DISCUSSION

Crimp occurs due to the interlacing of warps and wefts. In the process the yarns
inevitably will have to bend taking up a greater length than that of the final woven
fabric. The additional length of yarn taken as a percentage of the visible yarn length is
given as the crimp percentage.
Generally the warp yarns will show a lesser crimp than the weft yarn. This is due to the
fact that warp yarns are kept under tension than the weft yarns during the process of
weaving. Furthermore they are also generally stronger than the wefts and show lesser
tendency for crimping.
The calculated GSM and the measured GSM of the fabric show a significant difference in
the above scenario. This can happen due to several reasons.
The force we put to straighten the yarn is a general value for a range. Therefore we
cannot assure that the un-crimped length we read is exactly the correct value. It can be
greater than or lesser than the actual length.
Care should also be taken not to insert too much of the yarn in to the gripper because if
not a large amount of crimp inside the gripper is not taken into account for the reading.
A consistent length of the yarn should be entered into it so as to generalize the effect of
the unmeasured portion to all yarns.
In the beginning of the practical it is also assumed that all ends are identical and all picks
are identical. This is the basis to take the same tension for all yarns. The crimp
percentage on which the GSM calculation is based also assumes that all yarns are
crimped at the same level.
Furthermore human errors can also largely contribute to this discrepancy. Errors can
occur in reading values, cutting the sample etc.