EFFECT OF TIGHTNESS FACTORS ON DIMENSIONAL PROPERTIES OF KNITTED FABRIC

In a country like India, with extremes of temperature and humidity, garments made from natural fibres in cotton or blends of manmade and natural fibres are certainly preferred to pure synthetics for reason of environment and health. The proposed study conducted to assess the influence of the yarn properties and dimensional properties of cotton /polyester blends in on tightness factor of the fabric. Blend influence on dimensional properties of weft knitted fabrics in different ratios was studied. The P/C blended yarn in the proportions 0:100, 20:80, 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 80:20 and 100:0 was produced by OE spinning system. The yarns produced in different ratios were used to study various yarn parameters i.e. yarn diameter, yarn tenacity and elongation and blended knitted fabric was produced to study the dimensional properties such as loop length, stitch density, tightness factor, loop shape factor and area shrinkage. The study revealed that blending of cotton with polyester in different ratios was found to improve certain properties of cotton as well as polyester yarn. The dimensional properties- Loop length and area shrinkage decreased significantly where as stitch density and tightness factor increased significantly with the increased proportion of polyester in the blend.