Antimoth finishing treatment for woollens using tannin containing natural dyes

Attempts have been made to develop natural dye based antimoth finishing process using natural dyes as an alternative of  chemical based process. Natural dyes obtained from different sources are used to dye the woollen fabric and then screened for antimoth efficacy. Woollen fabrics dyed with extract of silver oak leaves, wall nut husk and pomegranate rind have shown highest resistance to moth attack. The screened sources carrying antimoth property are then subjected to phytochemical analysis along with non-carrying natural dyes for analyzing their chemical constituents. The result reveals that the chemical constituent of natural dyes plays a crucial role in determining antimoth efficacy. The amount of tannin content present in the natural dyes can be taken as an indicator to determine the antimoth efficacy

Performance of Indian crossbred wool on khadi spinning system

127-132HP Crossbred, JK Crossbred and JK Merino yarns have been spun on the New Model Charkha (NMC) spinning system to find out the suitability of Indian crossbred wool in Khadi sector. These crossbred wools produced in the north temperature region of India have been spun into medium quality yarn linear density of 42 tex. The pure crossbred wool yarns have higher U%, imperfections and hairiness index; and lower tenacity, elongation-at-break and coefficient of friction. The mixing of Australian merino wool with JK crossbred wool significantly improves yarn performance in terms of fineness (31 tex), evenness (U%), imperfections and hairiness index. The tenacity, elongation-at-break and coefficient of friction of mixed yarns increase significantly by mixing of Australian merino wool with JK crossbred wool. These findings will help in increasing the utilization of crossbred wool and reducing the costing of end products

Performance of Indian crossbred wool on khadi spinning system

HP Crossbred, JK Crossbred and JK Merino yarns have been spun on the New Model Charkha (NMC) spinning system to find out the suitability of Indian crossbred wool in Khadi sector. These crossbred wools produced in the north temperature region of India have been spun into medium quality yarn linear density of 42 tex. The pure crossbred wool yarns have higher U%, imperfections and hairiness index; and lower tenacity, elongation-at-break and coefficient of friction. The mixing of Australian merino wool with JK crossbred wool significantly improves yarn performance in terms of fineness (31 tex), evenness (U%), imperfections and hairiness index. The tenacity, elongation-at-break and coefficient of friction of mixed yarns increase significantly by mixing of Australian merino wool with JK crossbred wool. These findings will help in increasing the utilization of crossbred wool and reducing the costing of end products

Efficacy of natural dye from Gerardiana diversifolia on pashmina (Cashmere) shawls

The present investigation deals with studies on potentiality of a colour extract from Gerardiana diversifolia as a source of natural dye, and on identification of chemical constituents responsible for dyeing ability. The efficacy of the extracted dye(s) on pashmina (Cashmere) fabrics has been evaluated for colour strength and fastness properties. Phytochemical studies reveal that the quinone and tannin are major components contributing to dyeing properties. The extracted colorant from Gerardiana diversifolia has potential to dye pashmina fabric with brown and grey shades having excellent wash and good to very good light fastness properties

Sensory evaluation of different pashmina shawls

Pashmina shawls prepared from different hand spun, machine spun and blended yarns have been evaluated subjectively. The important handle properties such as softness, smoothness, lustre and total hand value have been assessed by sensory evaluation through expert judges of different age and gender. The correlation coefficient between the groups for individual property has been determined.  The softness and smoothness values found highest agreement between different groups  followed by smoothness and total hand value. The good agreement between groups indicates that difference in pashmina shawl manufacturing and blend composition can be distinguished.  The subjective test results were compared with FAST objective values and good correlation has been observed

Effect of enzyme treatment on wool fabric properties and dimensional stability

In this study, the merino wool woven fabric has been treated with commercially available enzymes, i.e. transglutaminase, lipase, laccase and protease, at various concentrations (0.5–2.0% over the weight of fabric) to impart desirable shrink resistance without deterioration of the fabric properties. Protease enzyme treated wool fabric shows least area shrinkage (3.0%) followed by laccase enzyme (4.3%), lipase enzyme (4.9%) and transglutaminase enzyme (7.9%) treated fabrics, as compared to 13.3% of the untreated (blank) fabric. The specific reaction mechanism of various enzymes that cause a structural change and dimensional stability are also discussed. The tensile strength, extension-at-break, yellowness and whiteness indices of the enzyme treated fabrics are found comparable with the blank fabric, while frictional and handle properties are significantly improved. The enzyme process to impart shrink resistance to wool fabric is found sustainable, easy to scale up and due to comparable mechanical, frictional, handle, whiteness and yellowness properties, there is a potential of an industrial adaption.

Effect of enzyme treatment on wool fabric properties and dimensional stability

83-90In this study, the merino wool woven fabric has been treated with commercially available enzymes, i.e. transglutaminase, lipase, laccase and protease, at various concentrations (0.5–2.0% over the weight of fabric) to impart desirable shrink resistance without deterioration of the fabric properties. Protease enzyme treated wool fabric shows least area shrinkage (3.0%) followed by laccase enzyme (4.3%), lipase enzyme (4.9%) and transglutaminase enzyme (7.9%) treated fabrics, as compared to 13.3% of the untreated (blank) fabric. The specific reaction mechanism of various enzymes that cause a structural change and dimensional stability are also discussed. The tensile strength, extension-at-break, yellowness and whiteness indices of the enzyme treated fabrics are found comparable with the blank fabric, while frictional and handle properties are significantly improved. The enzyme process to impart shrink resistance to wool fabric is found sustainable, easy to scale up and due to comparable mechanical, frictional, handle, whiteness and yellowness properties, there is a potential of an industrial adaption

Structure-property relationship of fibre, yarn and fabric with special reference to low-stress mechanical properties and hand value of fabric

232-237<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:fd1442399-identity-h;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">An attempt has been made to review the work done so far in understanding the influence of wool fibre, yam and fabric structures and their properties on low-stress mechanical properties and hand value of fabric. The role of finishing treatments and application of softeners on low-stress mechanical properties has also been reviewed. Finally, the need of establishing a <span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:fd1442399-identity-h;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">vertical relationship between fibre and garment is suggested. </span

Influence of softening treatments on hand value of woven fabrics produced from Indian wool and their blends

76-81The effect of different softening treatments on low stress mechanical properties and hand values of fabrics produced from Indian wool and their blends has been studied. The extensibility, tensile resilience and coefficient of friction of the fabrics significantly (p>0.05) increase after softening treatments, whereas the bending and shear rigidities and their hysteresis, and compressional resilience reduce. The Koshi (stiffness) values of wool and wool blended fabrics decrease by 5-10% of that of untreated fabrics after softening treatments. However, the Numeri (smoothness) and Fukurami (fullness and softness) values increase by 10-40%. The fabrics treated with cationic and amino silicone softeners show total hand value (THV) higher than that of untreated fabrics; THV increases by 5-20% and 10-20% for winter suit and jacket application respectively. The amino silicone softener is more effective than cationic softener