Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

CHARACTERISTICS OF TEXTILE FIBERS Fibers have been defined as units of matter characterized by flexibility, fineness and a high ratio of length to thickness (1000:1). If the fiber is to be of any use for general textile purposes, it might have sufficiently high temperature stability and a certain minimum strength and moderate extensibility. FIBER MORPHOLOGY: The morphology of bers includes macrostructure, microstructure, sub-microscopic structure and ne structure of bers. a) Macro structure: (length, diameter and crimps etc) The features of a textile ber that are discernible to the human eye constitute its macrostructure; these include width, length, and crimp. i) Fiber size: Fiber size, often referred to as neness, is one of the most important properties of bres. It is usually specied in terms of diameter or linear density. The size of natural bers (wool) is often given as a diameter in micrometer units. Cotton fineness is given in micronaire. It reects average width along the ber length. The sizes of silk and manufactured bers are usually given in denier or tex units, which specify the linear density based on weight per unit length. Denier is the weight in grams of 9000 m of a ber; Tex is the S.I unit for linear density (fineness) of a fiber (and yarn) and it is the weight in grams of 1000 m of a ber. Tex is one-ninth of 1 denier. No. of fibers per yarn cross-section: (yarn Tex/ fineness of fiber (Tex) 20 Tex of yarn from 2 dTex fibers = = 100 fibers

ii) Fiber length: After size, length is the most important property of a ber. Fiber length is critical in processing of bers and yarns and in the translation of ber strength to yarn strength. In general, a longer ber length is preferred. Textile bers are either staple or lament length. Staple bers range from 2 to 46 cm; lament bers are of innite length. All natural bers except silk are of staple length. Silk and manufactured bers may be staple or lament bers. In cotton, longer fibers are finer while in wool, longer fibers are coarser. iii) Crimps: Crimp refers to waves, bends, twists or curls along the ber length. It is expressed as crimps per unit length. Some natural bers are linear (Angora wool-almost no crimps), others form twodimensional or three-dimensional crimps. Crimped bers tend to have higher elongation (due to crimps relaxation), warmth (crimps trap air bubbles which are good heat insulator) and bulk than linear bers.

Page 1 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com

Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

b) Micro structure: Microstructure of bers includes their surface contour and cross-sectional shape. These features are observable through a light microscope. i) Surface contour: It describes the surface of the ber along its length, may be smooth, serrated, lobed, striated, pitted, scaly, or convoluted. Surface contour may affect ber frictional properties and comfort when worn next to the skin

ii) Cross-sectional shape: It refers to the shape of a horizontally cut ber section. It may be round, triangular, dog-bone, kidney-bean, at, and so on. There is a characteristic shape for each type of natural ber. The shape of a bers crosssection is important in many applications. It has inuence on bending stiffness and torsional stiffness of the ber. Consider the bending stiffness of the solid bers, those with round cross-sections offer a high resistance to bending and, hence the bers are stiff. However, bers with ribbon-like cross-sections, such as cotton, offer the least resistance to bending. The luster or light reflection observed in a fabric is affected by a fibers cross-section. For example, round is shiny, lobed has a diffused glow, and irregular shapes give a dull appearance. c) Sub-microscopic structure: Through an electronic microscope, more details of bers on the surface, as well as in the inner side, are observable. i) Maturity: ii) Cell wall thickness iii) Primary wall iv) Secondary wall Studying cortical cells and scales of wool is example of studying sub-microscopic structure. d) Fine structure: All bers are assemblies of macromolecules, called polymers, in the form of hundreds or even thousands of individual chemical units, covalently bonded together one after the other as illustrated in Fig. Fine structure describes the length, width, shape, and chemical composition of these polymers. It largely determines the ability of a ber to withstand mechanical forces.

i)

Types of Polymers: There are three types of polymers comprising textile bers: homopolymers, copolymers, and block polymers.

Page 2 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com

Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

In homopolymers, the most common type, one monomer (one chemical compound) repeats itself along the polymer chain. In copolymers, two or more monomers comprise the polymer chain. In block polymers, blocks comprised of homopolymers are repeated along the polymer chain. ii) Degree of Polymerization: Polymer length is specied as the number of times the monomer is repeated along the chain, called the degree of polymerization. Polymer length plays a role in ber tensile properties. If two bers are alike except for polymer length, the ber comprised of longer polymers is generally stronger, extends a shorter distance at a given load, and requires more force to cause elongation. iii) Degree of Crystalinity: Within bers, adjacent polymers are found tightly packed together in specially ordered crystalline regions and further apart in amorphous regions. The proportion of crystalline to amorphous regions determines the degree of crystallinity. The thousands of polymers within a ber lie more or less parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ber itself. When a relatively high proportion of polymers are aligned with the ber axis, the ber is said to be highly oriented. Orientation and crystallinity have a signicant impact on various ber behaviors. If two bers are alike except for degree of orientation and crystallinity, the ber that is more crystalline and orientated is stronger and stiffer, and has lower elongation at break. Exercise 1: Find the diameter of a polyester fiber (round cross-section) having density 1.38 g/cm3 and fineness=1 denier. Solution: As fineness is 1 denier so length of the fiber = 9000 m Fiber is round so it is in cylinder form, its volume: Volume = m/ = r2 = r= = = (m=mass-1 g, =density-1.38, h=length of fiber-9000 m)

d = 2 d = 11.897

= 2 x 104

Exercise 2: No. of fibers per yarn cross-section: [yarn Tex/ fineness of fiber (Tex)] 20 Tex of yarn from 2 dTex fibers = = 100 fibers

Page 3 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com

Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

LECTURE: 02 DEFINITIONS: Cohesiveness Crepe Elasticity Elongation The property of an individual fiber by virtue of which the fibers hold on one another when spun into yarn. For e.g., cottons convolutions, wools scales help them to hold themselves Deformation brought about by a constant load or force over a period of time The property of a material by virtue of which it tends to recover its original size and shape immediately after removal of the force causing deformation. The ratio of the change in length of a specimen during application of tension to the original length of the specimen. It is usually measured in %age (elongation %age) e.g., a yarn/fiber is extended from 10 cm to 11 cm, then elongation%: = the ratio between changed length and initial length after breakage of the test specimen. It expresses the capability of a material to resist changes of shape without crack formation. The elongation at break is determined by tensile testing in accordance with EN ISO 527 Resistant to bending Hand is the way a fiber feels when handled. Fiber shapes vary and includes round, flat and multimodal (e.g. soft, crisp, dry, silky or harsh) It is defined as ratio of volumetric stress to volumetric strain. It is the tendency of a body to deform in all directions when uniformly loaded in all directions. The bulk modulus is an extension of elastic modulus to three dimensions. It is the inverse of compressibility It is the ratio of the stress applied to a body to the strain produced The shear of rigidity modulus is the ratio of the tangential force per unit area to angular deformation in radius It is defined as the ratio of tensile stress to tensile strain Pressure is the force acting normally on unit area of a surface or the ratio of force to area. The SI unit of pressure is Pascal Pressure measured on a gauge that reads zero at zero pressure rather than atmospheric pressure Pressure measured on a gauge that reads zero at atmospheric pressure The resilience, also called work of recovery of a ber, is the ratio of energy returned to energy absorbed when a ber is deformed and then released or it is the ratio between energy returned to energy absorbed. More is the energy returned, more is the object resilient It is the resistance of an elastic body to deformation by an applied force or Resistance to multidirectional bending Stress is the force per unit area on a body that tends to cause it to deform. Stress is a measure of the internal forces in a body between particles of the body substances as they resist separation, compression or sliding in response to the externally applied forces Shear stress is tangential force per unit area that tends to shear a body Tensile stress and compressive stress are axial forces per unit area applied to a body that tend either to extend or compress it linearly A measure of the extent to which a body is deformed which is subjected to a stress Linear strain or tensile strain is the ratio of the change in length to the original length Bulk strain or volume strain is the ratio of the change in volume to the original volume

Elongation at break Flexural rigidity Hand Modulus (Bulk) K Modulus (elastic) Modulus (shear) G Modulus of Elasticity (E) Pressure Pressure (Absolute) Pressure (Gauge) Resilience S Stiffness K Stress Stress (shear) Stress (tensile & compressive) Strain Strain (tensile/linear) Strain (bulk/volume)

Page 4 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com

Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

Strain (Shear) Tenacity Toughness Work of rupture

Shear strain is the angular distortion in radius of a body subjected to a shearing force Force exerted on the specimen based on the linear density of the unstrained material. It is the ratio of breaking strength (in N or cN) to linear density (in Tex), i.e., Toughness is a measure of the ability of a ber to withstand sudden shocks of energy. The capacity of a material to absorb energy The total amount of work required to deform a ber up to the failure point during a tensile test

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF TEXTILE FIBERS: Tensile Properties: Stressstrain curve: Because of the linear shape of a ber, the tensile properties (the behavior under forces and deformations applied along the ber axially) are the most important properties and are the most studied. In general engineering, tensile stress = force/area, s = F/A0; tensile strain = change in length/original length, e = l/l0. When applying a gradually increasing force along the ber axis until the ber breaks, a stressstrain curve is created. It shows many important mechanical characteristics of the ber. In textile technology, a specic stress is often used instead of the general stress used in engineering area: Specic stress = force/linear density, ss = F/d1. Figure shows a model stressstrain curve. The curve begins with a straight-line segment that rises as stress is increased (AB) and then suddenly attens and rises at a slower rate (BC). Close to the failure point (D), the curve rises steeply (CD). The detail of each of the regions is addressed as follows:

A-B: In region AB, the deformation is a result of bond stretching and exing. It is completely reversible. Hookes law is obeyed: s = Ee, where E is the slope of the line, called Youngs modulus. In this region, the deformation is recoverable, and it is elastic. As the ber extends along the axial direction, it Page 5 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com

Advanced Textile Materials (TE-571)

NTU Faisalabad

M.Sc Textile Engineering 1 Semester

st

contracts laterally. Poissons ratio, dened as the ratio of lateral contraction to axial extension ( region. B-C: After the yield point (B), deformation becomes nonlinear, and it is usually plastic. The deformation, a result of the polymers slipping by each other, is partially recoverable. In the region BC, the ber extends more easily. The slope of the segment BC largely reects the strength of intraber bonding. C-D: As the polymers become more compact, the ber reaches a deformation limit, harden point. Following the hardening, the internal structure of the ber begins to give way and the failure point (D) is reached. At failure point (D), stress is called tenacity and strain is called elongation at break. Elastic recovery: In the initial segment of the stressstrain curve (AB), the ber behaves like an elastic spring. Under the applied load, the polymers are being straightened, perhaps becoming more oriented within the ber. If the load is removed at any point from A to B, the ber will return to its original length because the polymers can revert to their initial positions. In this case, the elastic recovery is 100%. If the ber is stretched beyond the yield point but not to its hardening point, and the load is then removed, the ber will partially recover. Work of rupture: Work of rupture or toughness is a measure of the ability of a ber to withstand sudden shocks of energy. The total amount of work required to deform a ber up to the failure point is indicated by the area under its stressstrain curve, the sum of areas x, y, and z, illustrated in Fig. Resilience: The resilience, also called work of recovery of a ber, is the ratio of energy returned to energy absorbed when a ber is deformed and then released. It may be extensional, exural, compressional, or torsional. In Fig., the ber resilience of extension is the ratio of area x to area x + y. ), is another important material characteristic that deals with the behavior in the elastic

Page 6 of 6
Abu Bakkar Marwat (M.Sc Textile Engineering)
texengr05@yahoo.com