13.

Fundamentals of Yarn Technology

Xungai Wang

Learning objectives
On completion of this topic you should be able to:

• understand the definitions for different yarn count systems

• know the conversion between yarn counts
• appreciate the effect of moisture on yarn count results
• understand the effect of twist on certain yarn and fabric properties
• appreciate the importance of surface twist angle and of selecting the right twist factor for
different yarns
• know how to calculate the twist contraction
• know the basic rules that apply to twist measurements

Key terms and concepts

Yarn definition, Yarn types, Direct and indirect yarn count systems, Twist and its effect on yarn
strength, Relationship between twist, twist factor and yarn count, Twist concentration and
contraction, Twist-untwist method

Introduction to the topic

A yarn is a relatively strong and flexible assembly of fibres or filaments with or without twist. It is
an important intermediate product between fibres and fabrics. The inter-relationships between
the structure and properties of fibres, yarns, and fabrics are illustrated in Figure 13.1.

Figure 13.1 Interrelations of fibres, yarns, and fabric structure and properties.
Source: Wang (2000).

Yarn technology deals with the manufacture of various types of yarns consisting of different
fibres and fibre arrangements, and the properties of these yarns. The fundamentals of yarn
technology cover basic topics on yarn count, twist, yarn structures, and yarn types.

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13.1 Yarn types and structures
Many different types of yarn can be manufactured for different end uses. The two most common
types of yarn are staple spun yarn and continuous filament yarn.

A staple spun yarn, also known as staple yarn or spun yarn, is made from staple fibres, i.e.
fibres of limited and relatively short length. Staple fibres may be divided into two categories,
namely, short and long staples. Short staple refers to fibres of less than about 2 inches long,
whereas long staple describes those longer than about 2 inches. Natural fibres such as cotton
and wool are typical examples of short staple and long staple respectively. Manufactured
filaments can be cut or stretch-broken into short lengths to become either short staple or long
staple fibres.

A continuous filament yarn is normally produced in a chemical plant. It is a yarn composed of

one or more filaments that run essentially the whole length of the yarn. If there is only one
filament in the yarn, then it is called a mono-filament yarn. A multi-filament yarn consists of
many filaments.

Most yarns are used in singles or plied forms.

A singles yarn is the simplest continuous strand of textile material, either as a single staple spun
yarn, a mono or multi-filament yarn, or a composite yarn consisting of staple fibres and
continuous filaments. A plied yarn is formed by twisting together two or more singles yarns. A
cable and cord yarn consists of many plied yarns (or plied and single yarns) twisted together.

A graphical depiction of the various forms of yarn structures is given in Figure 13.2.

Figure 13.2 A sketch of different types of yarns. Source: Wang (2000).

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13.2 Yarn count
Yarns are manufactured in different sizes for different purposes. They can be quite thick, or they
can be very thin. Since by their very nature textile yarns are soft and squashy, the ‘thickness’ of
a yarn can not be easily measured by yarn diameter. But textile yarns are often sold on a weight
basis, so it is natural to express the size of a yarn in terms of its weight or mass. The two basic
ways of doing this are by indicating either how much a given length of yarn weighs (the direct
system) or what the length of yarn will be in a given weight (the indirect system). These two
broad yarn count systems are expressed below:

Weight of yarn
Direct yarn count = ,
Given length

Length of yarn
Indirect yarn count =
Given weight

Because a textile yarn is usually a very slender assembly of tiny fibres, it is conceivable that the
weight of a yarn in a given length will be very small while the length of a yarn in a given weight
will be quite large. Consequently, the yarn count figures would get either incredibly small (direct
system) or large (indirect system) unless special units are used. Over the years, many different
units have been used in different sectors of the textile industry. The commonly used ones are
described in the following sections.

Direct count system

The direct systems are based on the weight or mass per unit length of yarn. Some typical direct
systems are given below, together with their definitions. Please note that while the weight unit is
gram, different lengths are used in the definitions.

Tex (g/1000m)
This is the mass in gram of one kilometre, or 1,000 metres, of the product.

If one thousand meters of yarn weigh 20 grams or one hundred meters of the yarn weigh 2
grams, the yarn would be 20 tex. On the other hand, if 100 metres of yarn weigh 5 grams, then
the count of the yarn will be 50 tex.

Dtex (g/10,000m)
This is called deci-tex. It is the mass in gram of ten kilometre, or 10,000 metres, of the product.
It is a smaller unit than tex (1 tex = 10 dtex), and is usually used for fibres and filament yarns.

A 167 dtex polyester filament would weigh 167 grams for every 10,000 meters of the filament.

Ktex (g/m)
This is called kilo-tex. It is the mass in gram of one metre of the product. It is a much larger unit
than tex (1 ktex = 1,000 tex), and is usually used for heavy products such as slivers.

If a sliver weighs 5 grams per metre, then the count of this sliver would be 5 ktex.

The tex system (tex, ktex, dtex) is the preferred standard system. By definition,

1 ktex = 1,000 tex = 10,000 dtex

Denier (g/9,000m)
Denier is also used extensively in the industry, particularly for manufactured fibres and silk. It is
the mass in gram of nine kilometres, or 9,000 metres, of the product.

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By definition,

1 dtex = 0.9 denier

If a 300 denier yarn is made up of 1.5 denier individual filaments, there will be a total number of
300
= 200filaments in the yarn.
1.5

Indirect count system

Indirect count systems are not as straightforward as the direct ones. In the early history of yarn
manufacture, different spinners, often geographically and culturally isolated from one another,
devised their own ways of measuring yarn thickness. Consequently, there are numerous
indirect count systems that have been, and continue to be, used in the industry. Some
examples are given below, together with the mass and length conversions:

Commonly used
- Metric (Nm) m/g
- English Cotton (Nec) No. of 840 yard hanks per pound
- Worsted (Nw) No. of 560 yard hanks per pound

The metric count (Nm) is relatively straightforward. It is the length in metre of one gram of the
product. For example, if one gram of yarn measures 40 metres, then the metric count of this
yarn would be 40 Nm.

Similarly, if one pound of cotton yarn measures 1,680 yards, or two hanks of 840 yards, the
English cotton count of this yarn will be 2 Nec. Please note that a hank of yarn is an unsupported
coil consisting of wraps of yarn of a certain length.

The conversions between different units will be discussed later.

You may wonder how the strange length units such as 840 yard hank and 560 yard hank came
about. The first mass-production spinner – the spinning-jenny was able to spin yarns
simultaneously onto several bobbins and filled the bobbins up at the same time. The bobbins
were changed after 840 yards of cotton yarns were wound onto them. To estimate the thickness
of the yarns, the spinner simply counted how many full bobbins were needed to balance a
weight of one pound. For example, if 6 bobbins were needed to make up one pound, the yarn
would be called a 6s yarn. Similarly a 20s worsted yarn means one pound of this yarn would fill
up 20 bobbins, each with 560 yards of yarn wound on.

Yarn count conversion

It is often necessary to make conversions between different yarn count systems. For this
purpose, the following mass (weight) and length conversions are needed:
1 yard (yd) = 0.9144 m
1 pound (lb) = 0.4536 kg
1 ounce (oz) = 1/16 lb
1 dram 9dr) = 1/16 oz
1 grain (gr) = 1/7000 lb

Worked Examples

Question:
What is the conversion factor between worsted count (Nw) and tex ?

Solution:
According to definition, one worsted count (Nw) = one 560 yard hank per pound, or

1 × 560 yard
1 Nw =
pound

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Since 1 yard (yd) = 0.9144 m and 1 pound (lb) = 0.4536 kg, the above equation becomes,

1 × 560 × 0.9144 m 512.064 m 1.12892 m

1 Nw = = =
453.6 g 453.6 g g
Therefore, for a yarn of Nw worsted count, each gram of this yarn would measure 1.12892
times Nw meters. Since tex is the mass in gram of a 1,000 meters of yarn, we need the number
of grams in 1000 m of the yarn.

1000 885.8
No of grams per 1000 m (tex ) = =
1.12892 Nw Nw

885.8
The above equation can also be written as: Nw =
tex
So the conversion factor is 885.5.

Question:
If a yarn is 20 tex, what is the worsted count of this yarn?

Answer:
Using the conversion factor given above, the worsted yarn count is:

885.8
= 44.3 Nw .
20
Conversion between other count systems can be worked out in a similar way. Table 13.1 lists
commonly used conversion factors. You may try to work them out yourself.

Table 13.1 Factors for yarn count conversion. Source: Wang, 2006.
DIRECT COUNT INDIRECT COUNT
To Tex To Denier To Metric To Worsted Count
Count (Nm) (Nw)
From Tex 9 × Tex 1000 885.8
Tex Tex
From Denier 0.111× denier 9000 7972
denier denier
From Metric 1000 9000 0.8858 × Nm
count (Nm)
Nm Nm
From Cotton 590.5 5135 1.693 × Nec 1.5 × Nec
count (Nec)
Nec Ne
From Worsted 885.8 7972 1.129 × Nw
count (Nw) Nw Nw

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 Yarn count and moisture content
Regardless of the yarn count system used, it is necessary to measure the weight and length of
a yarn in order to determine its count. But most fibres, particularly natural fibres such as wool,
absorb moisture from atmosphere. The weight of the yarn will be different at different moisture
level. The water content in textiles can be expressed as either moisture content or as regain.
Their definitions are:

Mass of absorbed water in specimen (W )

Re gain ( R) = ×100
Mass of dry specimen ( D)
Mass of absorbed water in specimem (W )
Moisture content (M ) = ×100
Mass of original undried specimen (W + D)
From these definitions, the conversion between regain (R) and moisture content (M) can be
worked out according to the equation below:
R
M=
1+ R
In commercial transactions, the mass to invoice is worked out on the basis of an agreed
conventional regain level, not on the actual regain of the yarns (or other textiles) being traded.
This is very important. Because, in the absence of an agreed conventional regain level, smart
sellers may take advantage of the moisture absorption property of their textiles and rip the
buyers off with large quantity of water in their products. The conventional regain levels, to be
used for calculation of the legal commercial mass, have been established by national or
international standards. These commercial regain values are purely arbitrary values arrived at
for commercial purposes for interested parties, and they often vary from fibre to fibre and from
country to country. In Australia, the conventional regain rates for some fibres are given in Table
13.2.

Table 13.2 Conventional regain rate for selected fibres. Source: Wang, 2006.
Fibre Conventional regain (%)
Wool and hair fibres
• Combed (worsted) 18.25
• Carded (woollens) 17

Silk 11

Polyester
• Staple fibre
• Continuous filament
1.5
1.5

Conditioning the whole lot of yarns or other textile materials to the conventional regain rates
given above is not practical, because of the time required etc. In calculating the commercial
mass to invoice for a lot, the following procedures are often followed:

(1) Extract a sample of mass (gw) from the lot (whose total gross weight is GW)
(2) Determine the dry weight (dw) of the sample by oven drying to completely evaporate the
moisture contained in it
(3) Calculate the commercial mass to invoice (cw), based on a conventional regain R%, by
means of the formula:

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 dw 100 + R%
cw = GW × ×
gw 100

The following example illustrates this point.

Example:
Suppose a lot of worsted yarn is to be shipped to a buyer, and the gross weight of lot is 1000
kg. We now need to work out the commercial mass to invoice for the lot of yarn.

Answer:
We first extract a small sample (say 500 grams) from the lot. After oven drying of this small
sample, the dried mass becomes, say, 450 grams. For worsted yarn, the conventional regain
rate is 18.25% according to Table 13.2. Therefore, the commercial mass to invoice should be:

450 100 + 18.25

1000 × × = 1064.25 (kg )
500 100
This suggests that the merchandise is actually drier than the conventional value. Had 1000 kg
been used as the mass to invoice, the supplier would have been at a loss.
You may try to work out the actual regain of this lot of yarn using the values given in this
example.

13.3 Yarn twist

Twist is the number of turns per unit length (cm, m or inch). In the manufacture of staple fibre
yarns, twist is inserted into the fine strand of fibres to hold the fibres together and impart the
desired properties to the twisted yarns. Without twist, the fine strand of fibres would be very
weak and of little practical use. A change in the level of twist also changes many yarn
properties, such as strength and softness. This section discusses the nature of yarn twist, the
effect of twist on yarn properties, as well as twist measurement.

Nature of twist
Types of twist
There are two types of twist: real twist and false twist.

(1) Real twist

To insert a real twist into a length of yarn, one end of the yarn should be rotated relative to the
other end, as indicated in figure 13.3(a).

Spun yarns usually have real twist, which holds the fibres together in the yarn.

(2) False twist

When inserting false twist into a length of yarn, both ends of the yarn are clamped, usually by
rollers, and twist is inserted with a false twister between the clamping points, as indicated in
figure 13.3(b).

If the yarn is not traversing along its axis, the twist will be in opposite directions above and
below the false twister. If the false twister is removed, the opposite twists will cancel out one
another, leaving no real twist in the length of yarn. If the yarn is traversing along its axis, then
the section of the yarn moving away from the false twister would have no net twist, as indicated
in figure 13.3(b).
False twisting is a very important phenomenon, which has considerable practical implications in
yarn technology. False twisting is featured in many key processes that we will discuss later,
including woollen ring spinning, open-end rotor and friction spinning, air jet spinning, and
filament yarn texturing.

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 Figure 13.3 Real twisting and false twisting. Source: Wang, 2006.

Twist direction
A twist can be either in Z direction or S direction as indicated in figure 13.4, depending on the
orientation of the surface fibre in relation to yarn axis.

Figure 13.4 Twist direction. Source: Wang, 2006.

It is worth noting that twist direction affects fabric properties. For example, Figure 13.5 shows
two identical twill-weave fabrics with the warp yarn of different twist direction. Fabric A will be
more lustrous than fabric B, because light reflected by fibres in the warp and weft is in the same
direction. Fabric A will be softer while fabric B firmer, because in Fabric B, the surface fibres on
the warp and weft in the region of contact are aligned in the same direction and they may ‘get
stuck’ inside each other and reduce the mobility of the intersection. Whereas for fabric A, the
surface fibres on the warp and weft in the region of contact are crossed over, and they can
move about easily. The freedom of movement at the yarn intersections is the key for fabric
softness.

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 Figure 13.5 Effect of twist direction on fabric properties. Source: Wang, 2006.

Self-locking effect
Because of twist in a yarn, the fibres on yarn surface take a roughly helical configuration around
the yarn. When the yarn is under tension, these surface fibres are also under tension. However,
because of the helical configuration, part of the tension is diverted radially, which creates a
radial pressure. The radial pressure tends to pack the fibres together, increasing the normal
force between them, and so increasing their frictional resistance to slipping past each other. The
more tension is applied to the yarn, the more it locks together, hence 'self-locking'. An analogy
is, when you wind a string around your arm, as you pull the string along the arm and away from
each other, the string bites deeper and deeper into the flesh.
Without twist, there won’t be any self-locking effect to prevent fibre slippage. Consequently the
yarn would have no strength. But too much twist in a yarn can actually weaken the yarn, as
explained in the following section.

Effect of twist level on yarn strength

The level of twist is usually expressed in number of turns per metre (tpm). Number of turns per
inch or twist per inch (tpi) is also used in the industry.
More twist gives greater radial component to any applied tension, so increases resistance of
fibres to slip and the strength of yarn increases as a consequence. This is depicted by the
'coherence curve' in figure 13.6.
On the other hand, if a bundle of parallel filaments is twisted, the twist will put the individual
filaments under torsional stress. This stress weakens the filaments and the strength of the
filament would decrease as the level of twist increases. This is depicted by the 'obliquity curve'
in figure 13.6.
For staple fibre yarns, these two curves combine to give the actual 'twist-strength curve' for a
staple fibre yarn as shown by the heavy line in figure 13.6.

Figure 13.6 Effect of twist level on the strength of staple (spun) yarn.
Source: Wang, 2006.

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 Figure 13.6 indicates that for staple fibre yarn, increasing the twist level will increase yarn
strength to a maximum level, beyond which further increase in twist will reduce yarn strength.

It should be noted that for continuous filament yarn, the obliquity curve applies. In other words,
twisting a continuous filament yarn only reduces the yarn strength, regardless of the twist level
used. If a continuous multi-filament yarn is twisted, the reason for the twist is to keep the
individual filaments together, not for strength.

Twist angle
This is the angle of fibres to yarn axis, and this angle varies throughout yarn, from zero at centre
to maximum at yarn surface. The fibres on yarn surface are the most important, as they bind the
others into the yarn (refer to self-locking effect discussed earlier).

While it is not common practice to measure the yarn twist angle, the surface twist angle made
by the surface fibres in relation to yarn axis is a very important parameter. It determines the
essential yarn characteristics such as yarn softness, yarn bulk etc, which in turn govern many
essential fabric properties. The following example illustrates the point.

In figure 13.7, yarn 1 and yarn 2 have the same twist level – one turn each. But the surface fibre
on the thicker yarn is obviously stretched more to accommodate this twist. This would mean the
thicker yarn is more closely packed. As a consequence, yarn 2 will not be as soft as yarn 1. In
other words, even though the twist level is the same in these two yarns, the yarn characteristics
are quite different. Therefore, we can not simply use twist level to represent yarn character.
However, the surface twist angles of yarn 1 (θ1) and yarn 2 (θ2) are different. They can better
reflect the yarn characteristics, regardless of the difference in yarn thickness.

Figure 13.7 Two yarns of the same twist level, but different surface twist angles.
Source: Wang, 2006.

Twist factor (twist multiplier)

This is a very important factor that relates to the angle of twist helix the surface fibres have in a
yarn. As we will see later, this factor is very important for a spinner because of the following
reasons:
• Like surface twist angle, it governs the yarn characteristics
• It is used to work out the twist to use in spinning, in order to maintain the same surface twist
angle and similar yarn characteristics when the yarn count is changed. The twist worked out
from twist factor is also needed for setting up the spinning machine.

Twist factor is related to yarn count and the twist level in a yarn. This relationship is expressed
in different ways for different yarn count systems.

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 For the tex system:
Twist Factor ( K t )
Twist (turns per metre) =
tex
For the metric count (Nm) system (the twist factor for the metric count system is also known as
alpha metric - αm):

Twist (turns per metre) = Twist Alpha (α m ) Nm

For English cotton (Nec) count system:

Twist (turns per inch) = Twist Factor ( K e ) Nec

For worsted count (Nw) system:

Twist (turns per inch) = Twist Factor ( K w ) Nw

Please note the unit for twist is also different in the above expressions of twist factor. In
addition, twist factor is also known as twist multiplier, twist alpha, or twist coefficient.

Choice of twist factors

Yarns intended for different end uses have different characteristics. Since twist factor (like
surface twist angle) determines yarn characteristics, the choice of twist factor is often governed
by the intended use of the yarns. If maximum yarn strength is of the utmost importance, one
would obviously choose the optimum yarn twist (see figure 13.6) and the optimum twist factor
for strength. However, the end-use of yarn may be such that other properties may be more
important. For example, a yarn to be used for weft or for hosiery may be required to be soft and
bulky and therefore a low twist factor is used. A yarn to be used for the production of voile or
crepe fabric will necessitate the use of a high twist factor. If one considers staple yarns for the
production of plied or cabled sewing threads then soft twisted single yarns are used and this
results in the highest strength in the final thread. Another important feature to consider is that
the productivity for spinning yarns of lower twist factor is higher. For these reasons, the majority
of yarns are spun with a twist factor lower than the optimum twist factor for maximum strength.
Table 13.3 shows the twist factor most commonly used for the various worsted yarns.

Table 13.3 Twist factors most commonly used. Source: Bona (1994).

Worsted Yarns Tex count Metric count

tpm
Km ( )
K t ( tex × tpm) Nm
(alpha metric - αm)
- Knitwear 1700 54
- Soft 2000 63
- Medium 2300 73
- Strong 2600 82
- Extra strong 2900 92

Please note these are reference values only, and the recommended values vary from source to
source.

Once a twist factor is chosen, the level of twist required for the yarn can be calculated for a
given yarn count. This twist level is then used to set up the spinning machine for yarn
production.

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 Twist distribution in spun yarns
If someone twists your head, it is your neck that suffers most. That is because the neck is a
‘thin’ place and offers little resistance to being twisted. By analogy, if a yarn of varying thickness
is twisted, it is usually the thin spot in the yarn that gets twisted the most. Invariably, yarns spun
from staple fibres (e.g. wool, cotton) are not perfectly uniform, and there are thick and thin spots
along the yarn length. This variation in yarn thickness will lead to variation in the twist level
along the yarn length, because twist tends to accumulate in the thin place.

The fact that twist tends to accumulate in the thin spot along the yarn has several important
implications:
• It exacerbates the variation in yarn linear density
While variation in yarn linear density is the fundamental cause of twist variation, concentration
of twist in the thin places will make those places even thinner, exacerbating the problem of yarn
unevenness.
• It improves the evenness of a fibre assembly during “drafting against twist”
In the drafting stage of woollen ring spinning, the woollen slubbing is drafted while twist is
inserted into the slubbing (drafting against twist) to control fibres during drafting. Because twist
tends to accumulate in the thin spots, the fibres in thin regions in the slubbing are more difficult
to draft than those in the thick places, which have less twist. As a result, the thick places are
drafted more than the thin places, thus improving the evenness of the drafted material. This is
depicted in figure 13.8.

Figure 13.8 'Drafting against twist' improves evenness. Source: Wang, 2006.

• It has implication for twist measurements

Because the twist level varies along the yarn length, the twist measured at a short length of yarn
may not reflect the true average twist of the yarn. Standard test procedures should be followed
to measure the yarn twist accurately.

Twist contraction
When a bundle of parallel fibres is twisted, the distance between the two ends of a fibre will
decrease, particularly for fibres near the surface of the twisted bundle. As a result, the overall
length of the twisted bundle is shorter than its length before twist insertion. The reduction in
length due to twist insertion is known as twist contraction.

The following formula is used to calculate the amount of twist contraction:

Lo - L f
% contraction = x 100 %
Lo
where Lo = original length before twisting
Lf = final length after twisting

It should be noted that because of twist contraction and the associated change in length, the
count of a yarn will change slightly when twist in the yarn is changed. Twist contraction
increases yarn count (tex), because the weight of the yarn is distributed over a shorter length.
The following formula can be used

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 No
Nf=
1-C

where No = count (tex) before twisting

Nf = count (tex) after twisting
C = %contraction

Twist measurement
Twist measurement is a routine test for yarns. Because of the variation in twist along yarn
length as discussed earlier, care should be taken in measuring the twist of staple spun yarns.
Some basic principles are discussed here.

Sampling rules
The following rules should be observed when measuring yarn twist:

a. Tests should not be limited to a short length of the yarn package

b. Beware of "operator bias" - tendency to select either thicker or thinner regions. Taking
samples at fixed intervals along the yarn length will reduce the bias
c. Discard first few metres from package. Being a free end, it could have lost twist
d. Remove yarn from side of package, not over end. Removing yarn over end will change the
twist level in the yarn
e. Tension in Yarn during test

e.g. For single worsted yarns: 5 + 1 mN/tex.

Principles of measuring methods

The two common methods used in twist measurement are straightened fibre method and
untwist/retwist method.

(1) Straightened fibre method

This method involves counting of the number of turns required to untwist the yarns until the
surface fibres appear to be straight and parallel to yarn axis. This method is mainly used for ply
and continuous filament yarns.

(2) Untwist / Retwist Method

This is the common method used for staple fibre yarns. It is based on twist contraction (hence
also known as twist contraction method).

For this method, it is assumed that the contraction in length, due to insertion of twist, is the
same for both direction of twist (S and Z). Suppose we want to measure the twist level in a yarn
with Z twist, the yarn is first untwisted (by a twist tester), and a counter on the twist tester will
record the number of turns. During untwisting, the yarn would increase in length from its original
length L to a new length L’. If the operation is continued, the yarn would have its twist
completely removed first and then twisted up again in S direction. As the yarn gets twisted, its
length will decrease (twist contraction) from L’ towards its original length L. When its original
length is reached, the total number of turns received by the yarn, as recorded by the counter on
the twist tester, would be equal to twice the twist in the original yarn (with a length of L).

Automatic twist testers are now available, such as the Zweigle automatic twist tester.

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Readings

1. Yang, S. and Humphries, W., 2001. Application of Sirolan Yarnspec in the Chinese
Domestic Wool Industry. Presented at the International Wool Textile Organisation,
Technology and Standards Committee, Shanghai, China, May 2001. CSIRO Textile Fibre
and Technology, Geelong, VIC.

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References
Bona, M. 1994, ‘Textile Quality,’ Texilia, Italy.
Wang, X. 2000, Fundamentals of Yarn Technology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3217,
Australia.

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