Impact of lycra filament on extension and recovery characteristics of cotton knitted fabric

Abstract

The effect of lycra filament and full relaxation finish on the extension at peak load, immediate recovery, delayed recovery, permanent set and resiliency of cotton-lycra blended knitted fabric has been studied. It is observed that for lycra

blended fabric, the immediate recovery, extension and resiliency are higher but delayed recovery and permanent set are lower than those of 100% cotton fabric. Effect of full relaxation treatment is found to be useful in case of all-cotton fabric. On the application of external load, both lycra and non-lycra fabrics show higher extension at peak load along course direction than that along the other directions of fabric. However, the biased direction of 100% cotton fabric shows significantly higher immediate recovery and resiliency but lower delayed recovery and permanent set. In general, with repeated load cycles, the extension at peak load increases marginally but immediate recovery and resiliency change

considerably during initial number of cycles. Laundering reduces the extension at peak load, immediate recovery and resiliency, whereas delayed recovery and permanent set become higher.