Enhancing pilling resistance in polyester-cotton blended knitted fabrics through combined singeing and heat setting treatments

Pilling is one of the most serious aesthetic and performance defects of textile materials, especially for polyester-cotton (PC) or chief value of cotton (CVC) blended knitting fabrics that impede their appearance and service life. This work focuses into the effect of singeing and heat setting treatments on improving pilling resistance of the PC, CVC single jersey fabrics, and their derivatives, single lacoste, double lacoste, double pique, and double jersey types, such as rib and interlock. Pilling resistance of these fabrics was also tested under different processing conditions to determine the best combination of treatments. The results show that the singeing followed by heat setting is effective in improving pilling resistance while retaining the fabric's physical and chemical characteristics. The increased performance on pilling resistance is due to a decrease in surface hairiness resulting from the thermoplastic polyester fibers being fixed by heat treatment, and provides a workable solution for producing textile products. These results offer a promising technique to improve the performance and appearance of polyester-cotton blended knitted fabric for heavy-duty applications.