Analysis of moisture management properties of cotton/milkweed blended rotor yarn fabrics

Abstract

Purpose Clothing must also assist the body’s thermal control function under changing physical loads in such a way that the body’s thermal and moisture management is balanced, and a microclimate is created next to the skin. One of the factors which affect moisture transport in a fabric is a fibre type. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to blend the natural hollow and low density fibre, milkweed, with cotton fibre at different proportions and to analyse and compare the influence of milkweed blend proportion on moisture management properties of rotor yarn fabrics with 100 per cent cotton fabric. Design/methodology/approach In the present study, cotton/milkweed blended rotor yarns were produced by using S-4 cotton variety and milkweed fibres in three different blend proportions such as cotton/milkweed 80/20, 60/40 and 40/60 along with 100 per cent cotton yarn with yarn count of 20 Ne. The single jersey knitted fabrics were produced with similar constructional parameters and then the fabrics were then scoured, bleached and neutralised as per the standard procedure. The fabrics have been analysed for its various moisture management properties using moisture management tester (MMT) and are statistically analysed. Findings The results indicate that, all the C/M blended fabrics have been classified as “moisture management fabric” and 100 per cent cotton fabric has been classified as “Fast absorbing and Quick Drying Fabric”. The overall moisture management capacity of C/M 40/60 fabric is excellent and could be used for summer, active and summer wear applications. One-way ANOVA analysis carried out at 95 per cent confidence level showed that the results are statistically significant. The pair-wise strength and association between various moisture management indices was analysed using Pearson correlation coefficient and observed that OWTC and OMMC was found to be positively and linearly related to each other. Originality/value The authors are confident that the cotton/milkweed blended yarns can be used as an inner wear and sportswear applications owing to the higher moisture regain and hollowness of milkweed fibre combined with the low packing density of C/M blended yarns which leads to overall improvement in moisture management properties of fabrics.