Low-stress mechanical properties and fabric hand of cotton and polylactic acid fibre blended knitted fabrics

Abstract

Low-stress mechanical behavior of cotton-rich/polylacticacid blended fabrics has been investigated and the results arecompared with cotton and polylactic acid fibre fabrics. Thepolylactic acid fibres are mixed with cotton fibres in two differentproportions, namely 20% and 35% and spun into 14.76 tex (40sNe) yarn. The yarns are then knit into single jersey structurefollowed by chemical pretreatments and relaxation. The relaxedfabrics are tested for low-stress mechanical properties usingKawabata evaluation system for fabrics (KES-F) and the handvalues are calculated. The results show that the addition of PLAfibres to cotton enhances the smoothness and softness of theblended fabrics. The total hand value of the fabrics rangesbetween 3.2 and 3.5.