Study on Two-For-One Twisting (TFO)

By: D.Shanmuganandam
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Study on Two-For-One Twisting (TFO)

By: D.Shanmuganandam, Assistant Director The South India Textile Research Association, Coimbatore 641 014

1. Introduction The process of twisting is an indispensable means of improving certain yarn properties and satisfying textile requirements that cannot be fulfilled by the single yarns. The method of twisting two or more single yarns is called doubling or folding or ply twisting. Such yarns are designated as doubled yarn, folded yarn or plied yarn and the machines intended for the purpose are called doublers, ply-twisters or two-for-one (TFO) twisters. Traditionally, ring doublers were used for ply twisting spun yarns and uptwisters were used for twisting filament yarns. Now-a-days, TFO twisters are gaining world-wide acceptance in both spun yarn and filament yarn sectors mainly because of their inherent advantages like (1) production of long length of knot free yarns which facilitates better performance in the subsequent processes and (2) higher productivity. Presently, over 4 lakh TFO twisting positions are working in India. However, not much information about the working performance of TFO twisters particularly with regard to production parameters, process sequence, yarn quality, etc. are readily available. Hence, SITRA conducted an inter-mill study on the performance of TFO twisters, in which 100 mills participated. This paper deals with count-wise production particulars like spindle speed, tpi and production per spindle. Some other important operational parameters like improvement in yarn quality, type of spindle drive, delivery package weight and feed package weight ratio, doubled yarn twist and single yarn twist ratio, etc. are also covered in the paper. 2. Profile of the participant mills Table 1 gives the profile of the 100 mills which have participated in the study. Table 1 Profile of the participant mills Type of mill EOUs Exporting mills 100% cotton yarn 100% non-cotton yarn No. of mills 10 80 65 12 Location Tamil Nadu Other southern States Other regions No. of mills 45 15 40

Of the total mills, 60% are from southern region; predominantly from Tamil Nadu (45%). It is significant that a large number of up-country mills has participated in the study. Nearly two-thirds of the mills manufactured cotton yarns and 12% produced non-cotton yarns like polyester, viscose, P/V blends, etc. 3. Salient features of TFO twisters working in the participant mills a) Type of TFO twister and spindles per machine Of the 1440 TFO twisters working in the participant mills, about 70% of them are indigenous makes. Nearly 70% of the mills have exclusively indigenous make machines and one-eighth have only imported machines; the remaining are with both the types. The number of TFO twisters working per mill ranges from as low as 1 to a high of 84, the average being 14 per mill. The number of spindles per TFO twister varies very widely from 88 to 280. In the case of indigenous machines, the spindles per twister range between 108 and 216; more popular size being 144 spindles. 2

b) Counts and varieties of yarns manufactured The participant mills produced as many as 152 different counts (6/6s to 2/102s) and varieties of yarns such as combed, warp, hosiery, blended (P/V & P/C), polyester, viscose and acrylic. Of the total counts manufactured, slightly over one-half are cotton yarns while polyester blended yarns account for about one-fourth. Number of plies ranges from 2 to 6 in cotton counts. c) Twist direction Normally, folded yarns have the doubling twist in the opposite direction to the spinning twist, ie direction of twist in ring yarn is Z and direction of doubled yarn twist is S. However, for special applications, there are yarns with twist on twist, with the folding twist in the same direction as the spinning twist, say Z on Z. In this study, except 3 cases, all the folded yarns produced are with S on Z twist direction. d) Types of spindle drive Generally, TFO twisters are working with the following two types of spindle drive arrangements. i) Tangential belt drive Using one single long belt to drive all the spindles through a centralized tensioning arrangement. ii) Four spindle tape drive Of the 1440 TFO twisters covered in the study, nearly two-thirds are working with 4 spindle tape drive while the remaining are with tangential belt drive. Indigenous manufacturers largely use 4 spindle tape drive system while almost the entire imported machines are with tangential belt drive system. e) Size of protection pot The basic requirement of TFO twisters is to house a cylindrical stationary feed package and provide support at the time of unwinding of yarn from the package during working. For this purpose, yarns require a protection pot around the package. The main objectives of providing protection pot are to: protect the feed package from damage facilitate start-up of the balloon separate the balloon and the feed yarn to avoid abrasion and protect the feed yarn from dust and fly

Normally, the diameter of the protection pot depends on the diameter of the feed package. Closer the internal diameter of the protection pot to outside diameter of the feed package, the space utilisation percentage for the particular type of machine is higher. Analysis of the data regarding the protection pot diameter shows that pot sizes used by the mills range from 120 mm to 220 mm. Slightly more than one-half of the TFO twisters used 150 mm diameter pots to produce wide range of counts (2/10s to 2/102s) and materials (Cotton, P/V, P, P/C & VSF). The next popular pot size is 140 145 mm (20% twisters). 4. Process sequence Process sequence followed by the mills in TFO twisting depends largely on the twisted yarn quality requirement of the customers. The mills participated in the study follow as many as 8 different sequences of preparatory and post TFO processes in the case of ring yarns and 2 different processes for OE yarns (Table 2).

Table 2 Process sequence followed by the mills in TFO twisting Process sequence I. Popular sequences A. Ring spinning - auto winding - doubler winding winding Packing B. C. Ring spinning - auto winding - doubler winding - TFO - packing Ring spinning conv.cone winding doubler winding TFO conv.cone winding packing D. Ring spinning conv.cone winding doubler winding TFO packing 14 36 7 TFO - conv.cone 36 % mills

II. Other sequences E. F. G . H. Ring spinning doubler winding TFO conv.cone winding - packing Ring spinning doubler winding TFO packing Ring spinning conv.cone winding doubler winding - TFO reeling packing Ring spinning auto winding doubler winding - TFO singeing conv.cone winding - packing I. J. K. OE spinning doubler winding TFO packing OE spinning conv.cone winding - doubler winding TFO packing Air-jet spinning (MTS) TFO - packing 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Of the 8 process sequences for ring yarns, 2 processes, viz A and B are followed by nearly three-fourths of the mills. Since TFO twisted yarns are generally produced as premium yarns for manufacturing high value fabrics, these mills (A and B processes) use automatic cone winders to clear the defects in ring yarns electronically and join the broken ends by splicing. Another one-fifth of the mills use conventional cone winders to clear the defects in ring yarns. Nearly 55% of the mills directly market the TFO packages while the remaining mills rewind them using conventional cone winders. The rewinding is done for the following requirements: to clear the package defects as well as yarn defects, more particularly untwisted yarns and knots. to produce spliced yarns instead of knots as demanded by some customers. to obtain compact packages.

Further analysis reveals that one-tenth of the mills follow more than one process sequence. Moreover, the four popular sequences, viz A, B, C and D are being used for all types of materials (cotton, P/V, P/C and polyester).

5. Balance of twist (D/S ratio) For a yarn to show good balance, the ply twist must be in the opposite direction to the single twist (S/Z). The twist balance can be achieved by the selection of proper ply twist to contract the single twist and it should be effective over a wide range of humidities and types of processing. D/S ratio of major counts The D/S ratios (D = doubled yarn twist; S= single yarn twist) furnished by the mills were analysed and the consolidated results are given below. D/S ratio Type of yarn OE cotton yarn Ring yarn Cotton Polyester/cotton Polyester/viscose 0.72 0.78 0.97 Avg. D/S ratio 0.64

Average D/S ratio of cotton ring yarns is about 0.7, which corresponds to that normally expected value for good balancing. However, the ratio is found to vary very widely between mills in different counts of the order of 22%. In the case of cotton OE yarns, the D/S ratio is somewhat low at about 0.65. In the polyester viscose blended yarns, the average D/S ratio is 0.97, ranging from 0.91 to 1.01 between counts. The almost unity ratio used in polyester viscose blended yarns, ie single twist and ply twist are equal, leads to high strength. This is because a fibre arrangement that is nearly parallel to the yarn axis makes maximum use of the inherent fibre strength. The D/S ratio of polyester cotton blended yarns is, however, about 20% lower than the P/V yarns at 0.78. 6. Delivery package weight and feed package weight ratio Feed package weight An ideal feed package for TFO twister is parallel wound cylindrical package called cheese. In the doubler/assembly winding process, two or more single yarns from cones are wound as cheese. This ensures parallelity of the feed yarns before entering into the tension zone/twisting zone of TFO twister and thereby enables proper twisting. If, however, two single end cheeses are directly used as feed packages in TFO twister, snarling may take place. None of the mills participated in the study directly feed two superimposed single end packages to TFO spindles. Weight of the feed package is normally decided by 1) delivery package weight and 2) pot diameter of the TFO twister Table 3 shows the delivery package weight, feed package weight and their ratios in some major counts.

Table 3 Delivery package weight and feed package weight ratio Feed package weight (g) Min. 2/10s OE 2/20s 2/30s Ex 2/36s C-Ex 2/40s C 2/40s C-Ex 2/50s C-Ex 2/56s C-Ex 2/60s C-Ex 2/74s C-Ex 2/80s C-Ex 2/15s P/V 2/30s P/V 2/40s P/V 945 630 633 938 625 600 630 565 475 565 475 900 900 750 1700 1000 945 1000 945 945 945 950 950 1890 945 1600 1475 1000 1349 853 820 957 802 870 768 844 727 848 659 1244 1039 908 900 945 945 945 945 630 900 630/945 630/900 630/800 900/1000 900 1250 750 633 1000 1250 1630 1890 900 945 600 945 1600 1800 1500 3300 2000 2750 1890 2433 2550 2100 2000 2000 2000 1900 2950 2950 2000 2113 1675 1691 1664 1822 1871 1932 1706 1793 1697 1658 2138 2242 1800 1800 1890 1890 1890 1890 1890 1890 1890 1890 1890 2000 2000 2000 0.83 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.67 2.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 2.00 1.67 2.12 3.00 3.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 4.00 2.22 2.81 2.22 1.57 1.96 2.06 1.74 2.27 2.15 2.52 2.02 2.47 2.00 2.52 1.72 2.16 1.98 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 Max. Avg. Mode Delivery package weight (g) Min. Max. Avg. Mode Delivery/feed package ratio Min. Max. Avg. Mode

Count

It can be seen that the weight of the feed package varies very widely between mills in all the counts, ranging from 475 g to 1890 g. In cotton counts up to 2/40s, the most popularly used feed package weight is 945 g and in finer counts it ranges from 630 g to 945 g. The popular feed package weight in the case of polyester viscose blended yarns is 900 g. Delivery package weight To avoid knots due to feed package replacement, it is generally desirable to produce the final package from one feed package. However, in practice in order to reduce energy and capital costs, one final package is produced from 2 or 3 feed packages, though additional knots are inevitable. Further, some mills are rewinding the TFO yarn in order to remove these additional knots with splicing. Decisive parameters of a package are i) traverse length, ii) package diameter iii) taper length, iv) overall weight, v) density, vi) yarn crossing angle and vii) hardness. The primary requirements are i) smooth unwinding at continuous or intermittent high speed and ii) even dyeliquor penetration. TFO twisting machines can be adopted to produce either cylindrical or conical packages by adjusting the inclination of the cradle. In cotton counts, the weight of take-up package ranges from 600 g to 3300 g, the popular weight being 1890 g and in the case of P/V blended yarns, the popular weight is 2000 g 6

Ratio of delivery package weight and feed package weight Slightly more than one-half of the mills maintain 1:2 ratio, ie to produce one delivery package, two feed packages of equal weights are used (Figure 1). About one-sixth of the mills follow 1:3 ratio. Only one-eighth of the mills are found to use 1:1 ratio while 4% mills follow 1:4 ratio. By following a specific ratio of delivery package weight and feed package weight, mills can minimise the yarn waste due to left over residual yarn in feed package. It may be noted that another one-tenth of the mills do not follow any specific ratio. These mills, either impart additional knots or waste more yarn.

1:2 1:1

Others

1:3

Figure 1 % mills following different delivery package weight to feed package weight ratio 7. Production per spindle Production rate in TFO twister is a function of spindle speed, tpi and machine efficiency. Table 4 gives the average production rate achieved by the mills in some major counts along with the corresponding spindle speed, tpi and machine efficiency. Table 4 Count-wise average spindle speed, tpi, machine efficiency and production rate in TFO twisting Count 2/20s 2/30s 2/40s C 2/50s C-Ex 2/56s C-Ex 2/60s C-Ex 2/74s C-Ex 2/80s C-Ex 2/30s P/C 2/15s P/V 2/30s P/V 2/40s P/V 2/10s OE Spindle speed (rpm) 8880 9480 10500 10660 10630 10750 10700 10950 9890 8300 10000 9600 6970 Tpi 13.4 16.0 19.0 20.7 21.4 21.7 25.0 24.9 15.2 10.8 15.9 17.2 10.2 Machine effy.(%) 95 93 93 95 94 96 95 96 93 93 95 94 88 Prodn./spl./ 8 hrs. (g) 907 527 371 281 241 228 158 152 584 1376 575 376 1723

The overall production rate is about 900 g per spindle per 8 hours in 2/20s, 370 g in 2/40s C, 230 g in 2/60s C and 150 g in 2/80s C counts. The average spindle speed in coarse counts such as 2/20s and 2/30s is about 9000 rpm whereas in 2/40s and above it ranges from 10000 rpm to 11000 rpm. In 10s OE, the average speed is somewhat low at 7000 rpm. In polyester blended yarns, the speed varies from 8300 rpm (2/15s P/V) to 10000 rpm (2/30s P/V). The average machine efficiency reported by the mills in different counts is well over 90%, ie ranging between 93% and 96% (except 2/10s OE). Standard production rates Based on the data furnished by the mills, tentative standard production rates for some major counts have been fixed. Table 5 shows the standard production rates and the corresponding spindle speed, tpi and machine efficiency. Table 5 Tentative standard production rates in TFO twisters Count 2/10s OE 2/20s 2/30s 2/40s 2.40s C 2/50s C 2/60s C 2/80s C 2/30s P/C 2/15s P/V 2/30s P/V 2/40s P/V Spindle speed (rpm) 7000 10000 10500 10500 11500 11500 11500 11500 11000 9500 11000 11000 Tpi 9.2 13.0 16.0 21.0 17.9 19.3 20.2 23.5 15.4 11.0 15.7 18.0 Machine efficiency (%) 91 95 95 95 95 95 96 96 95 94 95 95 Prodn./spl./ 8 hrs. (g) 1994 1052 599 342 439 326 262 169 651 1559 639 418

8. Improvement in yarn quality due to twisting The main objective of ply twisting is to improve the evenness, strength and elongation, lusture, smoothness and abrasion resistance at yarn stage and to obtain increased stability against wear, improvement to fabric cover and visual appearance at fabric stage. Generally, the user of doubled yarns rarely needs all these properties to be fulfilled at a time. He may look for one or two of these improvements in the folded yarns. Yarn quality particulars for both single yarn and doubled yarn furnished by the mills were analysed and the consolidated results are given in Table 6 for some major counts. Table 6 Improvement in yarn quality due to TFO twisting a) CSP, count CV%, U% and imperfections CSP Count Cotton carded yarn 2/20s 2/20s Ex 2/24s 2/30s Ex Average Cotton combed yarn 2/40s C Count CV% Double yarn 1.51 1.62 1.44 1.60 1.54 1.33 8 U% Single yarn 12.1 11.4 12.6 12.6 12.2 10.5 Double yarn 8.9 8.8 9.5 8.5 8.9 7.9 Total imperfections/km Single Double yarn yarn 385 278 594 672 482 161 20 17 43 44 31 21

Single Double Single yarn yarn yarn 1890 2250 2100 2520 2190 2690 2030 2470 2260 2830 2400 3040 1.60 1.84 1.55 1.98 1.74 1.73

2/40s C-Ex 2/50s C-Ex 2/56s C-Ex 2/60s C-Ex 2/74s C-Ex 2/80s C-Ex Average Blended yarn 2/15s P/V 2/30s P/V 2/40s P/V Average

2660 2760 2850 2710 2970 3120 2820 5080 4650 4300 4680

3050 3230 3300 3080 3510 3580 3260 5410 5180 4910 5170

1.57 1.34 1.61 1.43 1.69 1.50 1.55 1.81 1.64 2.09 1.85

1.28 1.00 1.29 1.19 1.51 1.17 1.25 1.48 1.44 1.64 1.52

10.4 10.5 11.0 11.2 11.9 12.2 11.1 8.0 10.1 11.2 9.8

7.6 7.8 8.0 8.0 8.6 8.6 8.1 6.5 7.7 8.6 7.6

127 126 190 210 320 347 212 24 54 127 68

12 13 16 17 31 30 20 7 16 22 15

b) Single yarn strength, elongation and their variation

Count Cotton combed yarn 2/40s C 2/40s C-Ex 2/50s C-Ex 2/56s C-Ex 2/60s C-Ex 2/74s C-Ex 2/80s C-Ex Average Blended yarn 2/15s P/V 2/30s P/V 2/40s P/V Average

Single yarn Single yarn strength (g) strength CV% Single Double Single Double yarn yarn yarn yarn 264 260 219 191 175 153 145 201 592 422 507 561 559 460 391 375 333 328 430 1232 892 1062 7.8 8.1 8.5 9.0 9.4 10.1 10.1 9.0 7.4 7.9 9.2 8.2 6.0 6.2 6.5 6.7 6.9 7.5 7.6 6.8 5.7 5.3 7.4 6.1

Elongation at break (%) Single Double yarn yarn 4.3 4.5 4.8 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.4 13.4 12.1 11.1 12.2 4.8 5.1 5.0 5.0 4.7 4.7 5.0 4.9 14.1 13.2 12.4 13.2

Elongation CV% Single Double yarn yarn 8.8 7.8 8.9 9.6 10.3 10.6 9.6 9.4 5.2 6.5 7.6 6.4 6.5 5.5 6.8 6.3 6.2 7.7 6.7 6.5 4.5 4.6 5.9 5.0

Note: The above quality particulars were not furnished by the mills for cotton carded counts. CSP Twisting process has improved the lea CSP of ply yarns by about 10% in the case of carded cotton counts (2/20s to 2/30s) and polyester/viscose blended counts (2/15s to 2/40s). Cotton combed yarns (2/40s to 2/80s), however, registered about 15% increase in CSP. Count CV% It is generally expected that the twisting process would improve the count CV%. The cotton carded yarns registered about 12% drop in count CV%, ie from 1.74 in single yarns to 1.54 in doubled yarns. Cotton combed yarns and polyester viscose blended yarns, however, witnessed a substantial drop of about 20%. The count CV% of cotton combed doubled yarns averaged 1.25 whereas the corresponding value for single yarn is 1.55. Yarn unevenness and imperfections Doubling process has improved the evenness by about 25% in all the three varieties of yarns compared to the corresponding single yarns. The U% of the doubled yarns is around 9 in cotton carded counts, 8 in cotton combed counts and 7.5 in P/V blended counts.

Total imperfections per km registered a substantial reduction of 90% to 95% in the case of cotton folded yarns and around 80% in P/V blended folded yarns. The imperfections in doubled yarns averaged about 30 per km in cotton carded counts, 20 per km in cotton combed counts and 15 per km in polyester viscose blended counts. Such a low imperfections level would improve the visual appearance of the fabrics significantly. Single yarn strength Doubling process has increased the single yarn strength of folded yarns by about 110% in both cotton and polyester viscose blended counts. The average strength of cotton combed single yarns is about 200 g, ranging from 265 g in 40s to 145 g in 80s. The average strength of doubled yarns has increased to 430 g, recording an improvement of around 110%. In the case of polyester viscose blended yarns, the single yarn strength is about 590 g in 30s and 420 g in 40s counts. After TFO twisting, the strength increased to 1230 g in 2/30s and 890 g in 2/40s, thus registering an increase of 110%. Elongation at break Elongation is one of the important properties of yarn from weavability point of view. The average elongation of cotton combed yarns ranges from 4.2% to 4.8% for single yarns and from 4.7% to 5.1% for doubled yarns. On the whole, the elongation of doubled yarns is about 10% higher than the corresponding single yarns. In the case of polyester/viscose blended yarns, the elongation averaged 12.2% in single yarns and 13.2% in doubled yarns, thus recording an increase of about 8%. CV% of single yarn strength and elongation The CV% of single yarn strength of folded yarns (for both cotton and polyester/viscose blend) is about 25% lower than the corresponding single yarn strength variation. In the case of elongation of doubled yarns, the CV% is about 30% lower in cotton combed yarns and 20% lower in polyester viscose blended yarns. Since doubling equalises and compensates single yarn defects such as weak spots and thin/thick places, ply twisting results in increased tenacity and elongation and reduced their coefficient of variation. Acknowledgement The author wishes to place on record his grateful thanks to all the 100 mills for providing data relating to TFO twisting. He expresses his sincere thanks to Dr.Arindam Basu, Director, SITRA and Ms.Indra Doraiswamy, Advisor, SITRA for their guidance at various stages of this work. His thanks are also due to the staff of Liaison and Consultation Division, SITRA for their help towards the compilation and analysis of data. References 1. Chellamani K.P. 1997. Two-for-one twisting, SITRA focus, 15 (3) 2. Kulkarni H.S. and Sreenivasamurthy H.V. 1992 Two-for-one technology & technique for spun yarn, Tecoya publication 3. Lorenz RRC. 1987. Yarn-twisting, Textile Progress, 16 (1/2) 4. Oxtoby.E. 1989 Spun yarn technology, Butter worth publication Source: SITRA The south Indian Textile Research Association, P.B.No.: 3205, Coimbatore Aerodrome Post, Tamil nadu, India. Coimbatore - 641 014, Phone : 91 - 422 - 2574367-9, Fax : 91 - 422 - 2571896, Email : sitra@vsnl.com 10

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