ULUDAG UNIVERSITY
lmportant Matters in Chenille Yarn
Production
Dr. Erhan Kenan even
Uludag University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture,
Textile Engineering Department
Grkle Campus,16059, Nilfer - Bursa,TURKEY
TURKEY
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Dr. Erhan Kenan even
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23 April 2012- TUL
Dr. Erhan Kenan even
23 April 2012
BURSA
23 April 2012- TUL
Dr. Erhan Kenan even
23 April 2012
Textile Engineering Department
Uludag University,
University, Bursa , TURKEY
TURKEY
Bursa
Uluda
Uluda
University
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Outline
1. Definition and Classification of Fancy yarns
2. Production Methods of Chenille Yarns
3. Chenille Quality Tolerances
4. Factors Influencing the Properties of Chenille Yarns
5. Important Matters in Chenille Yarn Production
5.1.Electronic Clearing of Missing Pile
5.2. Knots and Splices
5.3. Pile Direction
5.4. Abrasion Resistance
6. Modelling of Chenille Yarns for an Exemplary Practice
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1. Definition and Classification of Fancy yarns
Fancy yarns are special products of spinning, twisting, wrapping,
texturing, printing, knitting, etc. Fancy yarns are and will always be
up-to-date, as there is no alternative to them.
The demand for yarns with structural and/or optical effects is due to
the special aesthetic and high decorative appeal to the woven,
knitted materials, and other textiles as well. Textile materials that
are produced using yarns with effects find applications in normal
and high fashion clothing. Such yarns are also used for decorative
textiles like curtains, carpets, effect wallpaper. Decor materials
and textile fabrics in the corporate sector, as for example in the trim
of a car or textile furnishing of a hotel lobby are becoming more and
more important
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The technology of differential dying of the yarns or semimanufactured product of spinning is effective and simple in
design. Colouring and decorating the product using differential
dyeing or cross dyeing techniques essentially promote the fibre
properties as design effects in themselves without any other
additional components.
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Textile designers when creating new styles and fashionable
textiles prefer differing from traditional fancy yarn structures the
tape yarns or ladder-knit yarns. Such fancy yarns create
extraordinary effects in the fabric made, thus augmenting their
decorative value. Ladder-knit fancy yarn can be produced on a
small-diameter circular knitting machine with three guides
feeding each knitting head [14]. Some knitted fancy yarns have
effect component short or long lengths of yarn, bunches of
roving, etc. and colour effects as well. Examples of not
traditional fancy yarns structure are presented in Fig. 2
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Fancy yarns have deliberately introduced irregular characteristics, in
either diameter and bulk and/or in color, etc. as well as virtually new
structures composed of fibers, yarns or other products that differentiate
them from conventionally spun or multifilament yarns [1 3]. New
looks, structures and raw materials of fancy yarns are constantly in
demand.
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Components of fancy yarns can be of natural or man made fibers:
staple length or continuous filaments but nowadays it appears the
especially unusual structures of fancy yarns that are very desirable in
designing of new textiles. There are so many different types of fancy
yarns. Most of them are produced using spinning or twisting machinery
that are modified or specially developed for this purpose.
Some types of such yarns are produced from fancy fiber or fancy
slivers used as minor components of yarns made by spinners with
normal equipment, still others are made exclusively by filament yarns
using adaptations of various processes as well as tape-knit fancy yarns
are produced using a range of take-up rations and component yarns on
a knitting machine specially designed for fancy yarn manufacture.
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In [3] the assortment of fancy yarns is grouped into two groups: with
overfeed and controlled effects.
Each of these two groups has two subgroups: yarn effects and
spinning effects.
For example, the overfeed yarn effects are loop, onde, snarls, wild
knop, wild caterpillar, etc. The controlled yarn effects are knop,
caterpillar, reverse caterpillar, and combined effects. Overfeed
spinning effects are onde, spun loop, chenille, boucle, etc.
Unfortunately, such a method of grouping is restricted and not
precise because not all types of the assortment are included.
Besides that, there are no motives of ascription and substantiation.
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2. Production Methods of Chenille Yarns
Chenille is a pile yarn that has been produced commercially since
the 1970s. In 1977, the A. J. Mitchell Co. developed a machine
specially designed for the manufacture of upholstery chenille yarn.
Modern machinery was introduced in Europe and North America in
the early 1990s, and today's chenille is a reliable and beautiful yarn
that is gaining in popularity.
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Figure 6 shows the basic structure of a chenille yarn. It consists of a
cut pile (short lengths of spun yarn or filament) which may be made of a
variety of fibers helically disposed around the two axial threads (highly
twisted fine strong yarn) which secure it. The short lengths are called
the pile and the highly twisted yarns are called the core.
Chenille yarn can be made from many different types of fibers and
yarns. Most common are cotton, viscose (rayon), acrylic, and
polypropylene (olefin). Chenille yarn can be made in many different
sizes, ranging from as heavy as 0.2 Nm to as fine as 12.0 Nm.
Figure 6. Chenille yarn structure
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Methods of producing chenille yarns
Weaving
Chenille Type
Flocking Process
Mock Chenille
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Weaving
leno fabric
Figure 7. Chenille yarn production by weaving
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This technique has been superseded by a variety of new systems,
which create more or less convincing copies of the chenille effect. The
old, leno-woven method may still be used in some, very specialist
applications, but the scarcity and expense of this particular effect when
this was the only method is sufficient testimony to the relative slowness
(time consuming) and difficulty of the technique. It is not really a viable
alternative if the goal is to create yarns for the mass market.
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Chenille Type
Figure 8. Chenille yarn production:
a: Yarn forming zone showing depth of the former; b: Yarn forming zone
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Figure 9. Chenille Machine
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Like velvet and other pile fabrics, the chenille yarn made using this
process has what is in effect a nap illustrated in Figure 10. This is
caused by the interlacing of the pile and the core, and it means that in
later treatment of the yarn, the number of winding processes needs to be
carefully monitored, in order to ensure that the nap lies in the same
direction on all cones or cheeses in a batch. If this is not done, the fabric
in which the yarn is used will show color differences resulting from the
differing reflectance of the nap, which depend upon the angle of the pile
and of the light.
Figure 10. Chenille structure showing nap
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Flocking Process
Figure 11. The flocking process
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Mock Chenille
A mock chenille effect can be produced by plying two gimp or boucl
or loop yarns with dense effects, for example, two loop yarns with large
numbers of small loops. The yarn may not look like chenille, but when the
yarn is then made in to fabric, the large number of small loops in the
fabric results in a fabric surface that resembles a chenille effect.
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3. Chenille Quality Tolerances
Table 1: International Specification for Chenille Count and Twist Tolerances
Sample Size
10
25
100
Count/Yield (% )
20.0
10.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
Twist (% )
20.0
10.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
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4. Factors Influencing the Properties of Chenille Yarns
Core and effect yarn material
Yarn count of the core and pile yarn
Pile length, mm (determined by the size of the caliper)
Yarn twist, turns/meter (determined by the spindle speed and the
delivery speed)
Retraction value ,% (the length of yarn is reduced because of twisting
core yarns)
Rotary head speed, rpm (determines pile density)
Rotary head diameter, mm
Spindle speed, rpm (determines twist level)
Winding speed, m/min (determines production speed)
Pile density (determined by the speed of the head)
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5. Important Matters in Chenille Yarn Production
Electronic Clearing of Missing Pile
Chenille is manufactured in a two step process.
Step one is the manufacture of the chenille onto a chenille bobbin
Step two is the rewinding of the chenille onto a cone or dye tube.
An electronic clearer is located in the yarn path of step two to detect
lengths of yarn that have pile missing. When the electronic clearer
detects a section of missing pile greater than the minimum setting
specified (usually 3 mm), a cutter is electronically activated. The yarn
is cut, and the winder operator then pulls the yarn back and cuts out
the missing pile section, reties the yarn, and continues winding the
package. The electronic clearer devices are almost 100% effective.
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Knots and Splices
There are two alternative methods for "tying" the chenille yarn.
Method one is a core knot. This is made by stripping back the pile of
both ends of the chenille sufficiently so that it is possible to tie a double
square knot in the core yarns. Care has to be taken to hold the twist in
the yarn ends where the pile starts. Once the double square knot is
tied, the ends are clipped close to the small knot. The pile ends are
then pushed over the knot.
Method two uses a splice. To create the splice, the two ends of
chenille are overlapped 1 to 2 inches and a mechanical wraparound splicing device applies the wrap yarn. The wrap yarn can be
either a fine monofilament nylon or a very fine yarn of the same fiber
as the chenille pile.
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Pile Direction
The chenille manufacturing process creates pile that lies in one
direction. When woven into a fabric, chenille reflects light differently
when viewed from different directions. This is known as the
"reflection effect," and it is one of the unique and desirable
characteristics of chenille goods.
Following step one of manufacturing, the yarn has direction one.
After the winding process in step two, the yarn has direction two.
Because of this, strict control of the pile direction must be
maintained during both the step of manufacturing the chenille and
also all subsequent processes required to convert the chenille into
a finished article. It is not possible accurately to visually evaluate
the direction of natural or dyed chenille yarn in its yarn form.
Weaving the chenille yarn into a solid test fabric is the only way of
detecting the true direction of a yarn.
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Abrasion Resistance
Any removal of the effect yarn forming the beard, either during
further processing or during the eventual end-use, will expose the
ground yarns, which will in turn result in this bare appearance. To
avoid this undesirable result, several options are available, or a
combination of them may be chosen.
These include:
Creating a longer pile in chenille yarn will offer greater resistance
to being pulled out and will also take longer to abrade
The use of longer fibers in the effect yarn
The use of higher twist level in the creation of the chenille itself, in
order to offer greater resistance to the removal of the effect yarn
Careful choice of pile and core yarns to increase the inter-fiber
friction may also assist in reducing the pile loss rate
The use of natural fibers in the production like cotton will help to
produce yarns having high abrasion resistance
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These important characteristics are also enhanced by the addition of a
thermoplastic filament to the composition which has significantly reduced
the main problem of shedding to which early chenille yarns were prone.
The application of heat at the appropriate point in the process, before the
yarn is wound onto a package enables the yarn to be set.
The use of the thermoplastic fiber brings its own challenges in
production, especially since the relatively low melting point may result in
the activation of the filament at the wrong time; the thermoplastic filament
may melt completely and run down the "beard", settling in beads on the
ends of the fibers.
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Developments of the method of construction have largely eliminated
these problems; low melt fibers have been inserted in the core which
fuses with the pile under subsequent heat processes to help increase
pile adhesion and clever methods of pile yarn insertion have created a
more rounded yarn effect yet still retained the somewhat unique
character of the chenille.
Pile loss is encouraged by inadequate fiber adherence. Careful
choice of the pile and core yarns to increase the inter-fiber friction may
assist in reducing the rate of loss of the pile. Nevertheless, creating a
longer pile, using higher twist levels and the use of natural fibers in the
production will help to produce yarns having high abrasion resistance.
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6. Modelling of Chenille Yarns
and
Deriving a Formula for Yarn Count Estimation
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Description of Basic Parameters
Denotation
Nmch: Chenille yarn count
Nmc : Core yarn count
Nmp : Pile yarn count
nrh : Rotary head speed
ns : Spindle speed
L
: Production speed
T
: Chenille yarn twist level
R
: Retraction value in percent
Lzt : Length of zero twist yarn
Lt : Length of twisted yarn
k
: Circumference of the caliper
cw : Caliper width
ct : Caliper thickness
ckt : Cutting knife thickness
a
: Pile density
h
: Number of pile yarns fed into the rotary head
z
: Number of pile yarns per one twist of the chenille yarn
Wc : Core yarn weight for 1 meter of chenille yarn
Wp : Pile yarn weight for 1 meter of chenille yarn
Wch : Chenille yarn weight for 1 meter of chenille yarn
Lp : Pile yarn length for one meter of chenille yarn
Lpt : Pile yarn length for 1/T meter of chenille yarn
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Unit
meter/gram
meter/gram
meter/gram
rev/minute
rev/minute
meter/minute
turns/meter
%
meter
meter
meter
meter
meter
meter
rotation/meter
gram/meter
gram/meter
gram/meter
meter
meter
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Relation between the Basic Parameters
We determined the actual length of the core and pile yarns in 1 meter of chenille yarn and
then determined the weight of the component yarns.
2
R
1
+
Wc =
Nm
100
(1)
We took into account the retraction of the yarn due to the twist.
Lzt Lt
100
R= L
t
(2)
Pile yarn weight for 1 meter of chenille yarn:
h n rh k
Wp =
2 L Nm p
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(3)
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In this equation (3):
Circumference of the caliper
k=
((2 c w ) + (4 ct ) + (2 ck t ))
(4)
L=
ns
T
(5)
Production speed
Pile density
nrh nrh
=
T
a=
L
ns
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(6)
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Chenille yarn weight is the sum of the core yarn weight and pile yarn weight. Hence from
(1) and (3) we get:
(7)
W = W +W
ch
R h nrh k
1 +
+
100
2 L Nm p
Wch =
Nm c
(8)
From our measurements and computation, we denote the following expression, Nmch,
for determining the final count of the chenille yarns.
Nm ch
Nm c Nm p
=
(2 (1 + (R / 100 )) Nm ) + (0.5 a h k Nm )
p
c
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(9)
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According to equation 9, we can draw the following:
Increasing nrh and decreasing L lead to increased a, resulting in the production
of coarser yarns.
Decreasing L at constant ns leads to increased T and R; these lead to the
production of coarser yarns.
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Also we found a formula for calculating the number of pile yarns per one twist of the
chenille yarn (z):
If the twist level is T for chenille yarn, the length of one twist is 1/ T meter.
Also we considered the number of pile yarns fed to the rotary head.
Pile yarn length for 1 meter of chenille yarn:
n
k
Lp = rh h
L 2
Pile yarn lengths for 1/T meter of chenille yarn:
n kh
Lp
Lpt = = rh
T
2 L T
(10)
(11)
Number of pile yarns per one twist of the chenille yarn (z):
z=
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n rh h
L T
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(12)
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From (5) and (12) we get:
z = h
nrh
ns
(13)
The z parameter in equation 13 can be used for the prediction of yarn appearance
before the production of chenille yarns. The border value of z can be used as a
reference for the yarns which must have enough pile density.
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Table 2. Range of the values belong to chenille yarn parameters
Parameters
Range
Rotary head speed, rpm
7500-24000
Spindle speed, rpm
3700-8500
Production speed, m/min
4-24
Chenille yarn count, Nm
1-12
Core and pile yarn count, Nm
20-50
Number of the pile yarns
1-3
Yarn twist, turns/meter
700-1200
Knife
thickness,
mm
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Gillette type
0.15-0.20
Rotary blade
0.20-1.00
Caliper size, mm
0.7-3.0
Caliper thickness, mm
0.4-0.6
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There is a good correlation with high value of correlation coefficient
(above 0.95) between the measured and calculated counts of the
chenille fancy yarns.
This result seems to be promising for assessing the count of
chenille fancy yarns. It will be a practical method and enable a rapid
interpretation.
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Figure 13. Calculated and measured chenille yarn count values versus yarn number
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Figure 14. Calculated and measured chenille yarn count values versus yarn number
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Figure 15, 16, 17 and 18 illustrates the changes for chenille yarn
counts versus pile yarn counts for selected constant yarn and machine
parameters and variables according to expression 9.
These figures help for observing the effects of the changes on chenille
yarn counts for some variables like pile length, production speed, rotary
head speed and core yarn count.
Graphs and equation 9 can be used for both reproducing an existing
chenille yarn and creating a new type that has been merely designed on
a paper.
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Caliper width
Figure 15. Chenille yarn counts versus pile yarn counts for different pile lengths (caliper widths)
(Constant values: nrh =16860 rpm, ns =5130 rpm, L, = 7.12 m/min, Core yarn count = Nm 33.86, h = 1,R = 5 %)
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Production speed
Figure 16. Chenille yarn counts versus pile yarn counts for different production speeds
(Constant values: nrh =16860 rpm, Core yarn count = Nm 33.86, h = 1, R = 5 %, Caliper width = 0.7 x 10-3 m,
k= 4.4 x 10-3 m)
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Rotary head speed
Figure 17. Chenille yarn counts versus pile yarn counts for different rotary heads speeds
(Constant values: L = 7.12 m/min, Core yarn count = 33.86 Nm, h = 1, R = 5 %, Caliper width = 0.7 x 10-3 m,
k= 4.4 x 10-3 m)
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Core yarn count
Figure 18. Chenille yarn counts versus pile yarn counts for different core yarn counts.
(Constant values: nrh =16860 rpm, L = 7.12 m/min, a =2367.98, h = 1, R= 5 %, Caliper width= 0.7 x 10-3 m,
k= 4.4 x 10-3 m)
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Conclusion
There are two main features of chenille production techniques which
cause problems for use; one is pile direction and the other is the
tendency for the pile yarns to pull out of the core during end use.
While producing chenille yarns in chenille machines, piles lie in one
direction. The chenille yarn user must take care to maintain the same
pile direction throughout manufacturing.
An expression is derived to determine the final count of chenille
yarns. Correlation analysis confirmed strong linear relationship with high
value of correlation coefficient (above 0.95) between the final count
values of chenille yarn samples obtained from the expression (formula)
and that obtained from the measurements.
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