Effect of weave on some mechanical properties of handloom cotton fabrics

Handloom Industry, although having tremendous potentiality in respect of employment generation, foreign money earning and economic upliftment of rural people, is now passing through a precarious situation owing to so many factors in this era of global competitiveness. In order to overcome this stringent situation this moribund sector needs the attention of the technologists to carry on research works in right direction. At present the handloom products are mainly used for the apparels and upholstery or furnishing fabrics. In the present study, an approach has been made to study the effect of different weaves or interlacement patterns on some important physical/mechanical properties of 100% cotton hand-woven fabrics. Five different category of fabric samples woven with five different weaves namely plain, warp rib, weft rib, 1/3 twill and 2/2 twill have been prepared from the same raw material and keeping all other weaving parameters constant to study the effects of weave, i.e., interlacement pattern on some important mechanical behavior of the resultant fabrics. The results obtained have been critically analysed in order to explore the possibilities of application of handloom fabrics in other fields apart from their existing applications.