A study on the effects of textile processing on tensile properties of single cotton fibers: From raw cotton to washed garments

Effects of textile processing on breaking strength, breaking elongation, morphological properties and dimensional properties were investigated and analyzed. Cotton varieties were obtained and processed under various ginning and carding conditions into a T-shirts. The produced T-shirts were washed and dried repeatedly. A large number of fibers were collected at various processing stages and tested one by one by a MantisRTM single fiber tensile tester. During repeated washing/drying experiment, progressive shrinkage in length, width, and area were measured. The surface characteristics of fibers in yarns from washed T-shirts were observed by a scanning electron microscope. The breaking strength and breaking elongation of cotton fibers were reduced substantially due to textile processing. A higher ginning rate generated a higher average breaking strength and a lower breaking elongation compared to that from a lower ginning rate. However, based on the fibers taken from washed and unwashed T-shirts, the higher ginning rate was shown to have produced a lower average breaking strength as well as breaking elongation compared to the case at lower ginning rate.; A higher carding rate adversely affected the tensile properties for entire range of the processes. Using of 2 lint cleaners at the gin resulted in a lower tensile properties than that of 1 lint cleaner.; Although the results were not statistically significant, use of 2 lint cleaners at gin resulted in a lower average length shrinkage in T-shirts and more damage to the fiber surface after repeated washing/drying.; The progressive length shrinkage of the T-shirts during 32 washing/drying cycles was shown to be consistently higher for the higher ginning and carding rates. The progressive width and area shrinkage on the other hand did not show the effects of processing clearly. A limited microscopic study suggests that the number of lint cleaners in ginning may be the most significant contributor to fiber damage as shown by the broken fibrils and cracks on fiber surfaces.