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Finishing – Processing of Textiles

The raw grey cloth, woven cotton fabric in its loom-state contains impurities and requires further treatment in order to develop its full textile potential. Furthermore, the fabric may receive considerable added quality by applying one or more finishing processes.

Desizing

Depending on the refining required, the cloth may be steeped in a dilute acid and then rinsed, or enzymes may be used to break down the size.

Scouring

Scouring, is a chemical washing process carried out on the cotton fabric in order to remove natural wax and non-fibrous impurities from the fibres and any added soiling or dirt. Scouring is usually carried in iron vessels called kiers. The fabric is boiled in an alkali, which forms a soap with free fatty acids. A kier is usually enclos...

Knitting – Fabric Manufacture

Knitting by machine is done in two different ways; warp and weft. Weft knitting is similar in method to hand knitting with stitches all connected to each other horizontally. Various weft machines can be configured to produce textiles from a single spool of yarn or multiple spools depending on the size of the machine cylinder (where the needles are bedded). In a warp knit there are many pieces of yarn and there are vertical chains, zigzagged together by crossing the yarn.

Warp knits do not stretch as much as a weft knit, and it is run-resistant. A weft knit is not run-resistant, but stretches more, this is especially true if spools of Lycra are processed from separate spool containers and interwoven through the cylinder with cotton yarn giving the finished produ...

Weaving – Fabric manufacture

The weaving process uses a loom. The lengthway threads are known as the warp, and the cross way threads are known as the weft. The warp which must be strong needs to be presented to loom on a warp beam. The weft, passes across the loom in a shuttle, that carries the yarn on a pirn. These pirns are automatically changed by the loom. Thus, the yarn needs to be wrapped onto a beam, and onto pirns before weaving can commence.

After being spun and plied, the cotton thread is taken to a warping room where the winding machine takes the required length of yarn and winds it onto warpers bobbins.

Racks of bobbins are set up to hold the thread while it is rolled onto the warp bar of a loom. Because the thread is fine, often three of these would be combined to get th...

Preparatory Processes – The preparation of yarn.

Cotton mills have the cotton shipped to them in large, 200+kg bales. When the cotton comes out of a bale, it is all packed together and still contains vegetable matter. The bale is broken open using a machine with large spikes, called an opener. In order to fluff up the cotton and remove the vegetable matter, the cotton is sent through a picker, or similar machines. A picker looks similar to the carding machine and the cotton gin, but is slightly different. The cotton is fed into the machine and gets beaten with a beater bar, to loosen it up. It is fed through various rollers, which serve to remove the vegetable matter. The cotton, aided by fans, collects on a screen and is then fed through more rollers till it emerges as a continuous sof...

Cotton is by far the world’s most important natural fibre. Year by year, the need for cotton for manufacturing bed linen and manchester increases steadily. Last year alone, the global yield was 25 million tons from 35 million hectares cultivated in more than 50 countries.

When speaking of the processing of cotton – there are generally five stages. They are:

• The cultivating and harvesting of cotton.

 

• Preparatory processes of cotton.

 

• Spinning the yarn.

 

• Weaving the yarn.

 

• Finishing the fabric.

The Cultivating and Harvesting of Cotton

Cotton is grown anywhere with long, hot dry summers with plenty of sunshine and low humidity. Grown exclusively between 45 degrees north and 35 degrees south of the Equator anywhere in the world, cotton in Australia is made up of around 620 cotton farms.

Aust...