Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
By:
Abu Bakkar Marwat
05-NTU-05
Section A
Semester VI
NTU Faisalabad
0313-6660505
textilian4u@yahoo.com
Table of contents:
Introduction 01
Types of irregularity 01
Causes of irregularity 02
Denoting unevenness or irregularity 03
Types of variations 04
Importance of yarn evenness 04
Measuring and assessing evenness 05
1-Visual examination 05
2- Gravimetric method 06
3- Capacitive method 07
3.1- Uster evenness tester 07
4- Mechanical method of roving/sliver evenness measurement 13
5- Optical method (Zweigle G580) 15
6- Pneumatic method 15
7- Acoustic method 16
7.1- Impulse acoustic method 16
Index of irregularity 18
⇒ Introduction:
The spinner tries to produce a yarn with the highest possible degree of
homogeneity. In this connection, the evenness of the yarn mass is of the greatest
importance. In order to produce an absolutely regular yarn, all fibre characteristics
would have to be uniformly distributed over the whole strand (yarn). However, that
is ruled out by the inhomogeneity of the fibre material and by the mechanical
constraints. Accordingly, there are limits to the achievable yarn evenness.
⇒ Types of Irregularity:
1) Weight per unit length:
Variation in weight per unit length is the basic irregularity in yarn. All other
irregularities are dependent on it. This is because weight per unit length is
proportional to fibre number i.e.; number of fibres crossing a section of yarn.
Variations in fibre number are the factor influenced by drafting. So any improvement
in drafting or spinning will first reflect in improvement in variability of weight per
unit length.
2) Diameter:
Variability in diameter is important because of its profound influence on
appearance of yarn. Variations in diameter are more easily perceived by eye. Latest
models of evenness testers have therefore a module for determining diameter
variability. Diameter variability is however caused by weight variability. As twist has
tendency to run into thin place, variability in weight gets exaggerated in diameter
variability.
3) Twist:
Twist variation is important because of its influence on performance of yarn and
fabric dye ability and defects. Soft ends are a major cause of breaks in weaving
preparatory and loom shed. They arise from twist variations. Soft twisted yarns take
more dye and so uneven dyeing is caused by high twist variation. Weft bars and
bands are also caused by low twisted yarns. Twist variations come from slack spindle
tapes, jammed spindles. A certain amount of variation is also present along the chase
of cop.
4) Strength:
Importance of strength variation is easy to appreciate. Yarn breaks at the weakest
element and so yarns with high strength variability will result in high breakages in
further processes. Strength variability is partly dependent upon count variability and
partly upon spinning conditions and mechanical defects.
5) Hairiness:
High variation in hairiness leads to streaky warp way appearance and weft bars in
fabric. More light will be reflected from portions of weft where hairiness is more and
this leads weft bands. High hairiness disturbs warp shed movement in weaving and
results in breaks, stitches and floats. Among other factors, worn out rings and
travelers, vibrating spindles, excessive ballooning and variation in humidity in
spinning room cause variations in hairiness from bobbin to bobbin
6) Colour:
Variations in colour of yarn cause batch to batch variation in fabric colour, which
leads to rejects. This is particularly critical in cloth marketed to garment units.
Variations in colour of yarn and fabric are caused by variations in colour of cottons
used in mixing. Larger lot sizes made from a large number of bales help to mitigate
this problem. Checking of cotton and mixing for colour will also minimize large
variations in colour. HVI testing equipments have therefore a module for checking
colour.
⇒ Causes of irregularity:
The mass per unit length variation due to variation in fibre assembly is generally
known as "IRREGULARITY" or "UNEVENNESS". It is true that the diagram can
represent a true reflection of the mass or weight per unit length variation in a fibre
assembly. For a complete analysis of the quality, however, the diagram alone is not
enough. It is also necessary to have a numerical value which represents the mass
variation. The mathematical statistics offer 2 methods:
S .D
Coefficient of variation (C.V.%) = 100 where S.D = Standard deviation
avg .value
C.V.% = 1.25 x U%
Irregularity can adversely affect many of the properties of textile materials. The
most obvious consequence of yarn evenness is the variation of strength along the
yarn. If the average mass per unit length of two yarns is equal, but one yarn is less
regular than the other, it is clear that the more even yarn will be the stronger of the
two. The uneven one should have more thin regions than the even one as a result of
irregularity, since the average linear density is the same. Thus, an irregular yarn will
tend to break more easily during spinning, winding, weaving, knitting, or any other
process where stress is applied.
Twist tends to be higher at thin places in a yarn. Thus, at such locations, the
penetration of a dye or finish is likely to be lower than at the thick regions of lower
twist. In consequence, the thicker yarn region will tend to be deeper in shade than the
thinner ones and, if a visual fault appears in a pattern on the fabric, the pattern will
tend to be emphasized by the presence of colour or by some variation in a visible
property, such as crease-resistance controlled by a finish.
Motorized wrapping machines are available: the yarn is made to traverse steadily
along the board as it is rotated, thus giving a more even spacing. It is preferable to use
tapered boards for wrapping the yarn if periodic faults are likely to be present. This is
because the yarn may have a repeating fault of a similar spacing to that of one wrap of
yarn. By chance it may be hidden behind the board on every turn with a parallel-
sided board where as with a tapered board it will at some point appear on the face.
Example:
Suppose a yarn is cut into short consecutive lengths (2.5 cm), and then each length
weighed:
Weight Deviation from 25
S.No (X- X )2
“X” Mean (X- X )
20
1 20 0.5 0.25 x = 19.5mg
2 18 1.5 2.25 15
3 19 0.5 0.25 Series1
4 17 2.5 6.25 10
5 22 2.5 6.25
6 21 1.5 2.25 5
7 18 1.5 2.25
8 20 0.5 0.25 0
9 19 0.5 0.25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 21 1.5 2.25
∑ ( x − x) 22.5
X 19.5
n = 13 9 = 22.5
∑ ( x − x)
Mean Deviation = n = 13/10 = 1.3
mean.deviation 1.3
× 100
avg .value
Percentage Mean Deviation (P.M.D) = x 100 = 19.5 = 6.66 %
∑ ( x − x) 2
22.5
Standard deviation S.D = n −1 = 9 = 1.58
S .D 1.58
100 × 100
CV% = Avg.value = 19.5 = 8.10 %
Irregularity in the yarn is 6.66 %.
3) Capacitive method:
The measuring device of an electronic capacitance tester is a parallel plate
capacitor. Under certain conditions, the effect of introducing a non-conducting
material such as a sliver or yarn into the space between the plates is to change the
capacity of the capacitor, the change being proportional to the weight of material
present. If, therefore, the material is drawn through the capacitor continuously, the
changes in the capacity will follow the variation in the weight per unit length of the
strand, the unit length being the length of the capacitor. If is necessary to detect the
changes in capacity and to translate them electronically into meter readings which
indicate the coefficient of variation. At the same time a trace of the variation should be
made on a pen recorder if required.
The actual tester is illustrated which shows the following external features:
i) the ‘comb’ of eight measuring capacitors of different sizes
ii) the creel and guides to control the material
iii) the traverse rollers which can control the material speed over a range from 2-100
yd/min
iv) the control switches
v) the meter on the main unit which indicates the momentary variations in the
material
vi) the integrator which indicates the P.M.D. or C.V.
vii) the high-speed pen recorder whose chart speed can be varied between 1 & 40
in./min.
The Uster is adjusted and balanced after a preliminary warming-up period. Several points are
noticeable:
Example 2:
Spun yarn, cotton 100%, count Nm 50 (Nec 30). This yarn (see Fig. 1-5) is
characterized by long-term random mass variations as a result of a non-regulated
draw frame.
Example 3:
Filament yarn, Polyamide 6.6, dtex 22f7 dtex. Mass variation (Fig. 1-6), which is
not strictly periodic, caused by turbulent air streams in the quench air duct.
Neps-a fault length of 1mm having cross-section 200 % of the average value
Thin place-a fault length of approximately the fibre staple length, having a cross-
section approx. 50 % less than the average value
The reasons for these different types of faults are due to raw material or improper
preparation process. A reliable analysis of these imperfections will provide some
reference to the quality of the raw material used.
Imperfection indicator record imperfections at different sensitivity levels:
Thin place
-30% : yarn cross section is only 70% of yarn mean value
-40% : yarn cross section is only 60% of yarn mean value
-50% : yarn cross section is only 50% of yarn mean value
-60% : yarn cross section is only 40% of yarn mean value
Thick place
+35% : the cross section at thick place is 135% of yarn mean value
+50% : the cross section at thick place is 150% of yarn mean value
+70% : the cross section at thick place is 170% of yarn mean value
+100%: the cross section at thick place is 200% of yarn mean value
Neps
400%: the cross section at the nep is 500% of the yarn mean value
280%: the cross section at the nep is 380% of the yarn mean value
200%: the cross section at the nep is 200% of the yarn mean value
140%: the cross section at the nep is 140% of the yarn mean value
Thick places and thin places which overstep the minimum actuating sensitivity of
+35% and -30% , respectively, correspond to their length to approximately the mean
fibre length. Medium length or long thick and thin places are to be considered as
mean value variations and are not counted by the instrument.
The standard sensitive levels are as follows
Thin place : -50%
Thick place : +50%
Neps : 200% ( 280% for open-end yarns)
In figure 1, the yarn count is on the logarithmic horizontal scale and the C.V.
percentage on the vertical scale. Suppose the yarn considered is a 40s (15 tex).
Locating the 40 position on the count scale we travel vertically until meet the 50% line;
reading across to the vertical scale we read off the value C.V. 16.2%. This means that
of all the 40s combed yarns spun, 50% of them will have a C.V. of 16.2 or worse, and
50% of them better (lower) than 16.2%. The spinning technologist can therefore
compare his own product with the products of other spinners. If our own 40s combed
yarn has a C.V. of 13.2% we would be amongst the spinners of good quality yarns as
the intercept on the 5% line corresponds to a C.V. of 13.5%. In other words, only one
spinner in twenty spins 40s combed are evenly as ourselves.
Standard charts for thick and thin places, and neps, are similarly constructed, the
example shown in fig.2 being the nep count chart. For our 40s combed cotton yarn the
number of neps per 1000 m, for the 50% line, is 54. (On the carded yarn chart the
corresponding value for 40s is about 600)
3.1.7) Extreme imperfections:
With the selector switch set to ‘Extreme Imperfections’ the thick place, which are more
than double the average cross-section, can be counted. For worsted spinners two
limits have been fixed, +33% and 100% and the two counters register the number of
times that these limits have been exceeded.
• Material speed to chart speed can be varied from the gear box for material to
chart speed ratio of 2” to 100” of material speed inches/min
It is possible to derive the co-efficient of variation by measuring the height of the chart
at large number of points, and carrying out the statistical calculation.
Assessment of result:
The irregularity trace obtained from the mechanical tester (WIRA) is recorded on
chart paper having 30 divisions, each 1/10 inches wide. Redraw trace will be centered
at line 15 following procedure is adopted to determine standard deviation and CV%
of mass.
17.47 − 11.95
= 2 = 2.76
Step10 = work out co-efficient of variation of mass
CV% = S.D/mean chart height x 100
2.76
= 46.72 = 5.9 %
Advantages: it is very accurate like human eye. Because of the way yarn evenness is
measured, this method is not affected by moisture content or fibre blend variations in
the yarn.
Disadvantage: twist through the yarn is not same thereby changing the diameter and
hence results are not very accurate.
6) Pneumatic Method:
In this method the yarn to be tested is passed through a narrow tube, into which a
stream of air is being forced. The air flow rate is then measured, usually by pressure
change or some associated phenomenon. In theory, the air-flow in an empty tube is
impeded, as yarn is inserted, by an amount related in some way to the mass of
material present in the yarn. Clearly, careful calibration is a necessary procedure in
using equipment of this type and the relationship may not necessarily be a linear one.
In addition, the effects of such factors as temperature and atmospheric pressure, as
well as relative humidity, will have to be controlled more carefully than usual.
6.1) Procedure:
Two air streams are directed towards each other, and a bundle of filaments is
guided to meet the resulting jet at right angles. The filaments are directed towards the
stream of higher intensity, which thus causes pressure fluctuations in both, and these
changes are measured in the stream of lower intensity to generate a signal
proportional to the mass of yarn interfering with air-flow.
The method is still relatively untried and unproved.
7) Acoustic Method:
Sound waves are used to measure the evenness of yarn. Yarn is moved through a
sound field between a sound generator and a pick up device. Time taken for sound
waves to move across the gap is measured electronically. Transit time of sound is
dependent upon the weight of yarn in the gap.
Figure 5. All signals from the three sensors are sent to an analogue-digital
transformer, and next to a computer for registration, processing and indication. The
resulting information includes the impulse-acoustic spectrum combined with the full
stretching diagram stored in the computer memory and visible on the monitor.
According to the constant amplification factor, the height of each amplitude is
proportional to the energy impulse returning from the filament ends. In this way, all
the impulses of filament breaks as well as the full stretching diagram are reordered
(Fig.6).It should be stressed that an appropriate sensitivity and minimal response time
of the electronic system recording every impulse are necessary to separate each
acoustic impulse while testing yarns consisting of a high number of filaments.
Standard and special software were applied to analyze the test results.
Index of Irregularity: