Comparison of the Selected Physical Properties of Elastane Weft Knitted Fabrics Before and After Repeated Launderings

Abstract

It was aimed to investigate the influence of washing cycle and fabric type on stretching (%), unrecovered elongation (%) and elastic recovery properties of plain knitted fabrics made of different ground yarn types having the same elastane ratio (%). For the plain knitted fabrics; Elastane ratio was kept constant as 5% for all fabric types whereas the ground yarns were selected as 70% polyester 30% cotton vortex yarn, 70% polyester 30%viscon ring yarn, 70% polyester 30%cotton ring yarn, 100%viscon vortex and 100% cotton ring spun yarns respectively. Knitted samples were objected to repeated laundering and flat dried after each washing cycle. Fabric weight (g/m2) after the washing cycles of 1, 5 and 10 were premeasured. Fryma fabric extensometer device was used for determining the stretching ratios (%), unrecovered elongation (%) and elastic recovery (%) of the samples both in wale and course way. Two-Way ANOVA was performed in order to investigate the influence of washing cycle and fabric type on stretching (%) and unrecovered elongation (%) properties of the elastane knitted fabrics.