The Assessment of Finishing Properties on the Mass per Unit Area, Pilling, Bursting Strength, and Wicking Behavior of Polyester Weft-Knitted Jersey Fabric

Abstract

Finishes bring an alteration to the physical and comfort properties of the textiles. That’s why various finishes are used to impart various functionalities to the fabric surface. However, it may also affect some properties. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of various finishes on pilling, mass per unit area, bursting strength, and wicking behavior of the polyester weft-knitted jersey fabric. Herein, 100% spun polyester weft-knitted plain jersey fabric was exposed to different finish treatments to check their effect on the some physical and comfort properties of the fabric like mass per unit area, pilling behavior, bursting strength, and wicking properties of the weft-knitted jersey fabric. The fabric used was knit from 24/1, 100% spun polyester yarn on the single knit circular knitting machine. The developed fabric was washed on Fong machine. Finishes are applied on fabric by “Monofort Stanter” machine. The resultant fabric was characterized by random tumble pilling tester, bursting strength tester, and wicking tester to analyze their pilling grade, bursting strength, and wicking behavior respectively. A significant increase has been found in wicking behavior, mass per unit area, and bursting strength of the fabric after finishing treatments. Moreover, the wicking finish shows the highest reduction in pilling grade from 3.5 to 2.5. Significant improvement has been observed in bursting strength by all finish’s treatment. However, wicking finish treatment results in the highest increase in bursting strength of 4.2%. Significant improvement has been observed in the vertical wicking speed of all treatment except silicon finish which significantly reduces vertical wicking rate. However, the wicking finish (Recipe E) shows the highest increase in wicking rate by 13.75 times as compared to grey fabric.