Effect of laundering on the dimensional stability and distortion of knitted fabrics

Three popular 100% cotton knitted fabrics, (plain single-jersey, 1x1 rib and interlock) were subjected to five cycles of four different washing and drying regimes. This was in order to investigate the effect of laundering with detergent as opposed to water, and tumble drying against line drying. The main aim of this work was to systematically investigate the effect of the principal washing and drying variables on the dimensional stability and distortion of knitted fabrics. The work demonstrated that changes occurring after laundering were largely due to alterations in the loop shape, rather than yarn or loop length shrinkage. The fabrics had taken up their fully relaxed dimensions after five wash and dry cycles and appropriate conditions for laundering had been applied, as no significant yarn stitch length or linear density changes occurred. Further research work was conducted to investigate and thus isolate the area of the laundering cycle causing the most dimensional changes and distortion in knitted fabrics. Three 100% cotton knitted fabrics, plain single-jersey, lacoste and interlock, were investigated during this stage of research. These fabrics were subjected to five cycles of different washing and drying regimes which isolated the wash, rinse, spin, agitation during drying and the effect of heat during drying. The work demonstrated that changes occurring after laundering were largely caused due to the agitation during tumble drying. The agitation was found to have caused 34% of the changes during laundering, followed by the spin cycle during washing, which caused 24% of the dimensional changes and distortion.