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A Unique Method of Producing Two-Component Yarns in Friction Spinning

Article  in  Research Journal of Textile and Apparel · May 2005

DOI: 10.1108/RJTA-09-02-2005-B002

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

A Unique Method of Producing Two-Component Yarns

in Friction Spinning
Ali Akbar Merati and Masaaki Okamura
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu, Japan

ABSTRACT

In this research, recycled fibres (RF) were used to produce three types of two-component
yarns such as cotton covered by RF “R-C” core yarn, RF covered by cotton “C-R” core
yarn, and randomly blended “mixed” yarns. In the case of “R-C” and “C-R” core yarns, the
core component is perfectly covered by sheath fibres and the appearance of these yarns is
the same as that of yarns made with sheath fibres. The results show that “R-C” yarns are
stronger than other types, while; there is no significant difference between the strength of
“C-R” and “mixed” yarns. Also, the strength of all types of two-component yarns is higher
than that of 100% RF yarns, while their elongation is almost as same as that of 100%
cotton yarns, which are lower than that of RF yarns. Also the irregularity of all of the two-
component core yarns is better than that of RF yarns. From the results, we conclude that,
with our techniques, we can produce on a friction spinning machine two-component core
yarns and blend yarns from staple fibres with acceptable appearance and tensile properties.

Keywords: Recycled fibres, Two-component yarn, Core yarn, Friction spinning,

1. Introduction in the opening and cleaning process prior to the

carding or in the doubling and drafting of slivers
The main purpose of producing two-component in the yarn making process. The blending process
yarns is to blend together fibres with different is necessary to randomise the distribution of
characteristics to produce yarn qualities that fibres in the yarn cross section.
cannot be obtained by using one type of fibre
alone. The desired qualities that may be affected In friction spinning, it might be noted that high-
by the blend components may be divided into speed combing is a highly efficient blending
aesthetics, such as appearance, smoothness, device. Therefore, we expect to obtain a good
bulkiness and so on; and function, such as blend yarn by feeding two kinds of slivers with
strength, abrasion resistance, etc. Also, different characteristics of staple fibres into the
employing cheaper materials as one component feed roller of the friction spinning machine.
of the blend can sometimes reduce the cost of a
yarn. This may, or may not, have a detrimental A core-spun yarn is known as a two-component
effect on the quality of the yarn and fabric. yarn with a generally central filament surrounded
by a cover or sheath of staple fibres (Kimmel, et
Generally, a two-component yarn is produced al. 1990; Merati, et al. 1997 and 1998). In this
either by uniformly blending two kinds of staple work both the core and sheath of the core yarns
fibres with different characteristics or by using a are composed of staple fibres.
filament in the core of the yarn covered by staple
fibres. In blended yarns, a uniform blend is The goal of this research work is to introduce a
defined as a blend with the same proportion of unique technique for producing two-component
two components at all cross sections, with two core yarns and to blend yarns from two kinds of
components uniformly distributed throughout the slivers with different characteristics of staple
section. The blending process takes place either fibres on a friction spinning machine.

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

2. Materials and Methods parameters, we produced various counts of

various types of two-component yarns with the
2.1 Two- component Yarn Samples same component percentage contents.

We used two different slivers (Figure 1), such as The RF sliver is composed of polyester 51.7%,
a cotton sliver (2.5 cm mean fibre staple length rayon 19.2%, cotton 17%, acrylic 10.7%, and
and 3.13 g/m sliver size) and a RF sliver (1.77 cm wool 1.4%. Therefore, the percentage of various
mean fibre staple length and 2.23 g/m sliver size), types of fibres in the yarn is cotton (new) 58.4%,
to produce three types of two-component yarns of recycled cotton 7%, recycled polyester 21.5%,
various counts on an experimental friction recycled rayon 8%, recycled acrylic 4.5%, and
spinning machine (Figure 2) (Kato et al., 1999, recycled wool 0.6%.
Konda et al., 1996, Konda et al., 1995, Merati et
al., 2000). The percentage of components in the As we reported in our earlier works (Kato et al.,
two-component yarns was cotton 58% and 1999, Merati et al., 2000), the position of the
recycled fibres 42%. Typical spinning parameters fibres in the yarn depends on their position in the
included 120 m/min spinning speed, 9000 rpm fed sliver. Therefore, if we control the position of
combing roller speed, 4000 rpm perforated the fibres in the feeding zone, we can produce
spinning drum speed, 20 kPa suction air pressure, various types of two-component spun yarn from
and a distance of 0.25 mm between the perforated two slivers of different staple fibres on a
roller and the rubber roller. Using these spinning friction spinning machine. For this purpose, it is

60 60

50 50
Fiber Length (mm)
Fiber Length (mm)

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
(%) (%)

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Staple diagram of cotton and recycled fibres, (a) Cotton sliver, (b) RF sliver.

Yarn Cross- Yarn Cross-

recycle
sliver
Cotton
sliver

feed roller feed roller

Recycle
sliver
combing roller cotton combing roller
sliver
fiber transport fiber transport
channel channel
suction slit suction slit

perforated roller yarn withdrawal perforated roller yarn withdrawal

direction direction

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. Diagram of the yarn-forming zone of a modified friction spinning machine,

(a) Side-by side feeding, (b) Piled up feeding.

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

necessary to modify the sliver feeding part of the the cotton fibres in the core of the yarn are
friction spinning machine. Two different methods covered with RF (R-C yarn).
of sliver feeding could be employed, such as side-
by-side feeding (Figure 2-a) and piled up feeding In the piled up feeding method, two slivers are
(Figure 2-b). In these figures, a sliver guide is fed to the entire width of the feed roller in the
designed and fixed on the sliver feeding zone just form of two separate layers placed one on the
before the feed roller. In side-by-side feeding other. In this method of feeding, the fibres of both
method, two slivers laid side by side with a guide slivers are opened by the entire width of the
between them. This guide divides the feeding combing roller and then transferred to the nip of
zone into two equal and independent zones, such the friction rollers by the whole width of the
as an up-side zone and a down-side zone. Cotton transport channel. The fibres of the two
and RF slivers are laid side by side and fed into components are uniformly blended in the opening
the feed roller in such a manner that the RF sliver process by the high-speed rotation of the combing
is fed into the up-side or upper half of the feed roller. Therefore, the fibres of both components
roller and the cotton sliver is fed into the down- are distributed uniformly in the yarn cross section
side or lower half of the feed roller. In this (Figure 2-b), and a two-component blend yarn is
method of feeding, we expect the RF to be formed (mixed yarn).
opened by the upper half of the combing roller
and then transferred to the nip of the friction 3. Results and Discussion
rollers by the upper half of the transport channel.
These fibres are fed into the tip of the yarn tail Table I shows a list of various yarn samples
and then covered by the cotton fibres that will be pertinent to this discussion. In this table, the
transferred by the lower half of the channel. cotton yarns that are produced from cotton slivers
Hence, we expect that the RF to be positioned in are shown with a letter “C”, the RF yarns that are
the centre of the yarn in which they will be produced from RF slivers are shown with a letter
covered by the cotton fibres (C-R yarn). A “R”, two-component yarns such as cotton
different type of yarn could be produced by covered by recycled fibres, recycled fibres
replacing two slivers with each other, in which covered by cotton, and randomly blended yarns
are.

Table I. Yarn samples and corresponding test conditions.

Yarn components, %
Yarn
Yarn count, tex
Samples
New cotton fibres Recycled fibres

C 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 100 0

R 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 0 100
R-C 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 58 42
C-R 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 58 42
Mixed 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 58 42

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

Fig. 3. Photograph of two-component friction spun yarns, (a) Photograph of the “R-C”
yarn surface, (b) Photograph of the “R-C” yarn cross section, (c) Photograph of
the “C-R” yarn surface, (d) Photograph of the “C-R” yarn cross section, (e)
Photograph of the “mixed” yarn surface, (f) Photograph of the “mixed” yarn
cross section.

Yarns are shown with the letters “R-C”, “C-R”, black recycled fibres are almost completely
and “mixed”, respectively. Also, to consider the covered by sheath fibres (white cotton), and in
position of the fibres of two components in the case of “R-C” yarns, the white cotton fibres are
yarn, it was necessary to produce a yarn with almost completely covered by sheath fibres
components of different colours. We used a (black recycled fibres). In the case of the piled up
black-coloured acrylic sliver instead of RF sliver feeding method the fibres of two components are
and produced three types of two-component yarns blended and positioned in all the yarn cross
with the same method. Figure 3 presents sections (Figure 3-c). The above-mentioned
photographs of the surface and cross section of results show that, in the case of “C-R” yarns, the
the yarns. As we expected, two-component core recycled fibres in the yarn can be perfectly
yarns (“R-C” and “C-R” yarns) are formed in covered by the cotton fibres. Consequently, the
case of side-by-side feeding. In “C-R” yarns, the appearance of this type of two-component yarn is

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

the same as that of conventional cotton yarns. the purpose of considering its tensile properties.
Also, an almost uniform blend yarn (mixed yarn) In fact, our samples, which consisted of two
is producible on a friction spinning machine from components such as a cotton fibres component
two slivers of different components. and an RF component, are multi-component
yarns. Generally, the final breakage of a multi-
3.1 Mechanical Properties component yarn depends mainly on the tensile
properties and percentage of the components.
The breaking strength of a blend yarn depends on
a combination of factors such as slippage, Figure 4 shows some typical strength-elongation
breakage, the tensile properties of the constituent curves of “R-C”, “C-R”, “mixed” two-
fibres, and their proportion in the yarn. The component yarns, cotton yarn “C”, and RF yarn
relationship of yarn tenacity to yarn blend “R” of 50 tex counts. The strength-elongation
composition has been studied by Hamburger curves of all of the two-component yarns are
(1949) and Merati et al. (1998). In this study, shaped basically like that of the cotton yarn. The
whereas the recycled component is composed of initial Young’s modulus of the two-component
various types of fibres, it is difficult in practice to yarns is not significantly different from that of
consider the yarn to be a two-component yarn for the cotton and RF yarns. The breaking strength

14 14
C R R-C mixed C-R
12 12

10 10
Strength (CN/tex)

Strength (CN/tex)

8 8

6 6

4 4

2 2
C R R-C mixed C-R

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Elongation (%) Yarn Count (tex)

Fig. 4. Typical strength-elongation of Fig. 5. Strength of various yarns of

Various types of yarns, (50 tex). various counts.

of all types of two-component yarns is higher spinning and the low strength of the 30 tex RF
than that of 100% RF yarns and lower than that yarns, the production of low count yarns from RF
of 100% cotton yarns (Figure 5). The lower is not possible in friction spinning. Merati et al.
strength of the RF yarns and two-component (1997, 1998) explained that the core yarn
yarns may be explained by the higher content of spinning technique with filament in the core and
short fibres in the recycled component (Figure 1). staple fibres in the sheath is a practical method of
improving spinning efficiency, as it decreases the
Figure 5 shows that the strength of all types of end breaks. Also core yarns have better tensile
“C”, “R”, “R-C”, “C-R”, and “mixed” yarns properties than conventional yarns.
decreases when the yarn count decreases from 40
tex to 30 tex. This is because of the structure of We statistically considered the difference between
the friction spinning machine and method of yarn the strength of three types of two-component
making, in which the production of 30 tex and yarns, as shown in Figure 5. The results of the t-
thinner yarns need to adjust to a narrower gap test show that there are statistically significant
between the friction rollers (Merati et al. 1997). differences at a 95% confidence interval between
In spite of this, because of high end breaks in the strength of most “R-C” yarns and other types

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RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

of two-component yarns, in which the strength of The breaking elongation of all types of two-
the “R-C” yarns is higher than that of other types component yarns is approximately the same as
of two-component yarns. Meanwhile, no that of the cotton yarns (Figure 6). The
statistically significant difference in strength is elongation of all of the two-component yarns and
seen between the “C-R” and “mixed” yarns. The cotton yarns is lower than that of the RF yarns.
higher strength of the “R-C” yarns may be Where the RF sliver consists 83% of fibres with
explained by the differential twist structure of the higher elongation than that of the cotton yarns,
friction spun yarns, where the core fibres are the higher elongation of the RF yarns is an
twisted more than the sheath fibres. Meanwhile, obvious result. The lower elongation of all types
the stronger component of cotton fibres is in the of two-component yarns compared to the RF
core of the R-C yarn. It sustains a greater load yarns is because of the percentage of the two
when the yarn is strained and the yarn shows components in the yarn (cotton 58% and
higher strength. RF 42%) and their contribution to the tensile

35 25

30
20

CV (%)
25

15
Elongation (%)

20

15 10

10
5
5
C R R-C mixed C-R C R R-C mixed C-R

0 0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Yarn Count (tex) Yarn Count (tex)

Fig. 6. Elongation of various yarns of Fig. 7. Coefficient of variation of various

various counts. yarns of various counts.

properties of the yarn. Figure 6 also shows that 4. Conclusions

the elongation of all types of two-component
yarns, cotton yarns, and RF yarns increases as the In order to explore a new method of spinning
yarn count increases. two-component yarn from staple fibres, we
modified the feeding part of the friction spinning
Figure 7 shows the coefficient of variation of the machine and then produced three types of two-
yarns. As can be seen, the coefficient of variation component yarns, such as two types of core yarns
of cotton yarns is lowest and that of RF yarns is (C-R and R-C) and one type of blend yarn
highest. The coefficient of variation of the two- (mixed) with different yarn counts. The results of
component yarns is lower than that of the RF measuring the tensile properties and irregularities
yarns. This confirms that the short fibres in the of the yarn samples that were produced were
two-component yarns are a source of irregularity compared with those of 100% cotton yarns and
in spinning, as we saw in the RF yarns. The 100% RF yarns. Where the staple length of the
longer fibres of the cotton sliver result in a stable RF was very short, producing middle count (30
spinning process because they control the tex) yarns from the RF was not possible. We
movement of the shorter fibres of the RF sliver in produced C-R and R-C yarns in such a
the yarn-forming zone and reduce the manner that one component in the yarn core was
irregularities in the two-component yarn. completely covered by the other. The appearance

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 RJTA Vol. 9 No. 2 2005

of the core yarns that were produced looks [5] Konda, F., Okamura, M., Merati, A.A. and
approximately 100% of the sheath component. In Kato, H. (1995), ‘Simultaneous measuring
“mixed” yarns, the fibres of two components are of fiber flow, yarn tension and yarn
uniformly distributed in the yarn cross section. diameter in friction spinning’, in Proc.
Conference on New Spinning Systems into
The results of the tensile properties tests of the the Future, Shanghai, China, Nov. 1995.
yarns show that the strength of all types of two- [6] Merati, A.A., Konda F., Okamura, M. and
component yarns is lower than that of cotton Marui E. (1997), ‘Analysis of yarn tension
yarns and higher than that of RF yarns. The in the yarn-forming zone in friction
elongation of all types of two-component yarns is spinning’, Textile Res. J. 67(9), pp. 643-653.
lower than that of RF yarns and same as that of [7] Merati, A.A., Konda, F., Okamura, M. and
cotton yarns. Also, the two-component yarns are Marui, E. (1997), ‘Effect of filament pre-
less irregular than the RF yarns. From the results, tension on structural parameters and
we conclude that two-component core yarns and mechanical properties of core yarn in
blend yarns from staple fibres can be produced friction spinning’, in Proc. the 4th Asian
on a friction spinning machine with acceptable Textile Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, June
tensile properties and appearance. 24-26, 1997.
[8] Merati, A.A., Konda, F., Okamura, M. and
REFERENCES Marui, E. (1998), ‘False twist in core yarn
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