AUTEX Research Journal, Vol.

7, No2, June 2007 © AUTEX

INVESTIGATION INTO THE PERIODICITY OF MASS VARIATION OF

YARN AND ITS EFFECT ON FABRIC APPEARANCE
Ferede Addisu and Peer Mohamed Abdul Hameed

Department of Textile Technology

A. C. College of Technology
Anna University
Chennai 600 025, India
Phone: +91-44-22203557
E-mail: addisuferede@yahoo.com

Abstract:
The appearance of a fabric can be greatly affected if the yarn has a sufficiently
pronounced periodic component. The severity of the periodic fault can only be estimated
if its intensity is quantified. Even though a spectrogram is more reliable than other tools at
determining periodicity, it gives only the resolved mass variation, which may not be
present in the final yarn when different faults are superimposed. The relative index of
irregularity of yarn is considered as a measure of the intensity of a periodic fault of a spun
yarn. By correlating the above index with the relative unlevelness indices of finished
fabrics knitted from yarn samples produced at different levels of roller eccentricity, we
have established the threshold value of the relative index of irregularity of yarn which
produces worse appearance values in the fabric.

Key words:
Eccentric roller, relative index of irregularity, relative unlevelness index, superimposed
periodic faults.

Introduction
Mass variation in yarn can adversely affect many properties of textile materials such as shade
variations and strength. Mass variation can be attributed to the properties of raw materials, inherent
short comings in yarn making and preparatory machines, mechanically defective machinery and/or
external causes as a result of working conditions and improper housekeeping [1].

The variation in mass per unit length of yarn comprises three basic types [9], namely (i) irregularity of a
completely random nature, (ii) irregularity of a markedly periodic nature, (iii) irregularity of a quasi-
periodic nature. Purely random irregularity forms an unavoidable component of total irregularity, so
that a minimum achievable random irregularity can be acceptable for apparel usage.

The periodic irregularities which are found in the spun yarns may be the result of machinery defects
such as eccentric drafting rollers, variability in the covering of drafting rollers, inaccurately cut or worn-
out drafting rollers and the vibration of drafting rollers [3]. Yarns which are affected by any of these
defects occurring in the drafting prior to spinning can appreciably affect the yarn and the resulting
fabric.

Periodic mass variations in yarn can cause weft bars, diamond barring effects [3], moiré effects, weft
stripes or rings in the resulting fabric [8]. Hence, periodic irregularity should not be permitted at all,
since it greatly affects the appearance of fabric and must be controlled. However, the presently
available tools used to measure the periodicity of mass per unit length variation have limitations. The
spectrogram is more reliable compared to other tools for determining periodicity; it works on the
principle of Fourier analysis [8], which sets out any function in a series of sine curves. The actual mass
variation will be resolved into different sinusoidal waves with different amplitudes and wavelengths.
Hence, spectrogram gives only the resolved mass variation, which may not be present in the final yarn
when different faults are superimposed.

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The main objective of the present work is to understand these limitations and establish supplementary
methods for the available tools which are used to measure the periodicity of mass variation, and to
suggest new measures to understand the effect of periodic mass variation of yarn on fabric
appearance.

Materials and methods

The front bottom roller, covering eight delivery heads in a ring frame, was bent to introduce four
different levels of eccentricity with two delivery heads each with the same level of eccentricity.
Combed cotton yarns of 14.8 tex (40 Ne) were spun in the ring frame from the roving of 0.39 ktex (1.5
Ne) with four levels of eccentricity introduced as mentioned above (Table 1). Moreover, yarn samples
without eccentricity on the front bottom roller were spun at a three-spacer thickness for two different
yarn counts (Table 2). All these yarn samples were tested for irregularity in an evenness tester.

Table 1. Yarn samples produced at different levels of front bottom roller eccentricity.

Spacer Level of front bottom

Sample Yarn count, tex
thickness, mm roller eccentricity, mm

1 14.8 3.0 0.254

2 14.8 3.0 0.508

3 14.8 3.0 0.762

4 14.8 3.0 1.016

Table 2. Yarn samples produced at different spacer thicknesses with out front bottom
roller eccentricity

Sample Yarn count, tex Spacer thickness, mm

1 14.8 3.0

2 14.8 2.5

3 14.8 3.5

4 7.4 2.0

5 7.4 2.5

6 7.4 3.0

In order to make a quantitative assessment of the effect of periodic irregularity on fabric appearance,
single jersey fabric samples were knitted using all the four yarn samples mentioned in Table 1. Fabric
sample was also produced using the yarn sample 1 mentioned in Table 2 which was produced without
introducing any periodic faults. These five fabric samples have been scoured, bleached and dyed in
identical conditions. Finally, the fabric’s appearance was assessed by a U-3210 model
spectrophotometer using a D2 illuminant and an aperture of 20 mm diameter.

Determination of relative index of irregularity of yarn

The relative index of irregularity of yarn (RI) can be defined as the difference between the index of
irregularity of any spun yarn ( I ) and that of an equivalent yarn without any peak in the spectrogram
( I R ).
This can be written as,

 (I − I R ) 
RI % =   * 100 (1)
 IR 

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Expressing I in terms of CV%, the above equation can be rewritten as:

 (CV % − CV % R ) 
RI % =   * 100 (2)
 CV % R 
where:
CV% - the coefficient mass variation of any spun yarn,
CV% R - the coefficient mass variation of an equivalent yarn without any peak in the
spectrogram.

As it accounts for the difference in irregularity present between the yarn with periodic variation and
one with no peak in its spectrogram, the above index should be the measure of the intensity of
periodic irregularity present in the final yarn spun.

Determination of relative unlevelness index

The relative unlevelness Index (RUI) is a measure of unlevelness of dyed fabric based on reflectance
values measured throughout the visible spectrum, and can be calculated using the following equation
as proposed by Chong et al [4].

   700
RUI =
700
 sλ  *  =
∑  __  V λ λ∑ [ CV *V λ ] (3)
λ =400   = 400
 R  

where:
__
R = the means of reflectance values of ‘n’ measurements for each wavelength
sλ = the standard deviation of reflectance values measured at a specific wavelength
CV = the coefficient of variation of reflectance values measured for each wavelength
V λ = the phototopic relative luminous efficiency function

Results and Discussion

Effect of spacer thickness on index of irregularity

The unevenness results of the yarn samples spun at different spacer thicknesses for two different yarn
counts shown in Figures 1a and 1b allow us to infer that the index of irregularity was unaffected by
spacer thickness. Besides, the difference between imperfections found at different spacer thickness is
not significant.
16

14

12

10

CV (%)
8
Index of Iregularity (-)

0
3 2.5 3.5
Spacer thickness (mm)

Figure 1a. Effect of spacer thickness on unevenness characteristics of 14.8 tex yarn.

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18

16

14

12

10
CV (%)
Index of irregularity (-)
8

0
2 2.5 3
Spacer thickness (mm)

Figure 1b. Effect of spacer thickness on unevenness characteristics of 7.4 tex yarn.

Effect of bottom front roller eccentricity on the unevenness characteristics of yarn

Figure 2 shows the index of irregularities at different levels of front bottom roller eccentricity. The
results reveal that the index of irregularity increases gradually in the beginning when the level of front
bottom roller eccentricity increases; however, it later increases more significantly between the
eccentricity level of 0.2 mm and 0.8 mm, and flattens out in the end as the level of front bottom roller
eccentricity increases. An increased level of roller eccentricity results in higher nip movement. In
consequence, any forward movement of the nip makes the drafted roving thinner and any backward
movement makes it to a large extent thicker, which increases the intensity of the resulting periodic
fault and results in a higher index of irregularity. Moreover, the imperfections also increase
significantly, as the level of front bottom roller eccentricity increases (as expected). These
observations are worth investigating in order to establish supplementary methods.
3

2.5
Index of irregularity (-)

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Level of front bottom roller eccentricity (mm)

Figure 2. Index of irregularities at different levels of front bottom roller eccentricity.

Intensity of periodic irregularity

It is difficult to predict the intensity of the actual fault present in the yarn from the spectrogram, since
the actual fault is the result of the intensities of the periodic faults depicted in the spectrogram. To
single out the effect of periodic irregularity on fabric appearance, the values of RI calculated as per

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equation (1) are plotted against the front bottom roller eccentricity (Figure 3). It is understood from the
figure that an increased level of eccentricity results in increased RI values, which in turn reflect the
intensity of periodic irregularity present in the yarn. The relationship between RI and fabric appearance
is established next.
120

100
Relative index of irregularity (%)

80

60

40

20

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Level of front bottom roller eccentricity (mm)

Figure 3. Relationship between levels of front bottom roller eccentricity and the relative index
of irregularities of yarn.

Relative unlevelness index of fabric samples

The effect of periodic irregularity introduced during yarn production on the appearance of dyed single
jersey knitted fabric samples is shown in Figure 4, and the corresponding values are given in Table 3.
The results clearly reveal that the level of roller eccentricity highly influences the relative unlevelness
index (Equation 3).
0.12

0.1
Relative Unlevelness index (-)

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Level of front bottom roller eccentricity (mm)

Figure 4. Effect of levels of front bottom roller eccentricity on the relative unlevelness indices.

Table 3 shows the relationships between the relative index of irregularity of yarn and relative
unlevelness index with the fabric samples’ visual appearance. The correlation coefficient between the
relative index of irregularity of yarn and the relative unlevelness index is found to be 0.99. It can be
inferred from the table that a yarn produced from a front bottom roller eccentricity of up to 0.25 mm
does not produce any significant variations in the appearance of the resulting fabric. The results also
reveal that the appearance of fabric is highly affected if the relative index of irregularity of yarn
exceeds 40%.

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Table 3. Relationship between relative index of irregularity of yarn and relative unlevelness index with fabric
samples’ appearance.

Level of front bottom roller Visual appearance of levelness of

Sample RI, % RUI, -
eccentricity, mm fabric samples

1 0.00 0.00 0.06186

Better levelness
Good levelness
2 0.254 4.58 0.06914 (Noticeable unlevelness
under close examination)
Poor levelness
3 0.508 36.64 0.08070
(Apparent unlevelness)
worse levelness
4 0.762 86.26 0.09462
(Conspicuous unlevelness)
Worst levelness
5 1.016 107.63 0.10385
(Conspicuous unlevelness)

Conclusions
1. A yarn produced with a front bottom roller eccentricity of up to 0.25 mm does not produce any
significant variations in the appearance of the resulting fabric.
2. It is found that the appearance of the fabric is highly affected if the value of relative index of
irregularity of yarn, which is considered as a measure of the intensity of a periodic fault of a
spun yarn, exceeds 40%.

References:

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2. Bornet G.M., ‘The rating of yarns for short-term unevenness’ , Textile Research Journal,
(1964) pp. 385-390
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