The Performance of Open-End, Twistless, and Ring Yarns in Weft Knitted Fabrics

Open-end, twistless, and ring yarns made from cotton and spun to different twists were knitted into single-jersey fabrics to assess their performance. Further tests at a given twist level for a range of polyester/cotton yarns were also included. A variety of yarn and fabric relaxations were used, and it was evident that unrelieved torque is a prime cause of loop distortion, spirality, and fabric shrinkage. It became apparent that autoclaving the yarns was the best way of reducing twist liveliness and the associated difficulties in manufacturing the fabric; it also improves the properties of the fabric. Properly relaxed, open-end yarn makes a fabric with good appeal, reasonable shrinkage, and acceptable strength and abrasion resistance. Twistless yarns gave good fabric hand, high luster, zero spirality, and little shrinkage, but there was some loss in strength for the fabric tested.