Volume 9, Issue 2

This paper presents the concepts and development of an intelligent system that integrates both a decision support system (DSS) and an expert system (ES) to provide guidance to the decision-maker during the wool grading and classification process. Although uniformity of wool grading can be achieved easily on the basis of quantifiable characteristics such as fibre diameter, staple length and strength, and vegetable matter and content by using an expert system, some other characteristics which are not quantifiable such as the type of vegetable matter, the weathering of the fibre, crimp definition, matting of the fibre and the appearance of the wool have to be judged through the eyes of the human expert. It is for this reason that the intelligent system incorporates the additional component of a decision support system to enable the human component to come into play.

Potential and present investors in the South African (S.A.) wool industry need up-to-date information on the production and properties of the wool they need for the particular end-products they manufacture or intend to manufacture. This article describes the concept and development of a knowledge-based advisory system on the utilisation of South African wool for the benefit of present and potential investors and other interested parties. The architecture of the system encompasses the concept of distributed systems and the related advantages in its general architecture and within its internal components. It marries both expert and general knowledge-based systems.

Elastane yarns are often used to produce stretch fabrics on knitting machines as well as rapier weaving machines. On air-jet weaving looms their use is still limited. That is why the objective of this paper is to investigate the weavability of elastane based stretch yarns on air-jet looms. Bobbins of elastane were woven on an air-jet loom and a distinction of the bobbins in three categories was made according to the most important production processes for elastane yarn: core twist, core spun and air covered. Yarn properties such as linear density, elongation at break and Air Index value were determined, weaving tests were performed and properties of the resulting fabric were determined.

Knitted products have a flexibility that offers many attractive possibilities. Combined with technical fibres, this gives interesting and innovative possibilities. Many technical fibres and yarns has however properties such as high stiffness and brittleness which are difficult to process in the practice of weft knitting. This paper is about the experimental product development of a light radiating textile lamp in which optical fibres are used as the only illumination source. The lampshade is produced on an electronic flat knitting machine with special equipment suitable for the feeding of yarn with high stiffness. The work was divided in two parts: exploring the possibilities to knit the desired shape on one hand and experimenting about knitting with optical fibres as a weft insertion on the other hand. The method is an inductive approach; a literature survey, information from suppliers of knitting production equipment and experimental work on a flat knitting machine at The Swedish School of Textiles, Boras, Sweden. Results show that the diamond shaped structure can be knitted in one piece with transparent monofilament yarns. Furthermore it also shows that difficulties occur when knitting with stiff and brittle optical fibres therefore the paper ends with a discussion with suggestions of how to overcome these challenges.

The objective of this research was to identify the analytical steps affecting the quantitative assessment for the determination of heavy metals in textile materials and to test the selected extraction conditions, with the intent of developing a standardized and shared method that would help promote textile products, both in terms of safety for the environment and health of citizens, and of safety for workers exposed during the production process and for end users. The method was applied to a textile materials dyed with a chromium dyestuff at two different concentrations. The metals analyzed were total Cr and Cr VI. The extraction was carried out by means of the artificial perspiration solution, according to the standard adopted by the most important textile ecolabelling schemes operating in the European market. The extract was filtered under vacuum and analyzed by means of atomic absorption spectrometry for total Cr and UV-Visible spectroscopy for Cr VI. The tests were carried out varying some extraction parameters as temperature of the solution, time of contact and material-to-liquor ratio extraction. Finally the metal extraction profit was derived by the determination of total chromium in the ashes. The results show that the quantity of total chromium and CrVI extracted is affected principally by the temperature of the solution and by the material-to-liquor ratio extraction, and less by the time of contact. The percentage of metal extraction profit vary according to the extraction conditions, from 32% to 44%.

Cotton fabrics were modified by different methods such as oxidation, sulfonation and crosslinking processes. The modified and unmodified fabrics were subjected to weight measurements, water absorbency and strength tests. In SEM analysis, modified fabrics showed improved woven pattern with less protruding fibres in x 75 magnification and swollen smooth rod like appearances in x 1500 magnification than in unmodified fabrics. Modified fabrics were dyed with Reactive Red 120 and Direct Blue 86 under alkaline condition with low salt content. The modified fabrics showed improved dye uptake than unmodified fabric. Crosslinking modification was found to be very effective than sulfonation modification. Dye uptake and wet fastness properties were improved for modified fabrics. For a 0.5% dye concentration study, the dye uptake obtained for modifications is ranked as UM < 1W < 2W < 4W < 3W in reactive dyeing and UM < 1W < 4W <2W <3W in direct dyeing.