Low-stress mechanical properties and fabric hand of cotton and polylactic acid fibre blended knitted fabrics

摘要

Low-stress mechanical behavior of cotton-rich/polylactic acid blended fabrics has been investigated and the results are compared with cotton and polylactic acid fibre fabrics. The polylactic acid fibres are mixed with cotton fibres in two different proportions, namely 20% and 35% and spun into 14.76 tex (40(s) Ne) yarn. The yarns are then knit into single jersey structure followed by chemical pretreatments and relaxation. The relaxed fabrics are tested for low-stress mechanical properties using Kawabata evaluation system for fabrics (KES-F) and the hand values are calculated. The results show that the addition of PLA fibres to cotton enhances the smoothness and softness of the blended fabrics. The total hand value of the fabrics ranges between 3.2 and 3.5.