Page 13 - 08 Cotton SA March 2016

Blending Cotton

with Bamboo

to obtain a more

durable yarn

Extract from an article by Mohamed Neguib El-Banna, A.A.A.El-
Banna, Mohamed A. M. El-Sayed Negm, Mahmoud Ismail El-
Bagoury and Dalia M. Nageeb

With the growing demand for more comfortable, healthier and environmentally friendly products, research
and development efforts in the textile industry have focused on the use of renewable and biodegradable
resources as well as on environmentally sound textile manufacturing processes.

he most important factors in determining the properties others. Bamboo and bamboo-cotton blended yarns play a key
of any given yarn are the type and ratio of the fibres that role in the natural product issue and are being endorsed for use
go into the blend. The properties of any yarn will vary in soft-look and soft-feel textiles.
according to the properties of the fibres used in their
Tproduction. Thanks to the micro gaps in its structure, Research was carried out at the Cotton Research Institute of the
bamboo fibre has high air permeability and water absorption Agriculture Research Centre, Giza, Egypt, to study the impact
properties that allow it to keep the human body dry and free of different spinning systems and different bamboo and cotton
from unpleasant odours. blends of the properties on the blended yarn. A commercial
cultivar, Giza 86 (a long-staple variety), and bamboo fibre were
Bamboo based fabrics are antibacterial and soft, and are only used in the experiment. Two spinning systems, i.e., ring and
minimally subject to pilling and creasing. Bamboo fabrics also compact spinning, were employed to produce 40’S carded yarns.
require lesser amounts of dyeing for each dyeing level required.
It is a natural product that is grown without the use of chemicals The results obtained indicate that a compact spun bamboo and
or pesticides and is also quick to absorb moisture. One of the cotton yarn blended at a ratio of 67:33 yielded the highest mean
disadvantages of bamboo is that it has low fibre strength, so values for the key yarn properties. It may be concluded that the
that the goal of blending it with cotton in the spinning process quality of the 40’S count yarn was affected most significantly
is to produce yarn with more acceptable qualities. by the spinning system and by the bamboo-cotton blend
percentages. Fibre length and fibre tenacity were the greatest
Cotton, with its soft, luxurious feel and its hygienic properties contributors to yarn strength. Fibre length and fibre elongation
has traditionally been one of the most human friendly fibres in were the main contributors to yarn elongation and yarn evenness.
the world. The idea of blending cotton with bamboo was to However, the relative importance and contribution of fibre
produce yarn with qualities that could not be obtained by using properties to yarn quality differed between fibre categories as
any single type of fibre alone. Blending is also is done in order to well as between the two spinning systems. The results indicated
lower production costs, circumvent shortages of natural fibres, that the ratio of bamboo fibres in the blend had a decisive effect
improve spinning performance, increase yarn strength, achieve on the properties of the yarn.
greater evenness, reducing the number of imperfections, among

Volume 18 - No 1 | 13