Volume 9, Issue 2, Spring2015

Modelling Heat-Setting of Cotton/Elastane Knitted Fabrics for

Optimum Dimensional Stability

Ahsan Nazir1,2, Tanveer Hussain1, Aisha Rehman1, Affan Abid1

1
Department of Textile Processing, National Textile University Faisalabad, Pakistan
2
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique Textiles, ENSISA, UHA, Mulhouse France

ABSTRACT

Cotton/elastane fabrics are popular for their excellent stretch and recovery properties. However,
the optimization of dimensional stability of such fabrics is quite challenging for the textile
manufacturer. Heat-setting is one of the most common methods used to improve the dimensional
stability of cotton/elastane fabrics. The aim of this study was to model the heat-setting process of
cotton/elastane knitted fabrics using response surface methodology. Heat-setting time,
temperature, fabric width extension (%) and overfeed (%) were taken as predictor variables while
length- and width-way fabric shrinkage, and fabric areal density were taken as response variables.
The developed response surface regression models can be used for predicting and optimizing the
dimensional stability properties of cotton/elastane fabrics. It could be concluded by statistical
analysis that all the predictor variables used in this study have significant effect of the dimensional
stability of cotton/elastane knitted fabrics.

Keywords: Elastane, modeling, dimensional stability, heat-setting, knitted fabrics

Introduction 2008). Elastane is a copolymer of alternating

soft and hard molecular segments. The elastic
Stretchable knitted cotton fabrics find properties of elastane fiber are owing to the
numerous applications in outer and inner presence of soft molecular segments,
wear due to the exceptional comfort consisting of coiled aliphatic polyesters and
characteristics of cotton fiber. Although polyethers, which uncoil to render it
100% cotton knitted fabrics have substantial stretchability under load (Salem, 2001).
stretchability, poor recovery in these fabrics
elicits the need to add an elastic component Addition of elastane fiber in cotton knitted
in these fabrics (Matsuo & Yamada, 2009; fabrics substantially improves their ‘stretch-
Shanahan & Postle, 1974). Polyurethane- recovery’ properties (Abdessalem,
based elastane fibers can be added in suitable Abdelkader, Mokhtar, & Elmarzougui,
percentage in cotton fabrics to enhance their 2009). Such fabrics offer better resilience,
stretch and recovery properties (Marmarali, extension and immediate recovery as
2003; Sadek, El-Hossini, Eldeeb, & Yassen, compared to 100% cotton knitted fabrics
2012; Senthilkumar, Anbumani, & (Mukhopadhyay, Sharma, & Mohanty,
Hayavadana, 2011; Tezel & Kavuşturan, 2003). Despite these advantages, elastane

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containing fabrics have poor dimensional this study, which has already been used by
stability and they tend to crease and curl different researchers for modeling and
extensively. So, they have to be subjected to optimizing various textile processes.
heat setting treatment that rearranges and
relaxes the molecular chains, thus Experimental
significantly improving the dimensional
stability of cotton/elastane blended knitted This study was accomplished on knitted
fabrics (Karmakar, 1999). single jersey fabric with 5% elastane and
95% cotton. The elastane was added from all
The heat-setting of cotton/elastane blended feeders on knitting machine to obtain the
fabrics is carried out above the glass above mentioned composition. The fabric
transition temperature and below the melting samples were knitted on Mayer and Cie
temperature of elastane, for a suitable time. single knit machine using 30/1 cotton yarn
Fabric width and overfeed are also important and 22 denier elastane filament yarn, at
factors that decide the effectiveness and needle gauge and stitch length of 9.44
efficiency of the heat-setting process. Other needles/cm and 0.3 cm respectively. The
factors include type of impurities added resulting fabric had 65 course/inch, 38
during yarn and fabric manufacturing, wales/inch and accrue fabric density of 246
wetting ability of padding solution and the g/sq. m.
moisture in heat-setting chambers (Desai,
2011; Karmakar, 1999). The heat-setting Thirty samples of the cotton-elastane single-
process is strongly dependent on these jersey fabric were subjected to heat-setting
parameters and a small variation in these treatment at different process parameters.
parameters may cause a large effect on fabric Based on the previous studies (Desai, 2011;
properties. So, these parameters must be Karmakar, 1999) and industrial experience of
selected, optimized and monitored carefully. the authors, the process parameters or factors
Nevertheless, no significant study in the field selected for this study were temperature (T),
of modeling and optimization of heat-setting time (t), fabric width extension (Ew) and
parameters of cotton/elastane knitted fabrics overfeed (OF) at the stenter. The coded and
has been reported. This study focuses on actual values of the factor levels are
optimization of heat-setting parameters of mentioned in Table 1. The experiments were
cotton/elastane knitted jersey fabric for better designed using the central composite design
dimensional stability. Response surface of response surface methodology on
optimization methodology has been used in Minitab® 16 software.

Table 1. Coded and actual levels of design factors

Factor Coded and Actual Levels

Factor
Symbol -2 -1 0 +1 +2
X1 T, (C) 160 170 180 190 200
X2 t, (sec.) 50 70 90 110 130
X3 Ew (%) 6 9 12 15 18
X4 OF (%) 2.5 15 27.5 40 52.5
T : heating-setting temperature, t : heat-setting time, Ew : extension % in
width with respect to grey width, OF - overfeed %.

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 Table 2. Testing results of heat setting experiments

Factors Responses
No. SL, SW, ΔDR, ΔDW,
X1: T, °C X2: t, sec X3: Ew, % X4: OF, %
% % % %
1 170 70 9 15 13.0 10.4 2.03 24.80
2 190 70 9 15 8.5 7.5 -0.81 16.06
3 170 70 15 15 13.0 11.4 -0.16 25.00
4 190 70 15 15 9.1 8.1 -2.31 11.79
5 170 110 9 15 12.2 9.1 3.4 22.0
6 190 110 9 15 6.1 4.7 -1.79 4.67
7 170 110 15 15 13.2 9.4 -2.60 19.72
8 190 110 15 15 5.5 5.5 -8.13 -0.41
9 170 70 9 40 13.2 11.4 5.5 31.3
10 190 70 9 40 9.3 9.1 3.25 19.11
11 170 70 15 40 13.0 11.2 6.91 27.03
12 190 70 15 40 7.1 9.1 -2.44 8.13
13 170 110 9 40 10.6 9.4 5.8 23.6
14 190 110 9 40 5.5 4.5 -5.57 3.05
15 170 110 15 40 11.2 9.3 3.66 21.75
16 190 110 15 40 4.1 4.9 -6.10 2.85
17 160 90 12 27.5 12.6 12.4 6.91 33.74
18 200 90 12 27.5 3.3 4.5 -10.85 -7.52
19 180 90 6 27.5 9.1 8.1 1.46 17.89
20 180 90 18 27.5 9.1 9.1 -0.28 15.04
21 180 50 12 27.5 12.6 12.2 7.15 39.63
22 180 130 12 27.5 8.7 7.7 -0.28 13.62
23 180 90 12 2.5 10.0 9.4 -2.03 17.28
24 180 90 12 52.5 9.3 8.5 0.53 18.50
25 180 90 12 27.5 12.4 10.8 -3.53 18.50
26 180 90 12 27.5 11.2 9.6 -2.32 19.51
27 180 90 12 27.5 11.4 10.2 -2.44 16.06
28 180 90 12 27.5 11.0 10.8 -1.10 20.33
29 180 90 12 27.5 11.0 10.9 -1.50 16.87
30 180 90 12 27.5 9.5 9.1 -1.10 16.26
T : heating-setting temperature, t : heat-setting time, Ew : extension % in width with respect to
grey width, OF : overfeed %, SL : length-way shrinkage (%) after washing, SW : width-way
shrinkage (%) after washing, ΔDR : difference % between grey fabric density and that after dry-
relaxation after heat-setting, ΔDW : difference % in grey fabric density and that after 5 laundering
and tumble drying cycles

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Each fabric sample was first padded in a determined in accordance with AATCC 135
solution of wetting agent (2 g/L Falosan standard test method using Whirlpool
RGN, CHT, Pakistan) on a lab-scale padder washing machine (Model:
at 75% pickup. It was then heat-set on a lab- 3LWTW4840YW) and drier (Model:
scale stenter according to the experimental 3DWGD4800YQ) completing five washing
plan given in Table 2. After heat-setting, the and drying cycles. The areal density (grams
samples were conditioned in standard per square meter) of washed and unwashed
atmospheric conditions (20°C ±2, 65% ±4 fabric samples was determined according to
relative humidity) and then tested for the ASTM D 3776. Statistical data analysis and
response variables. The width of samples was modeling was done using Minitab® 16
determined according ASTM D3774. The software package.
dimensional stability of samples was

Table 3. Analysis of variance for effect of input variables on response variables

Terms SL SW ΔDR ΔDW

Coeff. P-Value Coeff. P-Value Coeff. P-value Coeff. P-value
X1 -5.233 0.000* -3.675 0.000* -6.998 0.000* -17.69 0.000*
X2 -2.133 0.000* -2.510 0.000* -3.184 0.000* -9.841 0.000*
X3 -0.183 0.557 0.393 0.161 -2.209 0.006* -2.86 0.034*
X4 -0.667 0.045* 0.066 0.807 2.215 0.005* -1.304 0.305
X12 -2.917 0.000* -2.130 0.001* -0.163 0.902 -6.309 0.015*
X22 -0.217 0.71 -0.680 0.191 5.244 0.001* 7.207 0.007*
X32 -1.767 0.007* -2.030 0.001* 2.399 0.085 -2.956 0.218
X42 -1.217 0.050 -1.640 0.005* 1.057 0.430 -1.533 0.515
X1 X3 -1.250 0.115 0.196 0.768 -1.281 0.464 -3.099 0.319
X1 X2 -1.950 0.020* -1.670 0.021* -3.801 0.041* -5.945 0.067
X1 X4 0.050 0.948 0.193 0.771 -4.269 0.024* -2.795 0.368
X2 X3 0.350 0.646 0.003 0.995 -1.748 0.321 2.489 0.421
X3 X4 -1.05 0.181 -0.687 0.309 2.256 0.205 -1.474 0.632
X2 X4 -1.15 0.145 -0.980 0.153 -1.890 0.285 -0.661 0.829
*Statistically significant term with 95% confidence

Results and Discussion function of p-value (at 95% confidence)

based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA)
The results of the experiments performed for of the data, is shown in Table 3. The
the optimization of heat setting parameters regression equations for all the response
are summarized in Table 2. The statistical variables, including the statistically
significance of the effect of each factor, as a significant factors, are given in Table 4.

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 Table 4. Regression equations for each response variable in uncoded units

Response Regression Equation R-Sq (%)

– 203.85 + 2.42 X1+ 0.38 X2 + 1.02 X3 – 0.027 X4 – 0.01 X12 – 0.04X32 –

SL 93.45
0.01X1X2
–163.72 + 1.86X1+ 0.33X2 + 1.33X3 + 0.14X4 – 0.01X12– 0.05X32 –
SW 94.08
0.01X42 – 0.01X1 X2
-23.66 + 0.31X1 + 0.22X2– 0.36X3+ 1.62X4– 0.01X22 – 0.01X1 X2 – 0.01
ΔDR 87.74
X1 X4
ΔDW -222.31 + 4.28 X1 – 1.12 X2 – 0.48 X3 – 0.01 X12 + 0.01 X22 90.30

Figure 1. Effect of heat-setting time and temperature on fabric shrinkage in laundering,

Effect of Heat-setting Parameters on evident from Figure 1 that the effect of

Fabric Shrinkage temperature is more pronounced than that of
the time. It is also clear that when the heat
The effect of heat-setting temperature and setting temperature is higher than the
time on length- and width-way fabric softening temperature of elastane (175-
shrinkage is depicted in Figure 1. The 180°C), the fabric shrinkage decreases
analysis of variance (ANOVA) results sharply. Below the elastane softening
showed that the effect of both the heat-setting temperature, polymeric chains in the fiber do
temperature and time was statistically not undergo significant movement and
significant on fabric shrinkage in both ways rearrangement to form a more stable
(p-values <0.05 for X1 and X2, Table 3). It is orientation of the molecular chains.

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 Figure 2. Effect of width extension and overfeed during heat-setting on fabric shrinkage in
laundering,

This leads to higher shrinkage in fabric when The effect of fabric width extension and
the chains relax during laundering. However, overfeed during heat-setting on the fabric
when the fabric is heat-set at temperatures shrinkage after laundering is shown in Figure
above the elastane softening temperature its 2. It can be noticed that at higher width
shrinkage on laundering decreases. There is a extension, the fabric length-way shrinkage
statistically significant interaction between decreases with increase in fabric overfeed.
heat-setting time and temperature. The effect However, the effect of increasing fabric
of heat-setting time is less noticeable at low overfeed on length-way shrinkage is less
temperatures and it becomes more prominent significant when the fabric is heat-set at
when the fabric is heat-set at higher lower width extension. The effect of overfeed
temperatures. Above the elastane softening is less significant on width-way fabric
temperature, the fabric shrinkage decreases shrinkage as compared to that in length-ways.
with increase in time.

Figure 3. Effect of heat-setting parameters on density of the dry-relaxed fabric,

At lower fabric overfeed, the fabric length- the fabric width-way shrinkage also appears
way shrinkage appears to increase with to increase with increase in fabric width
increase in fabric width-extension. However, extension. However, at higher fabric
at higher fabric overfeed, the trend seems to overfeed, the width-way fabric shrinkage
reverse. Similarly, at lower fabric overfeed,
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first appears to slightly increase then gets better heat-set, leading to less increase in
decrease. fabric density on relaxation. In case of higher
length-way fabric overfeed and less width-
Although there is no statistically significant way fabric extension during heat-setting, the
interaction between the fabric width elastane is not better heat-set. Hence, the
extension and overfeed, the optimum fabric undergoes greater dry relaxation
percentage of both the factors is essential for resulting in higher gain in the fabric areal
achieving minimum fabric shrinkage density on relaxation.
simultaneously in both the fabric directions.
Effect of Heat-setting Parameters on
Effect of Heat-setting Parameters on Fabric Areal Density after Laundering
Fabric Density after Heat Setting
The effect of heat-setting time and
From the analysis of variance results given in temperature on difference in grey fabric areal
Table 3, it is evident that the relaxed fabric density and that after five laundering and
density after heat-setting is significantly tumble drying cycles (ΔDw %) is shown in
affected by all of the heat-setting parameters. Figure 4(a). It is clear that the increase in
It can be observed in Figure 3 (a) that at lower fabric density on laundering is lower when
heat setting times, increase in fabric density the fabric is heat set at higher temperature and
was found to be higher without being time. Since, the fabric gets better heat-set at
influenced much by the temperature. higher temperature and time, it tends to
However, as the heat-setting time increases shrink less in laundering resulting is less
the effect of temperature becomes stronger. increase in fabric density.
At higher process times, the increase in fabric
density drops with increase in temperature. The effect of fabric-overfeed and width
This could be attributed to better stabilization extension on the increase in density of the
of fabric at higher heat-setting temperature fabric after laundering is depicted in Figure
and time, resulting in less relaxation 4(b). It can be noticed that the effect of fabric
shrinkage after the heat-setting process to overfeed and width extension during heat-
cause any increase in fabric areal density. setting is not as much pronounced as that of
Since the fabric is not well-set at low heat-setting time and temperature. Increase in
temperature and time, it tends to relax after fabric density after laundering is lower when
the heat-setting process resulting in increase the fabric is heat-set at higher width
in fabric areal density. Effect of width extension. At higher width extension,
extension and overfeed during heat-setting on elastane filaments get better heat-set due to
change in density of the dry-relaxed fabric is better exposure to heat. The effect of fabric
shown in Figure 3(b). Increase in fabric overfeed during heat-setting was not found to
density on dry relaxation after heat-setting is be statistically significant on change in fabric
minimum when the fabrics are heat-set at areal density after laundering (p-value > 0.5,
high width-extension and lower overfeed. Table 3). The results imply that the stability
When heat-setting is done with higher fabric of cotton/elastane fabric to laundering is
width extension the elastane filaments, which better in terms of fabric areal density, if the
run mainly along the width, get better heat- fabric is heat-set at sufficiently higher
set because of their better exposure to heat. temperature and time with higher width
Dry relaxation remains low when the elastane extension.

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 Figure 4. Effect of heat-setting parameters on density of the fabric after laundering,

Validation For this purpose, a comparison of predicted

and actual output variables was made.
The models developed were validated using Figure 5 shows fitted line.
the set of parameters mentioned in table 5.

Table 5. Predicted and actual values of outputs

X1 X2 X3 X4 SL SW ΔDR ΔDW
Pred.
Actual Abs. Pred. Actual Abs. Pred. Actual Abs. Pred. Actual Abs.
Error Error Error Error
200 89.2 6 10.4 1.89 1.93 0.03 1.32 1.55 0.23 -4.49 -5.69 1.19 -3.48 -3.72 0.23
186 95 16 20 7.94 8.15 0.20 7.63 7.48 0.15 -5.57 -5.50 0.06 8.03 7.65 0.37
175 100 8 35 10.66 10.98 0.31 9.08 8.79 0.29 2.70 2.21 0.48 20.87 21.60 0.72
165 120 11 10 13.06 14.01 0.95 9.78 9.4 0.38 3.05 3.87 0.82 24.37 26.03 1.65
195 95 10 16 5.00 5.41 0.41 4.94 4.42 0.52 -5.99 -6.38 0.38 0.21 0.19 0.02
Mean error 0.38 Mean error 0.31 Mean error 0.59 Mean error 0.60

Figure 5 and 6 show fitted line plot for predicted and actual shrinkage in length and
predicted and actual values of shrinkage in width is 0.998 and 0.995 with p-values of
length-way and width-way direction 0.000 for both. This reflects the accuracy and
respectively. The Pearson correlation for reliability of models.

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 Predicted SL
(%)

Actual SL (%)
Figure 5. Fitted line plot for actual and predicted SL (%),
Predicted SW (%)

Actual SW (%)
Figure 6. Fitted line plot for actual and predicted SW (%),

Figure 5 and 6 show fitted line plot for show that the models are accurate and can be
predicted and actual values of fabric density used reliably.
after heat setting and washing, respectively.
The Pearson correlation values for these Conclusions
responses are 0.982 and 0.999 with p-values
of 0.001 and 0.000 respectively. These values It can be concluded from this study that
maximum stability in the dimensions and
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areal density cotton-elastane fabrics after shrinkage on laundering. Stability of fabric
laundering can be obtained if the fabrics are density to dry relaxation is better when the
heat-set for a sufficient time above the fabric is heat-set at higher fabric-width
elastane softening temperature. Increase in extension and lower fabric-overfeed. The
fabric width extension at higher fabric response surface regression model developed
overfeed results in decrease in fabric length- in current work could be utilized as a useful
way shrinkage and better stability of fabric tool for “right first time” heat setting of
areal density during laundering. Increase in elastane/cotton knitted fabrics. Moreover,
fabric width extension at lower fabric tools like software may also be developed for
overfeed results in higher width-way fabric industrial heat setting of subjected fabrics.
Predicted ΔDR

Actual ΔDR
Figure 7. Fitted line plot for actual and predicted ΔDR (%),

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 Predicted
ΔD

Actual ΔDW
Figure 8. Fitted line plot for actual and predicted ΔDW (%),

Acknowledgement Matsuo, M., & Yamada, T. (2009).

Hysteresis of Tensile load - Strain
The authors are thankful to the management Route of Knitted Fabrics under
of Masood Textile Mills for providing their Extension and Recovery Processes
services for execution of this research work. Estimated by Strain History. Text.
Res. J., 79(3), 275-284. doi:
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