Characteristics of Yarn and Fabric Made out of Nanofibers

Abstract

Nowadays, while human requirements are extending, producing nanofibers and nanofiber based products are progressing rapidly. Nanofibers have received considerable study in recent years using various polymers and methods. PAN (Polyacrylonitryle) nanofibers have shown a great potential in producing nanofibers and nanofibre yarn as precursor polymers for making high performance carbon fiber. There is a lack of information about yarn and woven fabrics made out of nanofibers. Current research is aiming to manufacture yarn using well-known electrospinning technique and converting it to woven fabric. A continuous yarn was produced by changing production parameters and using simultaneous twisting and collecting. Values of twist and rate of fiber collecting made it possible to prepare yarn from nanofibres. Consequently, the yarns were used for producing plain weave fabric manually. Some characteristics of the yarn, such as diameter and its distribution along the yarn, specific density, thin and thick places were assessed using image processing technique. Also, characteristics of fabric appearances were investigated.