DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HEMP-CONTAINING HYBRID YARNS FOR CLOTHING

"Known for its sustainable properties, the usability of hemp instead of conventional cotton hybrid yarns for clothing was investigated by spinning hybrid ring yarns using conventional cotton, viscose-hemp, and organic cotton-viscose-hemp blends for the sheath and elastane and polyester (Lycra and T400) for the core in the yarn structure. Unevenness, yarn imperfections, hairiness, tenacity, and breaking elongation properties of the spun hybrid yarns were examined comparatively by statistical analysis methods. The findings revealed that sheath fiber type, number of components in the yarn structure, and blend ratio were influential factors on yarn quality. Using hemp fiber in the yarn structure slightly decreased the yarn properties, except for tenacity, in general. This situation was more visible in hybrid yarns, which have three different fibers in the sheath. Blending viscose and hemp fibers in the yarn sheath structure provided a synergetic effect, improving the weak properties of both fibers. These yarns had nearly the same tenacity values (from 12.98 to 15.47) as conventional cotton yarns (from 15.24 to 16.8), which could be explained by the fact that hemp fiber has a higher tenacity value (45 cN/tex) than other fibers. Moreover, these yarns had the highest elongation values (from 15.88 to 10.79) due to the good elongation properties of the viscose fibers (20%), compared to other sheath fibers. As a result, when the produced yarns were evaluated in terms of sustainability and performance, viscose-hemp-blended yarns had the optimum yarn properties."