The Dimensional Properties of Knitted Wool Fabrics

Abstract

The 1×1 rib and half-cardigan structures, like the plain-knitted structure, are shown to be rationally determinate structures only in the fully-relaxed state; in any other state, their dimensional behavior is dependent on the yarn's physical properties and previous knitting and wet-finishing history. The fully-relaxed state is reached only after the fabrics have been thoroughly wetted-out, hydroextracted, and tumble-dried for 1 hr at 70°C. In this state, the courses and ribs per in. of the 1×1 structure are directly proportional to 1/ L, as predicted by Munden's original theory for the plain-knitted structure, but this theory does not account for the complete dimensional behavior of this structure, as K1 is not strictly a constant. However, K 4 is a constant at 1.76±0.15 and independent of both loop length and yarn count. For the 2X2 rib, no true dimensional stable state is found with wet relaxation and tumble-drying.