Abstract

For an end consumer of denim garments, the most important factors are performance and comfort after few aesthetic factors such as appearance and fashion appeal. For stretchable denim fabric, the fit related comfort lies in ability of the fabric to be stretched and recover when a repeated load is applied due to body movements without any permanent set called bagging. In this study, the interactive effect of twist multiplier of weft yarn, denier elastane fibre and fabric areal density on performance of denim fabric was investigated. The denier of elastane fibre used with weft yarn of three different twist multiplier- 4.9, 5.2 and 5.5, is changed as 40D, 55D and 70D. The areal density of fabric is changed through change in picks per inch as 50, 55 and 60. Performance was analysed on the basis of results of breaking strength, breaking elongation and cyclic loading stretch properties. The test results revealed that the tensile strength and breaking elongation properties of denim fabric, for both before and after cyclic loading are in the same trend, but after cyclic loading due to fatigue behaviour, tensile strength and breaking elongation was reduced. The breaking elongation increased as lycra content increases in the fabric and with increase in lycra content percentage, tensile strength was decreased slightly

Keywords: Comfort; Performance; Denim; Elastane content; Areal density; Stretch; Recovery; Breaking strength; Twist multiplier