TY - JOUR
T1 - Cleaner production of mulberry spun silk yarns via a shortened and gassing-free production route
AU - Yin, R.
AU - Xiang, Y. F.
AU - Zhang, Z. H.
AU - Tao, X. M.
AU - Gluck, J. M.
AU - Chiu, K.
AU - Lam, W.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by High Fashion Group Management Ltd. , Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited , Innovation and Technology Commission , Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Grant number ITP/021/17TI ). Ms. Xiang acknowledges a postgraduate scholarship from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Special appreciation was given to Hailing Spun Silk Mill for disclosing relevant data. Dr. Yin and Ms. Xiang contributed equally to this work.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by High Fashion Group Management Ltd., Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited, Innovation and Technology Commission, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Grant number ITP/021/17TI). Ms. Xiang acknowledges a postgraduate scholarship from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Special appreciation was given to Hailing Spun Silk Mill for disclosing relevant data. Dr. Yin and Ms. Xiang contributed equally to this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - The green production of textiles via an eco-friendly approach has recently gained considerable interest. As a derivative industry of silk manufacturing, spun silk utilizes waste materials generated in different processes of silk production, which is considered as the re-use of silk waste. The spun silk industry is facing several problems now, including environmental pollution, low production efficiency, increased labor intensity, significant material waste, and excessive energy consumption. This study presents an environment-friendly production route to produce mulberry spun silk yarns, by eliminating the gassing process that burns away surface hairs and neps. The gassing process not only generates odors, dust, and gas discharges but also results in significant material wastage and high production cost. The key is a modified ring spinning technology to achieve low yarn hairiness and neps; thus the yarn produced no longer requires gassing. The number of processing steps is also reduced to nine from twelve compared to the traditional silk spinning system. The modified 60 Nm mulberry spun silk yarns show a comparable tenacity of 26.33 cN/tex, evenness of 9.96%, neps (+200%) of 18 per 1 km, and a slightly worse hairiness S3 value of 74 per 100 m, compared with the conventional gassed ones. The plain knitted fabrics made by the modified yarns also reveal a 1.5 grade higher pilling resistance, similar mechanical and thermal properties, and a slightly hairier surface appearance than the conventional ones. The new processing route greatly reduces carbon footprint and achieves significant savings in materials, manpower, and energy, which may shed new light on the industrial manufacturing of mulberry spun silk yarns.
AB - The green production of textiles via an eco-friendly approach has recently gained considerable interest. As a derivative industry of silk manufacturing, spun silk utilizes waste materials generated in different processes of silk production, which is considered as the re-use of silk waste. The spun silk industry is facing several problems now, including environmental pollution, low production efficiency, increased labor intensity, significant material waste, and excessive energy consumption. This study presents an environment-friendly production route to produce mulberry spun silk yarns, by eliminating the gassing process that burns away surface hairs and neps. The gassing process not only generates odors, dust, and gas discharges but also results in significant material wastage and high production cost. The key is a modified ring spinning technology to achieve low yarn hairiness and neps; thus the yarn produced no longer requires gassing. The number of processing steps is also reduced to nine from twelve compared to the traditional silk spinning system. The modified 60 Nm mulberry spun silk yarns show a comparable tenacity of 26.33 cN/tex, evenness of 9.96%, neps (+200%) of 18 per 1 km, and a slightly worse hairiness S3 value of 74 per 100 m, compared with the conventional gassed ones. The plain knitted fabrics made by the modified yarns also reveal a 1.5 grade higher pilling resistance, similar mechanical and thermal properties, and a slightly hairier surface appearance than the conventional ones. The new processing route greatly reduces carbon footprint and achieves significant savings in materials, manpower, and energy, which may shed new light on the industrial manufacturing of mulberry spun silk yarns.
KW - 3D structural configuration
KW - Gassing process
KW - Modified ring spinning
KW - Mulberry spun silk
KW - Yarn properties
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090194611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123690
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123690
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85090194611
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 278
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 123690
ER -