Yarn Evenness and Hairiness

Yarn Evenness and Hairiness:

• Yarn appearance board winder.
• Classification of variations in yarn, methods of
measuring yarn evenness and hairiness, Uster
evenness tester.
Learning outcomes:
1. Demonstrate the working principle of
Evenness and hairiness tester
2. Describe the types of yarn faults and variation.
YARN EVENNESS
• The different terms used, such as evenness or
unevenness and regularity or irregularity.
• For textile products such as laps, slivers,
rovings, and yarns, which are the products of
various spinning machines.
• The level of uniformity is expressed in terms of
evenness or regularity or in terms of
unevenness or irregularity.
Causes of irregularity
• Properties of raw material
• Fibre arrangement in the yarn
• Fibre behaviour
• Inherent shortcoming of machinery
• Mechanically defective machinery
• External factors such as working condition and
inefficient operation
Classification of variation
There are two types of variation:
– Random variation and
– Periodic variation.
Random variation
• It is the variation which occurs randomly in the
textile material and can occur in any order.
• A yarn is cut into short, equal lengths, say, 1
inch, then the weight of each consecutive
lengths can be measured a as shown in Figure
Periodic variations
• All traces of irregularity do not show random
distribution of deviations from the mean. Suppose
traces show definite sequences of thick and thin
places in the strands.
• These forms of irregularity are called as periodic
variations.
• Periodic variations are the variations with definite
sequences of thick and thin places in the strands.
• There are two terms used to describe a periodic
variation - wave length and amplitude
• Wave length is the
distance between
one peak of the
wave and the next
on the same side of
the mean line.
• Amplitude is a
measure of the size
of the swing from
the mean level.
• Usually, this is
expressed as a
percentage of the
mean.
Variations based on fibre length
• Using the fibre length as a length unit
• The periodic variations in the fibrous strand are
classified according to their wavelength with
respect to the fibre length used for forming
that particular strand.
This variation classified in to
• Short term variations
• Medium term variations
• Long-term variations
Short-term variation:
• Wave length is 1 to 10 times the length of the
fibre.
Medium-term variation:
• Wave length is 10 to 100 times the length of the
fibre.
Long-term variation:
• Wave length is 100 to 1000 times the length of
the fibre.
• This classification is used for investigating
and determining the causes of faults.
• The amplitude of short-term variation is
generally greater than that of the long-term
variation because it occurs at the last machine
and has not been reduced by doubling.
Methods of measuring evenness
Visual examination methods
Black boards, drums, photographic devices,
projectors and lap meter
Cutting and weighing methods
• Lap scale, lap meter, sliver, roving and yarn
wrapping
Electronic capacitance testers
• Fielden-Walker evenness tester and Uster
evenness tester
Variation in thickness under compression
• WIRA roving levelness tester and LINRA
roller yarn diameter tester
Photoelectric testers
• WIRA photoelectric testers and LINRA tester
Miscellaneous methods
• Airflow, mercury displacement and so on
Yarn Appearance Board Winder
• Yarn to be examined is wrapped onto a matt black
surface in equally spaced turns.
• The black boards are then examined under good
lighting conditions using uniform non-directional light.
• ASTM has a series of Cotton Yarn Appearance
Standards which are photographs of different counts
with the appearances classified into four grades.
• The test yarn is then wound on a blackboard (measuring
9.5 x 5.5 inches in surface area) with correct spacing
and compared directly with its corresponding standard.
Types
• Both hand-driven and
• Motorized wrapping machines
ASTM Standards
• ASTM standard test method classifies the yarn appearance
into five grades.
• The board is compared with standard photographs and
then graded.
• Grade A: No large neps, very few small neps, must have
very good uniformity, less fuzziness.
• Grade B: No larger neps, few small neps, less than three
small pieces of foreign matters per board, slightly more
irregular and fuzzy than A.
• Grade C: Some larger neps and more smaller neps,
fuzziness, foreign matters more than B, more rough
appearance than B.
• Grade D: Some slubs (with diameter 3 times
the diameter of yarn). More neps, larger neps,
fuzziness, thick and thin places, foreign
matters than in Grade C yarn. Overall
appearance is rougher than C.
• Grade E: Below grade D; more defects and
overall rougher appearance than grade D yarn.
Yarn appearance indices
Grade Designation Index
A EXCELLENT 130
B+ VERY GOOD 120
B GOOD 110
C+ AVERAGE 100
C FAIR 90
D POOR 80
D + VERY POOR 70
BG BELOW GRADE 60
USTER evenness tester
• USTER evenness tester is used to calculate
• The unevenness (U%),
• Coefficient of Variation of Mass (Cvm%),
• Yarn Hairiness,
• Imperfection index (IPI) and
• Thick place,
• Thin place,
• Neps
Principle of USTER evenness tester
• Uster evenness tester is “Electronics capacitance
tester principle”.
• The quality parameter is determined by a capacitive
sensor.
• The yarn, roving or sliver is passed through the
electric field of a measuring capacitor.
• Mass variation of material causes disturbance in the
electric field, which is then converted into electric
signal.
• This is proportional to the mass variation of material.
• The unevenness is recorded as a diagram.
The instrument consists of three main units
• The tester
• Signal processor
• printer
Measuring capacitors:
• Material to be tested any slot can be selected out of the
‘eight measuring capacitors’
Creel & Guide:
• These are to hold the package of material and to guide them
into the correct position into the slot
Traverse Rollers:
• The material speed passing over the range from 2 to 400
MPM
Measuring Device:
• Material to be tested any slot can be selected out
of the ‘eight measuring capacitors’
Type of material Slot No
- Sliver 1,2,3
- Roving 4,5
- Yarn: 2 – 17s 6
18 – 60s 7
above 60s 8
Material Speed:
• Yarn speed of the testing 200 mpm
• High speed instrument of the testing 400 mpm
Imperfection Indicator:
• Uster imperfection indicator measure the faults neps, thick
and thin places.
NEPS:
• It is a fault length 1 mm, having a cross-section 200% of
average value.
THICK PLACE:
• It is a fault of length approximately the fibre staple length,
having a cross-section of 50% increase over the average
value.
Thin Place:
• It is a fault of length approximately the fibre
staple length, having a cross-section
approximately 50% less than the average value
Spectrograph:
• To analysis of ‘periodic variation’
Periodic variation:
• Due to imperfect fibre control – leading to
drafting weaves
• Mechanical defects in the machinery
Imperfections
• In the Uster Tester, the following sensitivity
levels are available (Table).

Thin places Thick places Neps

- 60 % + 100 (1) + 400 % (1)

- 50 % + 70 (2) + 280 % (2)

- 40% + 50 (3) + 200 % (3)

- 30% + 35 (4) + 140 % (4)

Spectrogram :
Advantages of USTER evenness tester
• The CV percentage measured by USTER gives
a measure of the variation of weight per unit
length.
• This instrument measures the irregularity of
material at high speed (2- 100 ft/min).
• It can show the percentage of both MD and CV
of material.
• The recorder of pen can work at a high speed of
100 yards/min.
Uses of USTER evenness tester
• Evenness measurement of yarn, roving and sliver
• Measurement of imperfection (thick, thin place,
neps)
• Mass analysis
• Spectrogram analysis/frequency analysis
• Yarn hairiness measurement
• Fabric simulation, that is, before making fabric; this
way knowledge is gained about the yarn quality
that ultimately determines the quality of fabric
• Variation of trend analysis