Yarn engineering

Abstract

The process of developing a fibrous product consists of five critical phases, namely fiber engineering, fiber-to-yarn engineering, yarn engineering, yarn-to-fabric engineering and fabric engineering. The term engineering here implies the design aspects of each phase from the selection of fibers that can provide optimum characteristics to modeling an end product that can provide optimum performance at minimum cost. This is different from the term 'technology', which implies the process or following pre-specified procedures to manufacture or produce a fibrous product. Traditionally, the fibrous and textile products have been produced primarily on the basis of technological approaches supported by conventional wisdom and experience. As a result, the general perception about the textile industry, particularly among engineers or other fields, has been that 'it is a low-tech industry'. Indeed, and unlike other well-established engineering disciplines (civil or mechanical engineering), the term 'textile engineering' has no place or even a definition in most engineering societies or associations. The reality is that the textile industry has been high-tech but low-engineering. It has used state-of-the-art techno logy developed by engineers of all fields, yet with largely non-engineering approaches as experience and art have been the dominant ways to produce fibrous products. This traditional approach must give way to a more engineering approach, particularly as the fibrous materials move into more function-focused products, such as fiber composites, protective systems, medical products, automobiles and aircrafts. This article deals specifically with four critical aspects of yarn engineering, namely yarn type, fiber type, yarn structure, and the contribution of yarn structure to fabric performance characteristics.