Cotton is a non-thermoplastic fiber and cannot be heat set to stabilize knit fabric dimension. Therefore, natural relaxation of knit fabrics made from cotton yarns is inevitable after knitting, resulting in changing fabric dimensions. This change will depend on the nature and the amount of stress and extension applied on the yarns during knitting. As a result of the dimensional changes of cotton knit fabric upon knitting, it is typically difficult to measure its structural attributes and dimensional stability parameters (e.g. shrinkage, fabric skew, and fabric torquing or spirality) at the grey state. Most analyses performed to evaluate knit structures have been based on modeling the geometry of the knitted loop, which is the key element of the knit structure. Over the last 60 years, research efforts dealing with fabric instability have continued, assisted by new ideas and better modeling techniques. This is evident by the significant publications in this area. However, no inclusive study was performed to provide ways to minimize or eliminate fabric spirality. As a result, the problem continues to occur and at higher costs than ever.   

In this paper, a qualitative model is developed to demonstrate fabric spirality and experimental analysis is performed to provide guidelines for spirality-free knit fabrics.