Size formulations for cotton yarn weaving at lower relative humidity

In this paper, size formulations for cotton yarns suitable for weaving fabrics in an environment of lower relative humidity (RHs) are investigated, which is desirable for both human comfort and the reduction of energy costs during fabric production. Moisture regain, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of cotton yarns sized with different size formulations were studied at 28celcius and various RHs. While the tensile strength of sized yarns with different size formulations was hardly affected by RH, both their abrasion resistance and weavability vary significantly with RH. Better abrasion resistance and weavability of cotton yarns sized with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and modified starch were achieved at 60% RH, and they were obtained at 70% RH for cotton yarns sized with PVA, modified starch and polyacrylic acid size. It was thus concluded that the selection of suitable size formulations could enable corresponding sized yarns to be weaved at lower RH. The suitable size formulation was composed of 60% oxidized starch, 30% PVA1799 and 10% polyacrylic acid size. It was noticed that better abrasion resistance of yarns sized with solely modified starches were obtained at 65% RH.