KUMAR - Miami University - Ohio
item Condon, Brian
item PANG, SU-SENG - Louisiana State University
item HOSSAIN, IMTIAZ - Louisiana State University
item HOHENSCHUTZ, MATTHEW - Louisiana State University

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2008
Publication Date: 6/15/2008
Citation: Sawhney, A.P., Singh, K.V., Condon, B.D., Pang, S., Hossain, I., Hohenschutz, M.H. 2008. A prototype yarn evaluation tester to rapidly assess comparative weavability of warp yarns without weaving. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 1926-1929.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The art of weaving continues to be the most predominantly used method of converting textile fibers into fabrics for various end-use applications, including apparel. In fact, the weaving is by far the largest textile manufacturing sector, worldwide. However, the weaving process is complex and costly. Reliable prediction of weaving performance of a warp yarn without actual weaving can be cost effective and hence beneficial to a weaving mill in negotiating price contracts with their customers (buyers of the mill output). Although the weaving performance or the so-called weavability of a warp yarn depends on many factors, including the warp yarn quality and preparation, fabric construction and structure, type and speed of weaving machine, and quality of filling yarn, the quality of greige warp yarn considerably influences the yarn’s endurance in weaving and ultimately determines its weaving performance and hence the weaving productivity, which, in turn, essentially determines the profitability of the textile mill. In an ARS-USDA-supported research project to explore feasibility of size-free weaving of cotton yarns, a prototype Yarn Endurance Tester (YET) was developed in collaboration with the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, to cost effectively expedite the research on size-free weaving of different yarns with minimum actual weaving, since the weaving process, as mentioned previously, is very costly, complex, and, above all, very time consuming in a laboratory scenario. The development of YET basically involves comparative assessment of a greige yarn’s relative resistance to attrition (i.e., damage or failure), when subjected to limited weaving-like actions. Since the inherent, basic quality attributes of a greige warp yarn are known to ultimately influence the weavability or performance of its sized/slashed version, it is believed that a yarn’s evaluation on YET, coupled with the yarn’s basic quality characteristics, will be very useful in predicting weavability of the yarn in actual weaving. Obviously, the YET would be equally useful in predicting weavability of conventionally sized yarns for traditional weaving, as well. A brief description of the YET is the basis of this manuscript for the Cotton Beltwide ’08 Conference on Cotton Utilization.