Uddin Ahmed Jalal, Rahman Mostafizur
Department of Yarn Engineering, Faculty of Textile Engineering, Bangladesh University of Textiles, Dhaka 1208, Bangladesh.
Quality Control Department, Maksons Spinning Mills Ltd, Asulia, Savar, Bangladesh.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 1;10(4):e25444. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25444. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.
Stretch denim is an exclusive and stylish textile made with elastic core-spun yarns. It has gained substantial traction for offering essential elasticity and resilience to the garments while retaining a snug fit and comfort when worn. Denim is produced from coarser cotton yarns necessitating a significant quantity of cotton fiber. Owing to the escalating costs of cotton and the harmful environmental impacts associated with its cultivation, it is imperative to explore alternative fibers for denim. Herein, for the very first time, an expedient technique of manufacturing elastic core-spun denim yarns utilizing recycled cotton is investigated. Recycled cotton fibers, in the range of 10-60 %, extracted from pre-consumer fabric waste were blended with virgin cotton and spun into 16 Ne (36.9 Tex) elastic core-spun yarns. To address the challenges posed by the lower spinnability of recycled fibers, attributed to lower fiber length, uniformity index, and higher short fiber content, a compact spinning system featuring a novel pin spacer was used. This combination effectively improved the fiber control within the drafting zone, enabling maximum incorporation of recycled cotton, up to 60 %, into the yarn. The produced yarns exhibited significantly lower unevenness, imperfections, and hairiness along with higher strength and elongation that fell within the top 5 %-50 % ranking of Uster Statistics 2023. The elastic core yarn, even containing 60 % recycled fiber, demonstrated its suitability for use as a weft yarn in a commercial high-speed air-jet loom operating at 950 rpm (equivalent to weft speed 94 km/h or 1577 m/min). The production of denim yarn incorporating 60 % recycled cotton represents an innovative concept to advance sustainable development goal (SDG) 12. This initiative aims to reduce the proportional demand for cotton cultivation and its subsequent processing, thereby making significant contributions to environmental preservation on various fronts. Moreover, this approach offers potential cost savings in the production of denim clothing.
弹力牛仔布是一种采用弹性包芯纱制成的独特且时尚的纺织品。它因能为服装提供必要的弹性和回弹性，同时穿着时保持贴身舒适而获得了广泛关注。牛仔布由较粗的棉纱制成，需要大量的棉纤维。由于棉花成本不断上涨以及其种植对环境造成的有害影响，探索牛仔布的替代纤维势在必行。在此，首次研究了一种利用回收棉制造弹性包芯牛仔纱的便捷技术。从消费前织物废料中提取的10%-60%的回收棉纤维与原棉混合，纺成16英支（36.9特克斯）的弹性包芯纱。为应对回收纤维可纺性较低所带来的挑战，这些挑战归因于纤维长度较短、均匀度指数较低以及短纤维含量较高，采用了一种配备新型针间距器的紧密纺纱系统。这种组合有效地改善了牵伸区内的纤维控制，使高达60%的回收棉能最大限度地融入纱线中。所生产的纱线具有显著更低的不匀率、疵点和毛羽，同时具有更高的强度和伸长率，在乌斯特统计2023排名中位列前5%-50%。这种弹性包芯纱，即使含有60%的回收纤维，也证明其适合在一台以950转/分钟运行的商用高速喷气织机（相当于纬纱速度94公里/小时或1577米/分钟）中用作纬纱。含60%回收棉的牛仔纱生产代表了推进可持续发展目标（SDG）12的创新理念。该举措旨在减少对棉花种植及其后续加工的比例需求，从而在各个方面为环境保护做出重大贡献。此外，这种方法在牛仔服装生产中还可能节省成本。
