Replies from the readers

What are the factors to be considered while spinning yarn for knitting?

Mr.R.Senthilkumar, AGM, Kallam Brothers Cottons Pvt Ltd., Guntur, Andrapradesh

Knitted fabric is gaining popularity; demand for knitted fabrics is increasing in the textile and clothing industry.
Consumer today is looking for comfort, fashion and style, which results in ever changing demands in apparel
market. The main advantage of knitted fabrics is that they are able to meet consumer demand for such properties
as a softer feel, good elastic nature and good draping quality and wrinkle recovery.

Knitting defined as Inter meshing or looping of yarn in Warp or Weft direction. In other term, it is defined as fabrics
are produced by set of connect loops from a series in Warp or Weft direction when one loop is drawn through
another, loops are formed in horizontal or vertical direction. We may know weaving defined as interlacing of yarn
where we use Warp and weft terminology where as it is called Course and Wales in Knitting.

There are two types of Knitting:-

Warp Knitting : It is a method of forming fabric, in which the loops are made in vertical way along the length of
the fabric from each warp yarns and intermeshing of loops takes place in a flat form length basis.

Weft knitting: It is a method of forming a fabric, in which the loops are made in horizontal way from a single yarn
and intermeshing of loops takes place in a circular or flat form on across basis.

Factors to be considered while spinning :

1. Selection proper raw material is most important in knitting yarn manufacturing process. We need to focus on
Micronaire value 3.8 to 4.3 for count from Ne 24s to 40s for lower nepping tendency, high elongation & Strength. It
should be from 4.1 to 4.7 for count coarser than 24s. Micronaire CV% should be maintained below 10%. RD, +B
value difference between lots should be maintain at minimum level for avoid shade variation.

2. Yarn U% should be minimum because poor U% will results in high thick & thin places will have an impact in
Knitting, example 9.7 to 10.2 acceptable limit for 30s combed hosiery.

3. Breaking Tenacity (CN / Tex) for hosiery yarn should be maintained as per standard level, example 18.4 to 18.9
Acceptable limit for 30s combed hosiery.

4. In ring frame always lesser Twist Multiplier is better for spinning hosiery yarn because excessive twist will
causes distortion of the finished knitted fabric ie skewed fabric. (3.4 to 3.6 TM)

5. In General, hosiery yarn has less TM for softness, so it is better to use 1 no heavier Traveller and Traveller
clearer setting to be maintain closer level to avoid Traveller loading. Ring Traveller should be changed before 1.5%
of burnout.

6. Ring frame department humidity condition should be maintain as per standard to avoid fluff liberation, exhaust
trench should be cleaned at frequent intervals, Ensure proper functioning of OHTC to avoid Traveller loading &
short, Long slub faults will be reduced.

7. Ring frame Yarn count CV% should be maintain below 1% to get uniform density in knitting fabrics.
8. We need to run at lesser drum speed in Autoconer approx. 1250 MPM with proper tension control. Clearer
setting should be kept to reduce short thick, long thick & long thin faults.

9. Knitting machine needles may break due to slubs & thick places in yarn. So it is better to keep closer clearer
setting to avoid the same.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------

Mr. P.L. Jahagirdar, General Manager, The Gadag Co op Textile Mill Limited, Hulkoti, Karnataka

Raw material should be selected properly, which is direct relationship between certain quality characteristics of the
fibre, as 70 - 80% of yarn quality is decided by cotton. Short fibre content is also very important for yarn quality.
Uniformity ratio should be more than 47%. Also, care should be taken in Length, Micronaire and Strength etc.
Number of lots per mixing should be as more as possible.

Following factors on yarn characteristic to be required for spinning yarn for knitting

1. Average nominal count should be plus or minus 1.3 %.

2. Count CV% should be less than 1.2

3. Twist multiplier should be 3.5 to 3.6 or less as much as possible, without affecting yarn strength.
4, TPI CV % should be lesser than 2.5%
5. U% should be 9.0 to 9.5, which is 5 to 10% Uster Stat value.
6. Total IPI /1000 M should be lesser than 50 in 40s Count and lesser than 40 in 30s count
7. RKM (Tenacity) GMS/tex should be more than 17.0
8. RKM CV % should be lesser than 5.0
9. Elongation percentage should be more than 5.0
10.Hairiness - H should be below 4.0 to 4.5
11.Objectionable classimate faults (both short & long) should be lesser than 1/100 Km
12. H1 Thin faults should lesser than 4 per 100 KM of yarn.
13. Every cone should be checked in UV lamp for shade variation and ensure no shade variation to avoid Barrie.
14. Ring Travellers should be checked for yarn clearance and burn outs to maintain the breakage rate.

To achieve above quality of yarn for Knitting, optimum process parameters at all the stages of the process should
be maintained.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------

Mr.J.Maxton George, Executive QAD, Global Threads Supply India, Tuticorin, Tamilnadu

The prime requirements for the Hosiery yarn are better evenness with minimum imperfection and
hairiness. To achieve this the following factors may be considered to deliver a perfect Hosiery yarn ;-

Cotton : Single cotton variety should be used to avoid shade variation.

Trash% : The trash % in cotton should be below 3% to avoid kitties complaint.

Fibre Mic : Fineness is the prime factor to be considered because the variation in the fineness between lots itself
creates barrie effect in the cloth. The range of mic should be below 0.6.

Maturity Index: The maturity index should be 75 to 80 for the hosiery yarns. This has its impact in the dye ability
of the fabric.

Contamination: The cotton should be free from contamination particularly polypropylene, otherwise holes/flaws in
the fabric will appear as a defect.

Blow Room : To prevent fibre from rupture, optimum beating points should be used in blow room. Long and
curved conveying pipes with rough inner surface and bends should be avoided to reduce nepping tendency of
cotton. Better removal of seeds through seed traps in blow room and carding prevent kitties.

Carding : In carding sliver CV% should be maintained around 2.

Draw Frame : In draw frame optimum bottom roll setting.ie.,in breaker, front – 5% AFIS and back – 5% AFIS + 4
MM, in finisher , front – 5% AFIS + 2 MM, back – 5% AFIS + 4 MM should be maintained, which gives better U%
and evenness in yarn. The uneven yarn results in patchiness in the fabric.The one meter CV % should be less than
0.6.

Simplex : In simplex setting at the back zone of the drafting system should be within 2.5% Span length+13 to
15mm and simplex stretch% to be maintain below 0.5%.

Spinning: In spinning UDR profile Traveller should be used for controlling hairiness. Higher hairiness in the yarn is
one of the reasons for lint shedding tendency in knitting. The accumulation of this lints are taken away by the
incoming yarn and obstruct the passage by blocking needles and subsequently create yarn or needle breakage and
deteriorate fabric appearance. Traveller clearer setting should be 2 MM. Count CV% should be maintain below
1.4%

Spindle tape should be periodically renewed, may be scheduled for one year as generally the hosiery TPI is low,
any TPI lower than the standard will create thin place. Higher twist variation in the knitting yarn tends to create
fabric barrie. Thick and thin places in the yarn should be low as these create problems such as stop holes in the
fabric and broken needles respectively.

Autoconer:

Optimum tension at cop unwinding should be maintained in the auto coner during winding.

Optimum cone weight is 1.8kg, as higher the weight will create thin place.

Even if spun through compact yarn, waxing is a must because it reduces the co efficient of friction of yarns created

Imperfection increase between cop and cone should not be more than 30%.

If we consider all these factors we can achieve the above results, which is best suitable for knitting yarn.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr.D.Nageswara Rao, Manager – QAD, Idupulapadu Cotton Mills Pvt Limited, Ganapavaram, Guntur,
Andra Pradesh

The following factors are considered while manufacturing knitted or hosiery yarn.

1. Selection of raw cotton

2. TPI and spindle speed

3. Selection of Ring Traveller

4. Controlling of room temperature

5. Care to avoid cotton contamination

6. Yarn clearer settings

7. Lubricates (Wax) applied on yarn in Auto cone winding.

8. Density of the package.

9. Minimising the ring Frame breakage level.

10. Quality piecing at Ring Frame.

11. Process parameters applied.

12. Prevention of BARRE.

Selection of Raw Cotton : Raw material should be selected properly. There is a direct relationship between
certain quality characteristics of the fiber and those of yarn. 70 to 80% of basic yarn quality decided by cotton.

1. Less short fiber content

2. Uniformity of Ratio should be more than 47%

3. 2.5% span length should be more than 30 +

4. Average Mic should be in between 3.8 to 4.2 for the counts 24 to 40

5. Strength of the fiber should be more than 24 g/tex.

6. Select the cotton with less contamination.

Mixing

1. Average micronaire of the mixing should be same for the entire lot.
2. The difference in mic mixing of the same lot should be 0.1

3. The micronaire CV% of a mixing should be less than 10%.

4. Cotton with two different origins should be not be mixed.

5. Cotton with too wide reflectance value (RD) and yellowness value (+b) should not be mixed.

6. Immature fiber content should be minimum as it will effect dyeing and will result in white specks.

7. The tuft size is should be as low as 10 grams.

8. If cotton with contamination is used it is better to open the bales into small tufts by manual grading

Process Parameters:

1. If the percentage of trash in cotton is less it is available to use 3 beating points.

2. The material density between different chutes should be same the difference should not be more than 7%

3. Trash in sliver should be less than 0.1%.

4. In general condition sliver hank to 0.120 to .140

5. Lower the variation in card sliver Quality leads to better the yarn Quality.

6. If fine micronire used bat weight can be reduced to improve the yarn Quality and combing Efficiency.

7. If Draft is lesser in the comber fiber paralisation will be less. Hence lose of long fiber will be more.

8. Setting between unicomb and top nipper should be 0.4 to 0.50 mm.

9. U% of Draw Frame should be 1.8 below.

TPI and Spindle speed for knitting yarn TM should be low level 3.5 to 3.7 to be applied to feel the yarn softness. If
the TM is high observances will be dropped and loose the soft feel. The spindle speed should be optimised to
reduce the breakage level and 65° shore hardness front cots to be used. The gap between front top roller and
apron nip should be as low as possible. It is advisable to use elliptical Travellers for the Hosiery yarn.

Prevention of Contamination: For the knitted counts yarn required for contamination free. If any contamination
in the yarn likes PP, Jute and any other contamination in the yarn will damage the needle resulting the fabric hole,
while knitting.

Clearer Setting : The yarn clearer setting should be close to eliminate A3,A4,C2,C3,C4,D2,D3,D4,B2,B3,B4,
E,G,I2 faults to get the yarn better performance for knitting .

Prevention of Barrie: This is the most important while processing the knitted yarn. Barrie is caused by in
consistence in materials, Equipment or processing to prevent Barrie from occurring, consistency must be
maintained through all phases of textile production.

1. Stock yarn should be properly and carefully labelled to avoid mix-up.

2. Inventory should be controlled and first in / first ant basis.

3. In spinning before beginning full scale production, sample dyeing can be done to check Barrie

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

Mr.J.Suresh Reddy, Senior Technical Officer, Precot Meridian Limited, B-Unit, Hindupur, Andra Pradesh

Factors to be considered while spinning yarn for knitting.

1. Raw material Maturity co-efficient should be good to avoid honey due content to reduce spinning breaks

2. Hairiness should be to be lower side.

3. CSP should be more than 2400 (16 RKM)

4. Waxing is required to avoid needle friction

5. Yarn should be conditioned to avoid snarls

6. Less number of FF/KG, especially white PP should be zero (Less Contaminations)

7. Less number of kitties in the yarn

8. Optimum TM (3.6) to have stability in the yarn (fabric softness).and CV% of TPI should be low

9. Lesser unevenness.

10. Heavy Ring Travellers to be used to reduce Hairiness

11. Ring Travellers clearance should be optimum and should not disturb Traveller free running

12. Splice strength and appearance should be good

13. Better unwinding required to avoid needle breakages.

14. Fabric should be creamy to less dye observe

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr.N.Sivaraman. Factory manager, Kumar Polycot Mills Limited, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu

1. For knitting yarns, twist multiplier should be as low as possible

2. Count may be on slightly coarser side.
3. Drawing, simplex and in spinning draft zones should be cleaned always.

4. There should not be any fluff accumulation in the roving & yarn passage
5. In winding wax should be used.
6. Over head traveling cleaner should be worked in all departments
7. Traveller clearer setting should to be set right so as to avoid loading.
8. In cone winding stop motions should be effective
9. Cone density should be on lower side.
10. Low micronaire, fine denier raw material should be used to get soft feeling in cloth
11. Individual cone weight should be plus or minus 30 grams
12. Bottom stitch cones, slough-off in the cones should not be allowed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr.S.Murugaraj, SQC, Sree Iswarya Textiles, A unit of Sri Jayajothi Textiles Pvt Ltd, Rajapalayam,
Tamilnadu

Factors to be considered while spinning yarn for Knitting

Mixing:

Cotton length variation should not exceed 2 MM within mixing.

Average fineness value between mixing should be below 10% and CV% of micronaire value within bale lay down
below 5%

Number of bales/mixing to be maintained as maximum as possible.

Blow Room & Carding

Running in efficiency should to be kept up to 85%, i.e., number of stoppage should be minimum.

Neps generation in blow room should not exceed 80%

Rogue card producing average neps more than 10% should be corrected.

SCN/G of card sliver should be maintained below 5 by optimizing combing segment knife, SFL, SFD and flat zone.

Fiber contamination machine clearing efficiency should be optimized by altering Delay time, Cotton threshold or
sensitivity.

Preparatory:

Comber noils variation between head to head should be below 1.5% and between combers +/- 0.5%.

Finisher draw frame sliver uster 1M CV% should be below 0.5%

LI value, Correction point should be fine tuned to get better evenness results
Simplex stretch should be controlled below 0.5%.

Roving TM should be low i.e. without increase breakage rate in simplex and creel breaks in spinning.

Spinning :

Roving hank should be coarser side, since in spinning middle roller speed is higher side.

Top and bottom roller eccentricity should be corrected then & there. Twist CV% should not exceed 2.5%.

Higher bow height Traveller should be selected.1 to 2 no’s heavier Traveller should be used.

It is better to use ‘M’ type Traveller clearer to avoid Traveller loading.

Roving traverse should be maintained 8 to 10 MM to avoid quick groove formation of cots.

Autoconer:

A good quality wax should be selected to get lower friction and wax pick up 0.1% to 0.15%.

Uniform wax pick up, and wax cleaning every doff should be ensured.

Pearl chain, CC, CV% alarm should be on and the defective cops should be segregated.

Tensioning device, Balloon control device should be optimized.

Cop to cone IPI improvement should be lower side.

Yarn condition is required in cone to reduce flies in knitting.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

Mr.Karpurapu Nageswararao, Factory Manager, Shri AP Textiles, Marturu, Andhra Pradesh

The important factor is smooth running of knitting process, to achieve this we have to consider the following
Factors.

The prime requisites for hosiery yarns are good yarn evenness and elongation with minimum imperfections &
hairiness. Raw material selection plays major role, Best maintenance practices, department housekeeping and
Labour work practices. Good uniformity & .80 maturity coefficient, good finess of cotton to be selected.

To achieve good evenness yarn by keeping optimum condensers & setting in drafting zone of different departments
& cleanliness in the path of fibre process material. Also maintain Trueness of all moving & Top, Bottom rollers in
the drafting zone. Top roller Cots should be buffed timely. To get low hairiness use suitable ring Traveller and
select good condition of rings. Maintain good Relative Humidity throughout the process. Waxing is essential to
knitting yarns. In spinning low TPI is preferred, TM must be 3.6-3.8.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------

Mr.P.Suresh Babu, Production Manager, NSL Textiles Ltd,Pulivendula, Andrapradesh.

Cotton & Method of Mixing prepartion: To produce hosiery yarn for Knitting, the selection of cotton is most
important. The length and micronaire value of cotton parameters should be within the range; otherwise, it will
affect the fabric quality, patta problem and shade variations. While issue of mixing, we should follow bale
management system properly, should be ensure Mic range within the standard together bale in lay-down mixing.

To avoid the contamination faults in the knitted fabric, we should segregate cotton bales before issuing mixing.
Friction value is a very important factor in process of knitting yarn, Frictional resistance or coefficient of friction
depends on many factors such as, surface smoothness, yarn colour,yarn twist, package hardness, moisture content
in the yarn, yarn lubricants used and yarn tension etc.,

Ø For better elongation and good feel of the fabric, yarn TM should be 3.65 to 3.75.

Ø Ring Frame breakage should be minimized, while producing the hosiery yarns.

Ø Wax pickup percentage and friction value should be ensured

Ø Cop clearance between ring and cop should be maintained to avoid hairiness yarn.

Ø Proper Humidity levels should be maintained to avoid fluffy fly in the department.

Ø It should be ensured that effective proper blowing and suction of OHTC.

Ø Semi cleaning should be perfect and always keep clean drafting zone.

Ø Proper Traveller changing schedule should be maintained

Ø Cleaning must be done as per schedule carefully and properly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------

Mr.Rm.Lakshmanan, Technical Adviser, Sri Nagammai Cotton Mills, Vikravandi, Tamilnadu ,

The most wide and extensive purpose of knitted fabrics are for making inner wears , casual wears, intimate
garments and sports wears, high end fashion and stylish garments etc that embeds closely with human body shape
and obviously needs comfort, soft feel besides the resilience and wrinkle freeness for free body movement . During
knitting operation, the yarn undergoes continuous and consistent abrasion over metal elements. The resultant
knitted fabric should have good draping cover for an appealing look, even after dyeing, the knitted fabric should
not have barre and shade variation. The fabric should have low pilling tendency for durability. Hence spinners have
to focus all the relevant factors of yarn, impacting and influencing the aforesaid phenomenon to deliver a classic
knitting yarn during the spinning process.

Yarn twist , flexibility & elasticity: Low twisted yarn is one of the a paramount basic needs for knitting yarn for
facilitating smooth curvature with good bending ability in the formation of the loops while knitting and to ensure
the desired resilience of the fabric. In general upon the fiber length the twist multiplier may be 10 to 15 % less
than that of normal spun warp yarn and even further low for compact spun yarn. Twist more than the optimized
level could elevate the co-efficient of friction between yarn and knitting elements and will hinder the knitting
operation with frequent breakages besides harming the flexibility of yarn. This also makes the yarn to lose it’s
elongation and elasticity trait and in-turn impacts the resilience of the knitted fabrics. Yarns with an elongation of
5% and above can offer good resilience to the fabric. A spinner also should not use heavier mass ring Travellers,
which could minimize the elongation property of yarn. Meanwhile very low degree of twist will increase the pilling
tendency of the yarn and affecting the durability of the fabric. In a given ring spinning frame all the efforts to
contain the twist variations with the lowest possible TPI CV% along the length of the yarn can reduce the possibility
of barre effect in the knitted fabric after dying.

Hairiness & co-efficient of dynamic friction: Yarn with excessive hairiness, and in view of not get sized as warp
yarn, while passing through the needles of the knitting machines the protruding fibers (hairs) got pulverized or
sheared off and intensifies the lint shedding propensity, stays there at the needles obstructing the incoming yarn,
causing breakages. This demands the spinner to control the level of hairiness and even in compact spun ring frame
each and every production position should be guaranteed for proper and perfect compaction. Half round wide oval
profile of Travellers with in-time change of Travellers with shorter/optimized frequency will control the hairiness.
With all these, it is also imperative that the yarn should undergo for orderly and uniform wax pick-up with a
positive drive waxing system during the winding process at autoconers to minimize the co-efficient of dynamic
friction and in fact good composition wax is also a need and can reduce the friction co-coefficient up to 50 %. The
desirable yarn co-efficient of friction for knitting is 0.15u.

Yarn evenness and imperfections: This is directly impacting the cover of the knitted fabric (a visual rating
among the smaller areas of 5 sq.cm) and is reasoning for an appealing look of the fabric. Studies reveals and
confirms that yarn of extra sensitive imperfection of thin place at - 40% and - 30% sensitivity, and + 35 % for
thick place with +140% for neps have a better co-relation with yarn appearance and as well as fabric appearance
for a good consumer appeal. This vouches, a spinner should go by this extra sensitivity level rather than the
customized - 50, + 50, + 200 etc and all the operations at each stage of spinning have to be tuned to achieve the
possible lowest extra sensitivity imperfection yarn. In all the modern ring frames it is a must to keep the lowest
break draft of 1.14 with the back zone setting of 60 to 70 MM for knitting yarn for assisting in lesser hairiness and
imperfections among the other aspects.

Raw material: As raw material is the soul of any yarn, a right choice and mix of the same shall deliver a right
yarn for the specific purpose. The micronaire value in a given blend of cotton should not differ more than 5 to 10%
and the CV% also to confine within 10%. Better to avoid cotton of too wide reflectance value +b. even selection of
raw material bales based on lower range of fluorescence values having low range of mic values with lower
immature fibers content can ensure the yarn to knit a fabric of shade variation well within the narrow limitation of
delta e 1.0. Keeping as many bales of cotton as possible, in the in-take line of bale pluckers, which will assist for a
high level homogeneity and bereft the barre impact of the resultant fabric. For lower pilling tendency in view of
lower flexural rigidity, cotton shall be most suitable fiber for knitted garments than viscose. For very high end
knitted fabrics for extreme better resilience and extensibility 1 to 5% spandex fiber can be mixed with cotton.

Moisture content: Even distribution of moisture content in the yarn is also a requirement to fit well for good
knitting, climatised state provides good running property beside the good appearance of the finished fabric and
hence in all the processing stages keeping the RH% for about 55% can yield better results.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

Mr.K.T.Seenivasan, Factory Manager, Sri Lakshmi Saraswathi Textiles (Arni) Ltd, Arni, Tamilnadu
The following factors should be considered for spinning knit yarn:-

Raw material :

1) Average Micronaire of different mixings of the same lot should not be more than 0.1. There should not be mix
up of too wide difference Micronaire lot / Variety and Mic CV% should be lesser than 10 %

2) There should not be too wide difference of +b and Rd lot / variety to avoid bare / bare effect

3) Cotton needed with High maturity (0.9) and Uniformity above 47% with less IFC and SFC. And also, which
should be with less contamination, maximum 1 fault / kg in the fabric

Yarn quality :

1) Count CV should be lesser than 1.2%, TM around 3.4 to 3.6, Unevenness & Imperfection yarn quality should be
within 5 to 10 % of Uster standard.

2) Yarn elongation is above 5.5 and Hairiness is 3 to 4 and –sh should be with in 1.

3) Elliptical Traveller should be used & Traveller should be changed before 1.5 % burn out

4) Objectionable classimate should be lesser than 1/100 KM, total classimate should be lesser than 100, especially
long thick & long thin should be lesser than 2/100 KM, all classimate faults under 5 to 10 % Uster statics.

4) Wax pick up should be around 0.1 % and wax co efficient of friction (0.125 to 0.15). There should be good
splice appearance & low winding speed & tension and cone weight maximum 1.5 kgs with no shade variation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------