The migration behavior of electrospun nanofibers within cotton slivers in roller drafting and their effects on composite yarn quality

Functional electrospun nanofibers of composite yarns provide high extra value for their textile products. Whereas various functionalities have been developed, research on the formation mechanism of these composite yarns still lacks. Here, the migration behavior of two different electrospun nanofibers (polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polystyrene (PS)) within cotton slivers in roller drafting was demonstrated through a combination of mechanical and statistical methods. The accelerated point distribution of electrospun nanofibers during roller drafting was determined and the effect of these fibers on their yarn properties was evaluated. The results showed that electrospun fibers had a similar distribution to 15 mm tracer fiber under the small draft ratio, but when the ratio became larger, the accelerated points of electrospun fibers distributed more widely than all the tracer fibers. Furthermore, the addition of PAN electrospun nanofibers had a positive impact on their yarn quality whereas PS electropsun nanofibers had an adverse impact on the physical properties except breaking strength. At last, by analyzing the relationship between electrospun nanofiber content and drafting force, the electrospun fiber content should be controlled under 10 wt.% to guarantee high quality of composite yarns.