Comparison of Bending, Drapability and Crease Recovery Behaviors of Woven Fabrics Produced from Polyester Fibers Having Different Cross-sectional Shapes

Abstract

In this paper, full and hollow fibers having round and trilobal cross-sectional shapes were produced in equal manufacturing conditions and bending, drapability and crease recovery behaviors of the woven fabrics produced from these fibers were investigated. The bending rigidities of the fabrics produced from hollow fibers were higher than the bending rigidities of the fabrics produced from full fibers. The highest bending rigidities were obtained in fabrics produced from hollow round fibers. The bending rigidities and drapabilities of the fabrics produced from fibers of similar cross-sectional shapes were in close relation with each other. The fabrics produced from full fibers had higher drapabilities than those produced from hollow fibers. The fabrics produced from full fibers had higher crease recovery angles than those produced from hollow fibers. Considering that the construction properties of the fabrics were kept constant, it could be concluded that the differences among the properties of the fabrics which were produced from full and hollow fibers (for both round and trilobal cross-sectional shapes) basically emerged from the very high differences between moments of inertia of full and hollow cross sections. It was also considered that another factor which caused differences between the fabric properties was the different bulkiness of the fibers and also the different bulkiness of the yarns with the same counts. The best results could be obtained with round and trilobal full fibers at fabrics in which drapability and crease recovery are desired.