A Study on the Effects of Textile Processing on Tensile Properties of Single Cotton Fibers - From raw cottno to washed garments

Abstract

Effects of textile processing on breaking strength, breaking elongation, morphological properties and dimensional properties were investigated and analyzed. Cotton varieties were processed under various ginning and carding conditions into a T-shirts. The produced T-shirts were washed and dried repeatedly. Fibers were collected at various processing stages and tested by a Mantis® single fiber tensile tester. The breaking strength and breaking elongation of cotton fibers were reduced substantially due to textile processing. A higher ginning rate generated a higher average breaking strength and a lower breaking elongation compared to that from a lower ginning rate. A higher carding rate adversely affected the tensile properties for entire range of the processes. Using of 2 lint cleaners at the gin resulted in a lower tensile properties than that of 1 lint cleaner. Although the results were not statistically significant, use of 2 lint cleaners at gin resulted in a lower average length shrinkage in T-shirts and more damage to the fiber surface after repeated washing/drying.

The progressive length shrinkage of the T-shirts during 32 washing/drying cycles was shown to be consistently higher for the higher ginning and carding rates. The progressive width and area shrinkage on the other hand did not show the effects of processing clearly. A limited microscopic study suggests that the number of lint cleaners in ginning may be the most significant contributor to fiber damage as shown by the broken fibrils and cracks on fiber surfaces.