Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 49, June 2024, pp. 246-251

DOI: 10.56042/ijftr.v49i2.7654

Properties of recycled polyester-cotton blended melange yarns

Ajit Kumar Pattanayak1,a, Lima Pattanaik1, Ashvani Goyal1 & Ashwini Kumar Dash2
1
The Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences, Bhiwani 127 021, India
2
Odisha University of Technology and Research, Bhubaneswar, 751 029, India

This investigation aims at studying the important yarn parameters of melange yarns prepared from the recycled polyester
(r-PET) and cotton fibres. Twelve melange yarn samples have been spun using normal Indian cotton fibre (Shankar-6) and r-
PET by the traditional ring spinning technique. Three different yarn linear densities of 15tex, 20tex and 30tex (rounded to
next integer) have been spun from four different blend proportions (100% cotton, 75% cotton/25% r-PET, 50% cotton/50%
r-PET and 25% cotton/75% r-PET). Important yarn properties, like tensile strength, breaking elongation, yarn evenness,
hairiness, abrasion resistance and imperfections, of these twelve melange yarns are tested and analysed. The yarn hairiness
and the imperfections decrease with the increase of r-PET fibre in the yarn regardless of the yarn linear density. But the
abrasion resistance, yarn evenness, breaking strength and breaking elongation increase with the addition of recycled
polyester fibre in the yarn for all three types of yarn linear densities. These melange yarn properties confirm its suitability
for the fabrics for apparels. Hence, the recycled polyester can be used as an alternative fibre to the most used virgin
polyester fibres in apparels.

Keywords: Abrasion resistance, Yarn hairiness, Melange yarns, Polyester-cotton yarn, Recycled polyester, Tensile strength

1 Introduction recycling the plastic waste, as this process offer

The plastic materials in different forms are the non-decomposable plastic material a second
heavily associated with the human life. The textile chance4. The recycling of plastics, like polyester
articles made from synthetic fibres are also a fibres and PET bottles, also extends the lifespan of
form of plastic. The polyester is the most dominant synthetic textile items through reuse. Hence, recycling
synthetic fibre and commonly used in apparels, home is an efficient method for ensuring sustainability
furnishings and other textile articles1. The total for textile value chain, as it is estimated that 72% of
production of the fibres in the year 2021 is 113 the fibres are consumed for apparels after recycling
million tons and the share of the polyester fibre is PET bottles5. Recycled polyester (r-PET) is a
around 54%2. The huge quantity of production of sustainable fibre than virgin polyester, as the
polyester fibre and their conversion into textile manufacturing of r-PET consumes 70% lower
articles needs huge quantity of electricity and fresh electricity as well as 54% reduction in carbon dioxide
water which ultimately contributes in the release of (CO2) emissions than the production of virgin
huge amount of greenhouse gases3. Polyethylene polyester6. Hence, the recycled polyester fibre is
terephthalate (PET) is a very common polymer, becoming popular in the apparels to achieve
derived from the petroleum source, which is used to sustainability. The quality of the r-PET fibre for
produce polyester fibre as well as many types of textiles is paramount important to achieve desired
packaging bottles1. This monomer is also used yarn and fabric properties. Several researchers
for the manufacturing of commonly used plastic investigated the yarn performance of the r-PET fibres
materials, like polyester fibres, soda bottles and blended with natural fibres to enhance the comfort
many more. After being used, polyester textiles, properties of fabric. The spinning process parameters
empty bottles, and containers are considered garbage and manufacturing methods also play a pivotal role to
and placed in the trash, which is later disposed control the yarn structure, as the yarn structure affects
of in landfills or ends up in the seas in a variety of the quality of the final fabric. Teli and ozdil7 reported
ways. The plastic pollution can be reduced by that r-PET fibres in different blend proportions with
——————— cotton fibres can be used for knitted fabrics to achieve
a
Corresponding author. the similar performance as virgin polyester fibre.
E-mail: ajitpattanayak@[Link] Yuksekkaya et al8. studied the performance of the
 PATTANAYAK et al.: PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED POLYESTER-COTTON BLENDED MELANGE YARNS 247

open-end yarns and the fabrics produced from the shade were prepared using traditional technique. In
different blend proportions of recycled polyester and each case, 9-12% dyed fibres were mixed with the
cotton with similar proportions of virgin polyester normal grey fibres as per the requirement of the
with cotton. The study shows that the open-end yarn samples. Manual mixing was laid according to the
having recycled polyester has comparatively better recipe by weighing the proportion of fibres and
unevenness and lesser imperfections, but lower tensile horizontally spreading them to sandwich the different
strength and bursting strength are observed from the layers. The layers were then cut vertically and fed to a
knitted fabrics made from these yarns. blow room line manually. Fibre tufts were fed to
Uyanık9 studied the suitability of r-PET and the carding machine through aero feeding for
viscose blended yarn with different linear densities. individualization of fibres. The linear density of the
He observed that the yarn properties like yarn carded sliver of 4.1 ktex was obtained in each case.
diameter, density, unevenness, imperfections, and Then, eight carded slivers were fed to the breaker
hairiness of r-PET rich yarns are lower as compared draw frame for doubling and drafting. The output
to the virgin polyester rich yarns due to the presence linear density of sliver was set as 5.14 ktex. Then, six
of contamination in the r-PET fibres. He also slivers of breaker draw frame were fed to the finisher
concluded that the coarser yarns are more suitable for draw frame and a sliver of 5.4 ktex was formed. The
the r-PET blended yarns. finished sliver cans were fed to the speed frame for
In this study, different blends of r-PET fibre and producing rove of 695 tex linear density. Finally, the
cotton fibre have been spun in a ring frame at various roving bobbin was fed to the traditional ring frame to
ratios. While numerous studies have explored r-PET produce yarn samples having liner density of 30, 20,
fibres, there is a noticeable gap in the literature and 15tex. The yarn twist was determined by selecting
regarding the utilization of r-PET fibres in melange the standard twist multiplier according to the linear
yarns. As the PET bottles are available in various density of the yarn, as outlined in Table 2. The ring
colours, the textiles manufactured from recycled bobbins were converted into cones by using the
polyester fibres are typically recommended in Schlafhorst Autoconer 338.
darker shades. So, this study aims to assess the
physical and mechanical characteristics, including 2.2 Testing Methods
breaking strength, breaking elongation, unevenness, All the fibre and yarn samples are conditioned for
imperfection index, and abrasion resistance, of 24 h prior to testing and then tested and 20 °C ± 2 °C
mélange yarns with different linear densities. at 65 % relative humidity. The testing parameters of
the yarn samples were averaged over 10 observations.
2 Materials and Methods The cotton fibre strength and elongation were
tested by the High-Volume Instrument (HVI) tester
2.1 Materials under standard conditions as per ASTM D 1445-93,
For this study, regular Indian cotton (Shankar-6) whereas the r- PET fibres strength and elongation
fibre and r-PET were used. The r-PET fibres are were tested as per ASTM D 1445-93 using Stelometer
sourced from Daftech Engineering Pvt. Ltd. India. flat bundle tester.
The specifications of the cotton and r-PET fibres used
in the study are mentioned in Table 1. Table 2 — Yarn constructional parameters
Yarn Blend ratio, % Yarn linear Nominal twist
2.1.1 Yarn Manufacturing Process code (Cotton: r-PET) density, tex turns/cm
Twelve melange yarn samples were prepared using Y1 100: 0 30 6.8
the traditional ring spinning system at Chenab Y2 75: 25 30 7.1
Textiles Mills, Kathua (J&K) India under industrial Y3 50: 50 30 6.8
conditions. The specifications of these yarns are Y4 25: 75 30 6.5
shown in Table 2. Melange yarn samples of similar Y5 100: 0 20 8.3
Y6 75: 25 20 8.6
Table 1 — Fibre specifications Y7 50: 50 20 8.3
Fibre parameters Cotton Recycled polyester (r-PET) Y8 25: 75 20 8.0
Fineness, den 1.28 1.4 Y9 100: 0 15 9.6
Length, mm 29.18 38 Y10 75: 25 15 9.9
Tenacity, g/den 3.1 3.5 Y11 50: 50 15 9.6
Elongation at break, % 6.8 27.5 Y12 25: 75 15 9.3
248 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 2024

The unevenness and imperfection index of all the ratios. The higher value of CVm% indicates more
yarn samples were tested using PREMIER Tester irregularity of the yarn structure. Figure 1(a) also
7000 in accord with ASTM D 1425-96. The yarn shows that the finer yarns are more irregular than
speed during the testing was 400 m/min and the the coarser yarns produced under identical processing
duration of the test was 60 s. The yarn was checked conditions. As the yarn becomes finer, the number of
for -50 % thin places, +50 % thick places and +200 % fibres in the cross-section of the yarn decreases,
neps. The hairiness of the yarn samples was tested as causing the deterioration in yarn's evenness10.
per ASTM D 5647-01 using Zweigle Hairiness Tester This observation is attributed to the established
G565 and the test length of the samples was set as fact that the yarn evenness is proportional to the
50 m with a speed of 50 m/min. The breaking strength number of fibres in the cross-section. With regard
and breaking elongation of yarns were determined to the blend proportion, as expected the addition
using the PREMIER Tensomaxx 7000 V2.6, which of r-PET fibre in yarn blend ratio decreases the
operates based on the constant rate of elongation irregularity of the yarn. This trend is more prominent
principle as per ASTM D 2256-02. The testing when the r-PET percentage is increased to 75 % from
parameters included a sample length of 5000 mm, a 50 %. This can be explained based on the fact that
testing speed of 5000 mm/min, and a pre-tension set cotton being a natural fibre exhibits higher variations
at 0.50 cN/tex. The abrasion resistance of the yarn in fibre length and thickness, while r-PET being a
samples was assessed utilizing CSI-396 in accordance synthetic fibre shows little variability in these
with ASTM D 1379-64. Yarn testing involved a parameters11. Hence, recycled polyester-majority
specimen size of 8” × 1”. The calculation for the blends demonstrate better evenness, irrespective of
number of threads required was done using the yarn linear density.
following equation: Figure 1(b) shows that relatively a smaller number
Number of threads in specimen ൌ
of imperfections are present in coarser yarns than in
ଽ଴଻ finer yarns. The imperfections decrease gradually
… (1) with the increase in percentage of r-PET fibres in the
଴.ହൈଢ଼ୟ୰୬ ୪୧୬ୣୟ୰ ୢୣ୬ୱ୧୲୷ ሺ୲ୣ୶ሻ
During the test, the yarn samples underwent blend ratio, and the decline more noticeable when the
continuous rotational abrasion until rupture occurred. blend ratio increases from 50% to 75%. This may be
due to less fibre control during drafting and
3 Results and Discussion generation of drafting waves12. As indicated in
The influence of both the process variables and Table 3, the interaction of yarn linear density and
their interaction on the yarn properties have been blend proportion is found to be statistically significant
assessed for significance using two-way analysis of in both yarn evenness and imperfections.
variance and their values are given in Table 3. The
3.2 Yarn Hairiness
effect is found to be significant on all the yarn
Figure 1(c) depicts number of protruding hairs (S3
properties at 95% confidence level.
value) of melange yarns with different r-PET ratios.
3.1 Yarn Evenness & Imperfections The coarser yarns show more protruding hairs than
Yarn evenness is regarded as one of the most the finer yarns regardless of yarn blend proportion.
critical quality aspects of a yarn. Figure 1(a) shows The main reason behind more hairiness of coarse
the trends of yarn evenness and imperfections yarns is their high perimeter area13. As the diameter of
of the melange yarns with different r-PET blend fine yarn is lower, it shows a smaller number of
Table 3 — ANOVA results
Process Yarn evenness Imperfections Hairiness Breaking strength Breaking elongation Abrasion
variables gf/tex % resistance
A s s s s s s
(F,P) (31.4, 4×10-5) (35.8, 7×10-5) (25.6, 4×10-5) (16.8, 8×10-5) (17.6, 6×10-5) (37.8, 4×10-4)
B s s s s s s
(F,P) (45.5, 2×10-7) (51.4, 5×10-7) (38.1, 4×10-5) (15.2, 6×10-5) (14.8, 8×10-5) (41.4, 4×10-6)
A×B s s s s s s
(F,P) (28.7, 5×10-5) (11.4, 3×10-6) (17.9, 7×10-4) (13.2, 9×10-4) (12.6, 3×10-4) (30.4, 7×10-4)
A- yarn linear density, B- blend proportion, s- significant- F-value and P- p-value.
 PAT
TTANAYAK et al.: PROPERTIE
ES OF RECYCL
LED POLYEST
TER-COTTON BLENDED
B MEL
LANGE YARNS
S 249

protruding fibres,
f whichh results in lower
l hairineess. This may
m probablyy be due to the t longer fibbre length
Figure 1(c) shows that there is a discernible
d treend of r-PPET compareed to cotton fibre. As fibbre length
for the protruding fibrees in responnse to variattion increaases, less num
mber of fibre--ends will be available
in blend ratiio. Hairiness decreases ass the percentaage to prootrude from thhe surface of the yarn, entaailing less
of recycledd polyester fibre conteent increases11. protruuding fibres14.

Fig. 1 — Effeect of yarn lineaar density and blend

b proportionn on (a) CVm%
%, (b) Imperfecttions, (c) yarn hairiness,
h (d) yaarn tenacity,
(e) yarn breakinng elongation an
nd (f) yarn abrasiion resistance
250 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 2024

3.3 Breaking Strength and Breaking Elongation % contribution of fibre strength and breaking elongation.
From Fig. 1(d), it can be seen that the 30 tex yarn The r-PET fibre has higher strength and higher
shows highest tenacity followed by 20 tex yarn and breaking elongation as compared to cotton fibre20.
15tex yarn. As the yarn becomes finer, the yarn
strength reduces because of the poor utilization of 4 Conclusion
fibre characteristics of constituting fibres towards The following conclusions are drawn based on the
yarn strength. Besides, higher unevenness of fine results of this study:
yarns also contributes to the lower tensile strength15. 4.1 The yarn evenness increases with the increase of
Also, it can be seen from Fig. 1(d), that the tenacity recycled polyester fibre proportion in the yarns. Also,
increases with the increase in proportion of r-PET the imperfections decrease as the share of recycled
fibre in the yarn blend ratio and this pattern is more polyester increases. Further, coarser yarns possess
noticeable when the r-PET blend proportion share is better evenness and lower imperfections than the finer
increased to 75% from 50%. The major parameters yarns.
that affect the yarn tensile strength are fibre tensile 4.2 The finer yarns exhibit lesser protruding fibres
strength and fibre length. Since recycled polyester as compared to coarser yarns. It is observed that the
fibres have higher tensile strength and higher length hairiness decreases with the increase of recycled
than that of cotton fibres, the r-PET blended yarns polyester fibres in the blends.
have higher strength16. 4.3 The coarser yarns possess higher tenacity than
Figure 1(e) shows that the finer yarns exhibit lower the finer yarns and the strength increases as the
breaking elongation than the coarser yarns and it recycled polyester fibre proportion increases in the
reflects a trend similar to yarn tenacity. This may yarn. The same trend is observed for the yarn abrasion
probably be due to the reduced translational efficiency resistance as well.
of fibre elongation to yarn elongation17. The adoption of recycled polyester in yarn and
With regard to the blend proportion, as expected various textile structures promotes sustainability
the addition of recycled polyester fibre in yarn through material repurposing, waste reduction, and
blend ratio increases the breaking elongation lower environmental impact as compared to virgin
and it shows an upward trend as the share of polyester. The study confirms comparable properties
recycled polyester fibre increases. This can be between recycled polyester in melange yarns and
explained as the recycled polyester fibre has a higher virgin polyester. This utilization marks a positive step
breaking elongation percentage than that of cotton18. toward resource conservation, reducing the ecological
The results are found significant at 95% confidence footprint in textile manufacturing, and aligning with
limit (Table 3). sustainable development goals.
3.4 Yarn Abrasion Resistance
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