**6.1 Effect on wicking height (with respect to time) in various directions (warp-way, weft-way and diagonal-way) of fabrics as well as their constituent yarns**

**Tables 3**–**5** indicate the values of wicking height as a function of time as recorded in the trials for different orientations of fabrics and their constituent yarns in the 20s, 30s and 40s, respectively. **Figure 5** depicts the liquid flow for a specific set of warp and weft threads in the warp, weft and diagonal directions of fabric samples.

The tabulated findings show a few generalised observations about the behaviour of yarn wicking in comparison to fabric wicking. First and foremost, it is well established that ply yarns usually provide superior wicking than single yarns of the same fineness due to the presence of densely populated fibres in the plied structure versus a single form of yarn. It is also discovered that the wicking height of constituent yarns, whether plied (used as a warp) or single (used as a weft), of any fineness (expressed by counts), is higher than that of their respective fabrics, regardless of the direction of testing for plain weave samples. This usual phenomenon can be understood specifically for plain weave due to the compact fibrous structure of yarns in comparison to the porous-interlaced structure of fabrics made out of this constituent yarn resulting in much better capillary action facilitating higher liquid transmission inside the structure. An exception to this trend has been observed for twill fabrics produced from medium and finer count yarns when viewed with respect to wicking of single yarn

*Absorbency and Wicking Behaviour of Natural Fibre-Based Yarn and Fabric DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102584*

**Figure 3.** *Wicking set-up for yarn.*

structure. Lesser number of interlacements may predominate for the attainment of higher wicking height in a twill weave in comparison to that of a single yarn.

However, a thorough explanation of the relative wicking phenomena is needed to set up a relationship between fabric wicking in various directions with respect to their constituent yarns of different counts. In this direction, a precise observation from **Table 3** reveals that 20s 2-ply yarn shows maximum wicking than single yarn of the same count when tested individually as well as than the fabrics made out of these yarns as warp and weft respectively irrespective of warp, weft and diagonal waywicking test. In the case of 20s 2-ply yarn, wicking height reaches up to 13.7 cm, whereas in warp-way fabric, wicking height reaches only up to 4.9 cm, the single yarn is in the intermediate height of 8.2 cm. Fabric wicking is reduced in comparison to yarn wicking for three reasons: yarn deformation in the fabric due to crimped condition, the number of interlacement in a unit length of a fabric sample and finally, the

**Figure 4.** *Wicking set-up for fabric.*

disruption of vertical wicking due to the occurrence of horizontal wicking at every point of interlacement. These characteristics can also be seen in twill weave fabrics. However, the effect is more or less the same as plain weave fabric considering the use of constituent coarser yarn in the fabric structure.

The maximum wicking height in 2 h for 30s 2-ply yarn is 10.7 cm, as indicated in **Table 4**, but when this yarn is present in fabric, the maximum warp-way wicking height is 5.7 cm in plain and 8.2 cm in a twill structure. The reason is the same as discussed before, but if we compare between plain weave fabric and twill weave fabric, the wicking height of twill weave fabric generates a higher value than that of the plain weave fabric. The explanation for this could be due to their fundamental design, as twill weave fabrics have less interlacements than plain weave fabrics. Another aspect we noticed from **Table 4** is that twill weave fabric's warp-way wicking reaches the height

