Spirality in Knitted Fabric

Definition
"Spirality" arises from twist stress in the constituents yams of plain fabric,
causing all loops to distort and throwing the fabric wales and courses into an
angular relationship other than 90 degree.

Reasons
Plain knitted fabric made from single cotton yam are most prone to spirality, the
degree being related to the number of twist/unit length in the yam. Such yam is
said to be "twist lively" and, unlike similarly constructed yams produced from
thermoplastic fibers, cannot be heat set in yarn or fabric form to eliminate
spirality.

Measurement
Spriality is measured by the number of degrees of distortion that the fabric is
away from a 90o relationship of wale to course. Fabrics of around 10o spirality
are commonly processed, although acceptability varies with the quality, price
bracket, and end use of the particular goods.

Treatment
Resin treatment known as cross-linking is sometimes used to reduce the degree
of distortion due to spirality. The resin is applied to the fabric in aqueous
solution and is set by passing the fabric once through a high temperature stenter.
Besides eliminating some or all of the spriality, improved dimensional stability,
appearance and handle are claimed for this process. However, it will weaken
the strength of the cotton fabric.

How to avoid it
Spirality is minimized by the use of double (two-fold) yams, but this pushes up
the price prohibitively in all but the most expensive garment.
Spriality does not occur in IXI rib and interlock fabrics, the loops formed in
opposite directions cancelling out the distortion.

How about the number of feeders on spirality

Another mild form of spirality occurs in fabrics produced on multi-feeder
circular machines, because the number of course knitted in one revolution of the
machine distorts the wale/course relationship.
For example, a 30 inch diameter machine with 90 feeders of 20 gauge will knit
approximately 3 inch of fabric every revolution. This will produce, if the fabric
is finished 90 inch open width. 2o of spriality.
Jimmy lam/sh/spirality in knitted fabric.doc