Influence of pilling on the quality of flax single jersey knitted fabrics

In this work, the quality of four plain single jersey weft-knitted fabrics (produced from the same flax yarn) having different structural characteristics (stitch density, weight, and thickness) before and after pilling, was examined. The quality of knitted fabrics was evaluated in terms of their compression (compressibility, thickness loss, and compressive resilience), comfort (air permeability and water retention), and strength (bursting strength and ball traverse elongation) properties. The obtained results revealed that the fabric with the lowest structural characteristic values has the highest compressibility, thickness loss, and air permeability, while the least compressive resilience, water retention, bursting strength, and ball traverse elongation, both before and after pilling. Pilling causes a decrease of compressibility, thickness loss, air permeability, water retention (for three lightweight fabrics), bursting strength, and ball traverse elongation but an increase in compressive resilience and water retention (for the most compact fabric). All studied knitted fabrics have excellent quality before pilling and excellent to good quality after pilling. A pilling leads to a decrease in the quality of all fabrics, especially of those with the least compact structure. Sample with moderate compactness possesses the best overall quality.