What is Lycra?

Lycra or Spandex is a fabric with a high elasticity made of artificial fiber, and is commonly used in producing women's dress, this fabric is more durable than natural rubber and has a high resistance to environmental factors and it can be stretched up to five times more than its real size without any damage to its texture. Even after washing it with hot water and hanging it, you will see no changes in its size.

Lycra is usually combined with cotton or polyester and a fabric with a very sturdy texture is produced.

Lycra is a highly elastic fabric made from synthetic fibers, commonly used in the production of women's clothing. It is significantly more durable than natural rubber and exhibits exceptional resistance to environmental factors, stretching up to five times its original size without sustaining any damage to its structure. Remarkably, even when subjected to washing with hot water and subsequent hanging, this fabric maintains its original texture, size, and shape. Lycra is usually combined with cotton or polyester to produce all kinds of clothes, and a fabric with a very resistant texture is produced.

How is Lycra fabric produced?

Lycra is a fully synthetic fiber, implying that all its components are synthesized in a lab. There are four methods for manufacturing Lycra, but most have been largely abandoned. While reactive spinning, solution spinning, or melt extrusion may still be employed by some manufacturers to produce elastane products, dry spinning is the predominant method, accounting for around 95% of global Lycra production.

To create Lycra, the first step is to mix macro glycol and a diisocyanate monomer to produce the prepolymer, which serves as the base material. A precise temperature and pressure are then applied to initiate a chemical reaction that forms the prepolymer. It's crucial to maintain a balanced volume ratio of 1:2 between these two materials; otherwise, the prepolymer won't be formed.

Then the prepolymer is exposed to diamine acid, which creates another chemical reaction called extrusion chain reaction. The material that results from this reaction is thick and viscous to the point of being like sludge, so a solvent is used to dilute the solution and make it easier to work with.

First, the solution is diluted and then transferred to a cylindrical device known as a fiber production cell. This machine has a unique type of spinneret, and the solution is introduced through it, causing it to spin within the cell. The solution exits the spinneret as fibers, but these fibers require exposure to nitrogen and heated solvent gas to solidify the dissolved polymer into threads.

After the fibers are solidified, they are removed from the cylindrical spinning cell and transformed into yarn using a compressed air machine. The yarns are warped by high-pressure air and can be shaped into various sizes for use in different Lycra applications in the textile industry.

Before the Lycra yarn leaves the factory and is woven into fabric, it must still be exposed to a finishing material, consisting of magnesium stearate or a similar polymer. Finally, the Lycra yarn is transferred to a large spool and sent to the textile factory. 

Properties of Lycra cotton tricot fabric

There are pores in cotton fibers that allow air to circulate, preventing excess heat, sweat, and odor, resulting in a pleasant sensation when worn during hot seasons. Cotton and Lakra have a good compatibility and it can be said that it has created the highest quality tricot fabric.

Applications

The clothes that are made of Lycra:

All kinds of clothes and sports clothes such as wrestlers' clothes, belts, gloves, all kinds of socks, leggings, orthopedic bandages, sailing clothes, tight jeans, ski pants, underwear, swimsuits suitable for bathing, tight pants, and many more. Lycra thread is added to the fabric in the fabric production process, and the produced fabric is also called Lycra fabric, but there are many reasons for adding Lycra thread to the fabric. The elasticity of Lycra means that the size of the garment does not change after washing and use, and returns to its original shape (unlike cotton fabrics, which have a change in size and shape).

Viscose thread alone is weak and cannot be woven independently. It needs Lycra to provide strength.

Lycra gives clothes a high level of mobility, which is very useful in sports and aerobics clothing. They use its stretch in fashion and create attractive clothes.

Lycra Cotton Fabric Properties

There are pores in the cotton fiber which causes the body doesn't feel so hot during summer, and also prevents the body from sweating and bad smell, and makes you feel good.

Cotton and lycra have good compatibility with each other and it can be said they make fabric with the highest quality.

Usage of Lycra fabric

Lycra is used in producing clothes:

Difference types of clothing and sportswear such as wrestlers' clothes, belts, gloves, socks, leggings, orthopedic bandages, sailing clothes, tight jeans, ski pants, underpants, bathing suits, tight pants and many Other uses.

Lycra or spandex yarn, like the other yarns, is added to the fabric during the producing process, which is also called lycra fabric, but there are many reasons for adding lycra yarn to fabric:

The lycra elasticity makes it not change in size after washing and usage and returns to its original shape (unlike cotton fabrics that changes a lot in size and shape)

Viscose yarn on its own has very low strength and cannot be used in texturing. Using lycra strengthen it.

Lycra gives clothes high mobility that is very useful in sports and aerobics clothing.

Stretching of lycra is used in fashion and creating attractive clothes.

The effect of Lycra fabric on the environment

Lycra production is not inherently harmful to the environment. While the production of elastane fabrics requires high levels of energy and the use of a variety of toxic chemicals, unlike fabrics such as nylon, Lycra raw materials are not extracted from non-renewable resources such as petroleum.

Instead, these materials are completely synthesized in the laboratory, and DuPont is a world leader in sustainable and safe elastane manufacturing processes. It is not a fact that the production of Lycra contains carcinogenic chemicals, but scientific research has shown that workers at an elastane factory in Sweden have a negligible risk of cancer, it seems that workplaces with these materials are not very dangerous. However, no studies have been conducted to examine the effect of elastane production on workers in other countries.

Polyurethane contains isocyanates, which are carcinogenic chemicals that can cause respiratory problems in children and adults. While spandex may contain these harmful chemicals, the presence of isocyanates in this fabric has not been confirmed.

While the manufacturing process of Lycra is not bad for the environment, the fabric is significantly harmful. Research has shown that 60% of waste in waterways is made up of non-biodegradable textile fibers and Lycra is not biodegradable in the environment. Even when consumers dispose of clothing containing this fabric responsibly, they still contribute to contamination every time they wash their Lycra garments. Elastane fibers are torn with each wash and contaminate the water.

 It may take thousands or even millions of years for all the Lycra in the world to decompose in the environment. Meanwhile, giant garbage islands made of textiles and other plastics continue to grow in many of the world's oceans.

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