Manufacturing of Eri silk yarn –––––– a review

Prabir Kumar Choudhuri a

Visva Bharati University, Silpa Sadana, Sriniketan- 731236, India
Prabal Kumar Majumdar
Government College of Engineering and Textile Technology, Serampore, 712201, India
and
Bijon Sarkar.
Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700 032, India

[Abstract: Among the four varieties of silk available in India, Eri silk being the
discontinuous filaments possesses some unique properties which attracted many
researchers to evolve some suitable spinning systems to be converted into yarn. This
has resulted in some published research work related to spinning of Eri silk & its
blends and characterization of the yarn produced. An attempt has been made to
review those studies].
Key words: charkha, degumming, dressing, noil, shell content, Takli,

1 Introduction
India is the only country producing all four varieties of silk i.e. Mulberry, Tasar, Eri & Muga.
Among them Eri is the only completely domesticated non-mulberry variety of silk 1. Eri cocoons
are open-mouthed and not composed of continuous filaments, rather they are made of entangled
layers of fibres which can not be reeled. The Eri silk production trend in India shows a sharp
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increase from 127 MT during first plan period (1951-56) to 1530 MT during 2007-08
contributing 8.4% of total silk production. Eri silk fibre has many favourable properties such as
fineness, density, cross-sectional shape, surface character etc. It gives feels like cotton, lusture
like silk, bulkiness and warmth like wool, softest among all silk fibres. All these properties
encourage people to make yarn out of it. Moreover critical studies on the properties of this fibre
10, 11
have explored the possibilities to be blended with other textile fibres . Manufacturing of yarn
from Eri fibre and subsequent conversion into fabric has been continuing since long days in
North-eastern and Eastern part of this country. In this paper an attempt has been made to report
about the works carried out by different researchers on different systems of spinning yarns from
Eri fibres and their characterization.
a.
To whom all the correspondence to be made: E.mail: pkc1@rediffmail.com

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2 Characteristics of Eri Fibre
The tenacity and elongation of Eri silk are 2.5-3.5 g/denier and 30-40% respectively with 11%
moisture retention capacity as reported by N. Suryanarayana et al. 3. Tammanna N. Sonwalkar 4 in
his book has reported that weight of fresh Eri cocoon is about 3-5 gm. The shell content is 11-
14% with variation in shell weight between 0.4 to 0.6 gm. Denier of the fibre being 2 to 3 with
tenacity and elongation of 3 to 3.5 g/denier and 20 to 22% respectively. Higher elongation and
shrinkage properties provide the scope of blending this fibre with wool. Sericin content of Eri is
very less. From several experiments carried out on various types of Eri cocoon for degumming
and spinning studies, it has been found that the sericin content is in the range of 10-12% 4. This
provides the opportunity to avoid an elaborate degumming process. The degumming loss for Eri
is merely 8% as compared to 37% of Mulberry 3 with improved whiteness index.

3 Spinning into Yarn

Initially Eri silk yarn was handspun in a very crude way in Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
The process involved degumming of Eri silk and its conversion into yarn with the help of Takli
(dropping spindle), a crude traditional device producing about 1,000 to 1,500 metres of yarn per
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day. According to R. N. Upadhyay and P. K. Das such low production rate did not attract
unemployed youth to this industry. They felt the necessity of introducing technological inputs
into the spinning process. Under their active patronage, The Tamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangh
(TAGS), Kumarikata, Assam, an organization working on rural based industries, with financial
assistance from Department of Science and Technology, New-Delhi and in collaboration with
Khadi Gramodyog Proyog Samiti (KGPS) became successful to evolve a suitable technology for
spinning of Eri silk. TAGS spinning system consisted of 5 implements namely, Cocoon opener
(Coarse fillet), Fine fillet Drum Machine, Tape drawing machine, Roving machine and Fibre
cutting machine in addition to Ambar Charkha having six spindles in each frame. After several
field trials the system took two years to take final shape after necessary modifications. They
claimed that, yarns of different counts are possible to be spun with better tensile strength than in
traditional method.
Improvement in productivity and quality with the aid of better technological support was
always the chief concern of the people connected to this business. As a result two new spinning
devices were developed. N.R. Das 6 spinning machine working on flyer spinning system was able
to increase the production capacity from 50 gm./8 hr. with count range 10 s – 14s (traditional
system) to about 80 gm /8 hr. with the same count range. On the other hand Chowdhary 6 charkha
working on the principle of Ring and traveler system of spinning, able to yield 80 – 100 gm / 8

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hr. with a count range of 10 s – 15s. Though the yarns available from both the systems lacked in
uniformity and twist distribution but claimed to be comparatively better in overall quality over
traditional systems.
Realizing the employment potentiality in this area Government of India laid special thrust
through the Central Silk Technological Research Institute (CSTRI) for the development of this
sector. CSTRI had developed a Pedal operated spinning machine working on the principle of
Ring and traveller during1998-1999. Later on this device was modified to Motor-cum-Pedal
operated spinning machine and was found perfectly suitable for spinning of Eri silk as claimed by
T. H. Somashekar 7. This machine gives a production upto 100 gm./8 hr. in the count range of 10 s
to 15s thereby increasing the production by 2.5 fold of the production by traditional method.
The performance of newly developed Motor-cum-Pedal operated machine and the successful
existence of Mill spinning system for Mulberry silk waste had encouraged the researchers of
CSTRI to think over the possibilities of Mill spinning of Eri silk. Hence, they attempted the same
after preparing the raw material (Eri fibre) in required staple form through the process of
degumming, cutting and dressing. The CSTRI had successfully processed both white & brick red
Eri cocoon in Cotton, Worsted (Japanese and Italian Technology) and Woolen system. They
experienced difficulty in processing Eri in cotton system and found impossible beyond 40 mm.
staple. Woolen system was found to be suitable only for noil spinning and yarn of 2 s and 7s count
was possible to be produced from noil waste, whereas it was possible to spin Eri fibres with both
Japanese and Italian technologies successfully producing yarn and doubled from 2/20 s to 2/140s
(Nm) as claimed by Kariappa et al 8. They observed that, yield percentage of white Eri yarn in
Italian technology was 45.8% as against 39.3% in Japanese technology owing to introduction of a
dressing frame in its process sequence which eliminates short fibres to a great extent resulting
better quality yarn. In case of brick red Eri, Italian technology of Spinning gave 41.8% yield. It
was also possible to spin finest yarn and ultimately doubled upto 2/210 s (Nm) in Japanese
technology whereas in Italian a maximum of 2/140s (Nm) yarn was possible to be produced.
Kariappa et al. 9 had conducted an extensive study on Spinning of white Eri, Brick red Eri and
Mulberry silk in Worsted spinning system adopting both Japanese and Italian technology and
compared the spinning performance and properties of spun silk yarn. They observed that,
spinning performance was better in Eri silk as compared to Mulberry silk due to less short fibres
present in the batt. Degumming and invisible loss was least in white Eri followed by Brick red Eri
and highest in Mulberry silk, yarn and noil realization was highest in white Eri followed by Brick
red Eri and Mulberry silk. Yarn realization in both Mulberry and Eri silk was less in Japanese
technology as against Italian technology. Uniformity was best in Mulberry spun silk yarn

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followed by white Eri and red Eri. Total imperfection in Mulberry was least as compared to both
type of Eri silk yarn. Mulberry spun yarn was strongest followed by white and Brick red Eri.
White Eri was best suited for crease resistance properties and had highest elongation %. Red Eri
was most resistance to sudden shock as it had highest Young’s modulus.
Successful mill spinning of Eri silk in worsted system has encouraged several researchers to
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work with blends of Eri fibres. Kariappa et al. had studied on blending of Eri silk with wool
fibres in Worsted spinning system with different blend ratios. They observed that, Gill box (Draw
frame) was better choice than blending in opener stage. Yarn and noil realization was improved
while blending Eri silk with wool. Yarn quality parameters like U%, imperfections like thick, thin
places, neps/km, hairiness and index of irregularity were lowest in case of pure Eri silk yarn,
those were increased with increase in wool component in the blended yarn and found to be
highest in case of pure woolen yarn. Again, the mechanical properties like breaking force (gf),
tenacity (g/d), elongation %, B-work (Kgf-cm) and Young’s Modulus were found lowest in pure
woolen yarn and those were improved with increase in Eri component in blended yarn reaching
highest value for pure Eri yarn. Thermal properties of Eri were close to wool. Eri spun silk yarn
has the much lower cost of production than wool. Cost of production of wool spun yarn can be
reduced by blending with Eri silk to make it cost effective. Hence, they concluded that Eri could
be good alternative to wool.
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Rungsima Chollakup et al. had carried out research work to observe the effect of varying
blending factor viz. blending composition (0-100%) on Eri silk and cotton blended yarn for
coarser (50 tex) and finer (30 tex) count while spinning in cotton system. They reported that, Eri
silk yarn with higher strength was less uniform as compared to pure cotton yarn. The mechanical
properties of the blended yarn were enhanced with increase in silk content at higher than 50%. Eri
silk fibres being longer and stronger than cotton fibres migrate into core and resulted in
improving the mechanical properties of the blended yarn. As regard to yarn count, the coarser
yarn exhibited more fibre migration than finer yarn resulting more regularity and strength in the
blended yarn with 50 tex as compared to that with 30 tex. Blended fabrics from these blended
yarns provide the same effect with increasing silk content.
4. Conclusion
Eri silk occupies an important position in respect to its volume of production and
potentialities. The fibre properties are very much encouraging to be exploited for its conversion
into yarn alone or in blended with other compatible textile fibres. Evolution in the spinning
systems for Eri silk fibre has been reported in the present study. Mill spinning of Eri silk has
become possible both in worsted and short staple spinning systems as reported by researchers.

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Studies on blending of Eri have remained confined with wool and cotton fibre only. However the
possibilities of blending with other fibres may be explored in order to widen its scope of
application in textiles.

References
1 M. L. Gulrajani, Chemical Processing of Silk, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi,
(1993) 5.
2 Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, Annual Report (2008-2009) 83.
3 N. Suryanarayana, P. K. Das, A. K. Sahu, M. C. Sarmah and J.D. Fukun, Indian Silk,
April (2003) 5-12
4 T. N. Sonwalkar, Hand Book of Silk Technology, New Age International (Pvt.) Limited,
New-Delhi, (1993).
5 R. N. Upadhyay and P. K. Das, Indian Silk, April (2003) 53-54.
6 Kariyappa, M. Umesha and T. H. Somashekar, Indian Silk, May (2003) 37-40.
7 T. H. Somashekar Indian Silk, April (2003) 49-52.
8 Kariappa, T. H. Somashekar, S. Roy and G. N. Ramaswamy, Indian Silk, August (2006)
19-23.
9 Kariappa, T. H. Somashekar, G. N. Ramaswami, S. Roy , C. Shasidar and R. B.
Patanashetty , Man Made Text. India, 49(9), (2006), 339-349.
10 Kariappa, T. H. Somashekar, S. Roy and N. Sastry, Man Made Text. India, 49(5),
(2006), 176-185.
11 R. Chollakup, J. Suesat, S. Ujjin, Macromol. Symp., (264),(2008),44-49.