study on two

Study on Two-For-One

Twisting (TFO)

By: D.Shanmuganandam

Study on Two-For-One Twisting (TFO)

By: D.Shanmugartandam, 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 yams 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.

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 yams and 12% produced non-cotton yarns like polyester, viscose, PA/

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.

Table 1 Profile of the participant mills

Other southern States

100%> non-cotton yarn

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 218; more popular size being 144

spindles.

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b) Counts and varieties of yarns manufactured

The participant mills produced as many as 152 different counts (6/6$ to 2/102s) and varieties

of yams such as combed, warp, hosiery, blended (PA/ & 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 T and direction of doubled yam 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 lZ' 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 ail the spindles through a centralized tensioning arrangement.

it) Four spsnclle 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 yam

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).

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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 yams 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, PA/, P/C and polyester).

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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

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 yams, the D/S ratio is somewhat low

at about 0.65.

In the polyester viscose blended yams, the average D/S ratio is 0.97, ranging from 0.91 to 101

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 yam axis makes maximum use of the inherent fibre strength. The D/S ratio of polyester cotton

blended yams is, however, about 20% lower than the PA/ 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 paralleiity of the feed yams 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 fake 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)Delivery package weight (g)Delivery/feed package ratio

Mode

-

900 945

945 945

945

630 900

630/945

630/900

630/800

-

900/1000

900

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 2/4Qs, 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 dye-

liquor 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

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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 5

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.

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Table 4 Count-wise average spindle speed, tpi, machine efficiency and production rate in TFO twisting

Machine effy.(%)Prodn./spl./ 8 hrs. (g)

95 907

93 527

93 371

95 281

94 241

96 228

95 158

96 152

93 584

93 1376

95 575

94 376

88 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 2/80s C and 150 g in 2/80s C counts.

The average spindle speed in coarse counts such as 2/2Gs 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%, se 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.

8. Improvement in yam quality due to twisting

Table 5 Tentative standard production rates in TFO twisters

Machine

efficiency (%)

91

95

95

95

95

95

96

98

95

94

95

95

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 yam 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

Total imperfections/km

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b) Single yarn strength, elongation and their variation

Note; The above quality particulars were not furnished by the mills for cotton carded counts.

Single yam strength (g)Single yarn strength CV%Elongation at break (%) Elongation CV%

CSP

Twisting process has improved the lea CSP of ply yams by about 10% in the case of carded

cotton counts (2/20s to 2/30s) and polyester/viscose blended counts (2/15s to 2/4Gs). Cotton

combed yarns (2/40s to 2/80s), however, registered about 15% increase in CSP.

Count C¥%

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 yams averaged 1.25

whereas the corresponding value for single yarn is 1.55.

Yarn ynevenoess 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.

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Total imperfections per km registered a substantial reduction of 90% to 95% in the case of

cotton folded yams 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 yam 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 yams 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 arid 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 yams (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 yam defects such as weak spots and

thin/thick places, ply twisting results in increased tenacity and elongation and reduced their co-

efficient 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.lndra 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. Yam-twisting, Textile Progress, 16

(1/2)

4. Oxtoby.E. 1989 Spun yarn technology, Butter worth

publication

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: [email protected]

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mailto:[email protected]

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study on two

Documents

twisting tfo

number of tfo twisters

yarn quality

spun yarn

lakh tfo

total mills

plied yarn

folded yarn