Improvement in pilling property of viscose/PET blended knitted fabric after garment dyeing

Pilling is a serious and common problem that occurs in garment dyed fabrics due to the prolonged drying of the fabric. With this aim, this study focuses on the pilling problem of the products knitted with different blend ratios of polyester/viscose yarn. A total of 5 different types of ring yarns were produced, in which viscose/polyester (PET) was used in 5 different blend ratios. A total of 100 samples were produced by applying 20 different processes/combinations to single jersey fabrics knitted from yarns with different blending ratios. The pilling results obtained after the experiments were statistically evaluated using the Minitab program. Thermofixation process without enzyme treatment was found to reduce pilling formation for viscose/PET blend fabrics with higher polyester content, with the advantage of reduced chemical consumption and cost-saving. Results show that pilling could be effectively reduced with enzyme treatment and singeing process for the fabrics with higher viscose content. Application of polyurethane and silicic acid based finishing treatments in garment dye machines was found to have good pilling prevention performance.