Blended chemical fiber fabrics can present diverse styles and properties through different processing techniques to meet various demands. The following are common processing techniques:
Spinning Process
- Opening and Cleaning: Open, blend, and remove impurities from various fiber raw materials to make a uniform lap. For example, when processing polyester-cotton blends, polyester fibers and cotton fibers are placed in the opening and cleaning equipment in proportion and thoroughly mixed.
- Carding: Comb the fibers after opening and cleaning to further remove fine impurities and short fibers, straighten and parallelize the fibers, and make sliver. For instance, in the blending of acrylic and wool, carding can better integrate the two types of fibers.
- Drawing: Combine multiple slivers to improve the evenness of the sliver and further mix different fibers evenly. For example, in wool-polyester blending, drawing makes the distribution of wool and polyester fibers more uniform.
- Roving: Draw and twist the sliver to make a roving with certain strength and package, preparing for the spinning process.
- Spinning: Further draw and twist the roving to spin fine yarn that meets the requirements. For example, in the blending of nylon and cotton, the spinning process determines the strength and hand feel of the final yarn.
Weaving Process
- Woven Fabric Weaving
- Warping: Wind a certain number of warp yarns parallelly on the warp beam according to the specified length and width, so that the warp yarns have uniform tension. For example, when producing polyester-cotton blended shirt fabric, warping ensures the warp yarns are neatly arranged.
- Sizing: Size the warp yarns to improve their weavability and reduce breakage during weaving. For example, when weaving high-count blended fabrics, sizing can effectively protect the warp yarns.
- Drawing-in: Thread the warp yarns on the warp beam through the drop wires, heddles, and reed according to a certain rule, so as to form a shed during weaving and introduce the weft yarn.
- Weaving: Interlace the warp and weft yarns through a loom to form a woven fabric. Common weaves include plain weave, which has many interlacing points, and the fabric is stiff, wear-resistant, such as common plain weave polyester-cotton fabric; twill weave, the fabric has a soft hand feel and good luster, like twill wool-polyester blended suit fabric; satin weave, the fabric surface is smooth and shiny, often used for making high-end clothing fabrics.
- Knitting
- Weft Knitting: Feed one or several yarns in the weft direction of the knitting machine, bend them into loops in sequence and interlock them to form a knitted fabric. Common weft knitting structures include single jersey, rib, purl, etc. For example, the underwear made of cotton and spandex blended fabric by weft knitting process has good elasticity and fit.
- Warp Knitting: Use one or several groups of parallel arranged yarns, feed them into all the working needles of the knitting machine in the warp direction, and form loops simultaneously to form a knitted fabric. Warp knitted fabrics are often used in sportswear, lace fabrics, etc. For example, the warp knitted polyester and spandex blended fabric commonly used in sportswear has both elasticity and stability.
Dyeing and Finishing Process
- Scouring and Bleaching: Remove impurities, oil stains, etc. from the fabric, improve the whiteness and wettability of the fabric, and create good conditions for dyeing and printing. For example, for cotton and chemical fiber blended fabrics, scouring and bleaching can remove the natural impurities on cotton fibers and the oil agents on the surface of chemical fibers.
- Dyeing: Immerse the fabric in the dye solution, so that the dye combines with the fibers physically or chemically, so that the fabric obtains the required color. Common dyeing methods include dip dyeing, which is suitable for small-batch and multi-variety dyeing; pad dyeing, which is suitable for large-batch continuous dyeing. For example, when dyeing polyester-cotton blended fabric blue, the appropriate dyeing method can be selected according to the characteristics of the dye and the requirements of the fabric.
- Printing: Print various colored patterns on the fabric through printing equipment. Common printing processes include screen printing, which has a low cost and is suitable for various fabrics; roller printing, which has high production efficiency and high pattern accuracy; digital printing, which can achieve high-precision and personalized pattern printing. For example, when printing flower patterns on blended chemical fiber fabrics, different printing processes can be selected according to design requirements.
- Finishing
- Physical and Mechanical Finishing: Improve the appearance and hand feel of the fabric through processes such as stenter setting, calendering, raising, and sueding. For example, calendering the wool-polyester blended fabric can improve the luster of the fabric; sueding the cotton and chemical fiber blended fabric can make the fabric feel softer.
- Chemical Finishing: Impart special functions to the fabric by applying chemical finishing agents, such as anti-wrinkle finishing to make the fabric have good anti-wrinkle properties; waterproof finishing to make the fabric have waterproof function; antibacterial finishing to make the fabric have antibacterial and deodorant properties. For example, the blended fabrics commonly used in outdoor clothing will be treated with waterproof and windproof finishes.
