Archives Volume 44 International Scientific Journal

Issue 2 published monthly by the

of Materials Science August 2010 World Academy of Materials
and Engineering Pages 120-125 and Manufacturing Engineering

Tribological properties of auxetic

and conventional polypropylene weft
knitted fabrics
M. Uzun a,b,*, I. Patel b
a Textile Education Department, Technical Education Faculty, Marmara University,
34722, Ziverbey, Istanbul, Turkey
b Institutes for Material Research and Innovation, The University of Bolton,
BL3 5AB, Bolton, United Kingdom
* Corresponding author: E-mail address: [email protected]
Received 26.05.2010; published in revised form 01.08.2010

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The wear resistance and friction reducing properties of polymer fibres can be improved with negative
Poisson’s ratio behaviour. Poisson’s ratio is defined as the ratio of transverse contraction strain to longitudinal
extension strain in the direction of stretching force. Large number of materials have positive Poisson’s ratio,
however there are some materials which exhibit negative Poisson’s ratio, they are termed auxetic materials.
Auxetic materials present unique property that they expand in all directions when they are stretched and contract
when compressed. This paper has highlighted, compared and discussed the variation between the modelling,
theoretical and practical differences of auxetic materials wear behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach: For the purpose of this work, auxetic and conventional fibres were
produced by the melt spinning mechanism using extruder. The fibres physical properties were evaluated such as
Poisson’s ratio, fibre count, elongation, force and tenacity. Mono-filament fibres were used for fabrication of weft
knitted fabrics; plain (1x1) structure was employed for knitting fabric. The wear resistance of the knitted fabrics
were tested by using Nu-Martindale Abrasion and Pilling Tester and comparison were made.
Findings: The abrasive wear test results demonstrated that the auxetic based weft knitted fabrics have superior
wear behaviour than the conventional fibre based weft knitted fabrics.
Practical implications: The experiment showed that the auxetic material is capable of sustaining large amount
of abrasion compared to conventional fabric.
Originality/value: The paper compare and discusse the variation between the modelling, theoretical and
practical differences of auxetic materials wear behaviour.
Keywords: Abrasive wear; Auxetic materials; Weft knitted fabric; Poisson’s ratio
Reference to this paper should be given in the following way:
M. Uzun, I. Patel, Tribological properties of auxetic and conventional polypropylene weft knitted fabrics, Archives
of Materials Science and Engineering 44/2 (2010) 120-125.

SHORT PAPER

120 120 © Copyright by International OCSCO World Press. All rights reserved. 2010
1. Introduction
1. 
Introduction Enhanced adhesive wear resistance is, therefore, expected in
auxetic materials by virtue of their enhanced hardness potential.
Improved wear resistance causes an enhancement in the abrasion
Polypropylene (PP) has various applications including
resistance such as ropes, cords and fishnets. Being resistant to
technical textile products and composite structures because of its
abrasive wear should also be useful in other fibre applications
unique properties, such as high tensile strength, low cost, ease of
processing and inert nature in addition; it is regarded as a where abrasion occurs, such as upholstery fabrics for furniture
thermoplastic polymer. PP has potential to make new materials and automotive seats. Therefore, it is suggested that the enhanced
and it is currently the fastest growing man-made fibre for different wear resistance of auxetic materials should enhance the
technical textile applications [1-3]. performance of materials and their life of usage [9].
In technical textile applications, tribological properties of
materials are one of very important practical characteristic, as
mentioned in the various papers that have been studied on
abrasion properties of textile materials, including some modelling
researches. In this case, it is accepted that auxetic materials should
have improved abrasion wear resistance and enhanced fracture
toughness.
Auxetic PP fibre is one of the novel approaches for producing
a material with a negative Poisson’s ratio. Poisson's ratio is
defined as the ratio of transverse contraction strain to longitudinal
extension strain in the direction of stretching force. Large number
of materials exhibit positive Poisson’s ratio, however there are
some materials which display negative Poisson’s ratio, they are
termed auxetic materials [4-7].

Fig. 1. Indentation resistance of auxetic by comparing to

conventional structures
1.1. Auxetic
1.1. materials
Auxetic materials wear
wear resistance resistance
properties
properties

The relationship between shear modulus (G), Young’s 2. Experimental

2.  details
Experimental details
Modulus (E) and Poisson’s ratio (V) for isotropic materials is:

G
E (1) 2.1. Materials
2.1. Materials
2(1  Ȟ)
The auxetic and conventional PP fibres were manufactured
As the Poisson’s ratio approaches -1, the material becomes from Coathylene PB0580 powder, produced by DuPont Polymer
difficult to shear. Also the hardness (H) is related to Poisson’s Powders (Sarl, Switzerland) and supplied by Univar (Bradford,
ratio as: UK). The PP powder has a rough surfaced with an average
particle size of ~50 µm and melting range 159-171°C. A lubricant
HD (1 Q 2 )  x (2) was used as a paraffin which provided by Unicorn Chemicals Ltd.
(Blackpool, UK).
where (x) is a value which depends on the type of indentation.
Equation 2 demonstrates that hardness will be enhanced for an 2.2. Fibre fabrication
auxetic material ~ -1. This enhancement is also shown 2.2. Fibre fabrication
schematically in Fig. 1.
Auxetic and conventional PP fibres have been produced by
Abrasive wear occurs when a material is being worn away as a the melt spinning technique using previously established
result of rubbing or frictional contact. Adhesive wear occurs when processing parameters. The single screw extruder consisting of an
a hard rough surface slides across a softer surface. It is suggested Archimedean type screw is used to produce fibres which common
that, auxetic material should have improved abrasion wear type of melt extruder for polymers. The barrel can be heated over
resistance due to enhanced fracture toughness. In the case of a wide temperature range generally between 150°C and 300°C.
adhesive wear, Archard [8] proposed that wear rate (displacement The melt extruder consists of a hopper, screw and a die or
per unit time) ¨h for general applications could be given in the spinneret. The extruder screw assists in conveying the material
following expression (Equation 3), where (ǻh) is the wear
through the extruder imparting the energy to melt the polymer and
displacement, (t) is the sliding time, (k) is the wear coefficient,
(H) is the hardness of tested material, (P) is the applied pressure mix the polymer uniformly [10], which also pumps the molten
and (V) is the sliding speed: polymer at a constant rate. The polymer material then passes
through the die, which consists of a spinneret. The spinneret has
¨h=¨ht=kHPV (3) variable thickness and size, which are usually circular and made
of special stainless steel. The main function of the die is to give

READING DIRECT: www.archivesmse.org 121

 M. Uzun, I. Patel

the required shape to the extruded polymer. Finally, the fibre behaviour of the fibres. A software package was developed by
undergoes orientation and subsequent heat treatment processes Messphysik GmbH that measures strains and/or extensions on
before it take up bobbins in Fig. 2. [11,12,13]. standard specimens. The videoextensometry was used to measure
the strains in both axial and transverse directions, and hence the
Poisson’s ratio of the fibres was determined.
The microscopic structure of the fibres was studied using
SEM and a comparison of the structures of the auxetic and
conventional fibres were made. Mechanical testing including
Poisson’s ratio determination, Young Modulus determination and
tensile strength of both auxetic and conventional fibres were also
investigated.

Fig. 2. Melt spinning extruder [13]

Melt Extruder Set up

A continuous melt extrusion process has previously been
developed to produce the first known auxetic material in fibre
form. A melt spinning process was performed using a melt
extruder consisting of an Archimedean type screw with 3:1
compression ratio, 25.4 mm screw diameter, and thermostats for Fig. 3. Plain knitted structure sample
each of five temperature zones. Powder was fed through a hopper
into the barrel and fed through the extruder by the action of the
screw, with a flat temperature profile of 159°C in all zones of the
extruder for auxetic PP fibre production. The extruder was
operated at a 10 rpm (1.05 rad.sí1) screw speed and 2 mpm
(0.03 m.sí1) take-up speed and a 40ífilament die with each hole
having a diameter of 550 m was fitted. The extruded fibres were
cooled in air after exiting the die before winding on the rollers.

2.3. Knitted
2.3. fabricproduction
Knitted fabric production
Plain fabric has been chosen for the knit fabric structure, the
fabric consisting wholly of knitted loops which are all meshed in
the same direction (Fig. 4) [14]. The auxetic fibres were cured
with lubricant for extra slipperiness for 4 hours, after curing Fig. 4. Plain knitted fabric
process filament samples were conditioned for 24 hours at
atmospheric conditions, 20°C and 65% Relative humidity. It was
found that curing with lubricant does not affect the physical 2.5. Abrasive
2.5. weartesting
Abrasive wear testing
properties of filaments. The knitted fabrics were fabricated from
PP mono-filament and were knitted by a manual flat V-bed
knitting machine. Plain knit structure was produced using in total The test was performed using Martindale Abrasion Tester, see
140 needles (70 in front-70 at back and 7 per/inch) in Fig. 3 Fig. 6, using the established standard Martindale abrasion method
[15,16]. [17,18]. Abrasive wear testing covers the determination of the
resistance to abrasion of textile fabrics using the Martindale
abrasion tester. The measurement of the resistance to abrasion of
textile fabrics relies on several parameters such as the mechanical
2.4. Videoextensometry
2.4. Videoextensometry properties of the fibres, the dimensions of the fibres, the structure
of the yarns, the construction of the fabrics and type, kind,
Characterisation of the fibres was carried out using a finishing material etc. [19,20].
MESSPHYSIK ME 46 video extensometer in combination with a Firstly the test specimens were prepared with press cutters,
micro tensile testing machine in order to examine the auxetic after those specimens were conditioned for 24 hours using relative

122 122 Archives of Materials Science and Engineering

Tribological properties of auxetic and conventional polypropylene weft knitted fabrics

humidity of 65% and temperature of 20°C. The knitted fabric As shown in Table 1, auxetic fibres Poisson ratio is between -
samples were cut into circular samples of 38 mm in diameter and 0.70 to -0.40 however conventional PP fibres have better physical
placed on the sample holder, see Fig. 6. The test was performed properties than auxetic fibres.
using pressure of 9 kPa, and the machine speed was maintained at
50 rubs per minute until total of 5000 rubs were completed, which
equates to 10 minutes per sample cycle. After performing every
5000 rubs, samples were inspected for abrasion. The endpoint was 3.2 Knitted
3.2. Knitted fabric abrasivevolume
fabric abrasive volume
determined by a specified number of cycles or when a hole
appears in the test area. Auxetic and conventional fabrics wear were performed for 12
different samples and comparison were made. Each of the
samples was inspected for abrasion properties after every 5000
rubs. After the initial 5000 rubs, both fabrics did not exhibit any
significant wear. The Fig. 7A-C, shows conventional PP fibre
based knitted fabrics, Fig. 7D-F and Fig. 8G-H shows auxetic PP
fibres based knitted fabrics after conducting abrasion experiment.
The results indicates that there is no significant abrasion wear for
conventional and auxetic fibres when subjected to 10000 rubs,
however, the conventional fibres showed some minor weak
points. However, after 15000 rubs, the conventional fibre showed
signs of determination, whereas the auxetic fibres maintained its
abrasion resistance properties. After 20000 rubs, the conventional
fabrics was rendered useless, however, the auxetic material
retained large proportion of integrity. After 25000 rubs the auxetic
fabric began to show signs of weak points, but it was not until
30000 rubs that the material was completed rendered useless. The
experiment showed that the auxetic material is capable of
sustaining large amount of abrasion compared to conventional
Fig. 5. Videoextensometry working principle [13] fabric.

Table 1.
3. Result and discussion
Result and discussion Fibre properties
Auxetic Conventional
(159°C) (170-230°C)
3.1. Measurement
3.1. ofmechanical
Measurement of mechanical properties
properties of of Fibre count (Tex) 40 40
fibres fibres
Elongation (%) 2.17 4.66
The Table 1 shows the fibre count, elongation, force, tenacity Force (cN) 127.54 92.81
and Poisson ratio values under room temperature. The physical Tenacity (cN/Tex) 3.19 2.32
properties of both fibres were determined by Fafegraph M and test Poisson’s ratio
parameters were gauge length 100mm, load cell 10 N, test speed -0.70 to -0.40 -0.12 to +0.35
values
200 mm/min and preload of 0.50 cN/tex.

Fig. 6. Martindale abrasion tester and tample holder [17]

Volume 44 Issue 2 August 2010 123

 M. Uzun, I. Patel

Fig. 7. Photograph of conventional and auxetic PP based knitted fabrics after abrasion

3.3. Scanning
3.3. electronmicroscopy
Scanning electron microscopystudies
studies
The phase morphological characteristics of the samples were
observed by SEM (HITACHI S-3400) in the normal mode and all
the fibre samples were fixed by adhesive tape in the sample stage
and coated with gold by Sputter Coater (SC 7620). From the
results shown in Fig. 9, it can be confirmed that auxetic PP fibres
surface after abrasion evaluation indicates lesser damaged fibres
than conventional fibres.

4.Conclusions
4. 
Conclusions

The above results and discussions suggest following conclusions:

1. Tensile properties of the auxetic PP fabric, which were
manufactured with temperatures of 159°C are comparable to
that of conventional PP which were manufactured with
temperatures of 170°C-230°C. Auxetic fibre possessed
reasonable tensile properties, however, it appeared to be
fragile during knitting process, and as a result, the fibres had
to be pre-cured with lubricant to evaluate fibre breakage.
2. Finally, the abrasion resistance of both the auxetic and
conventional PP fibre based knitted fabrics have been
compared which showed that auxetic PP knitted fabric has
better abrasive wear resistance (15-35%) than conventional PP
Fig. 8. Photograph of conventional and auxetic PP based knitted
fabrics after abrasion knitted fabric (produced at 200°C and over).

124 124 Archives of Materials Science and Engineering

 Fig. 9. SEM images of auxetic and conventional PP fibres surface (×200)

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements [9] J.B. Choi, R.S. Lakes, Nonlinear properties of polymer
cellular materials with a negative Poisson’s ratio, Journal of
Materials Science 27 (1992) 4678–4684.
The authors would like to thank Prof Andy Alderson and [10] A. Strong, Plastics: Materials and Processing, Prentice Hall,
Prof Kim Alderson for supports during the project. London, 2000.
[11] K.L. Alderson, A. Alderson, G. Smart, V.R. Simkins,
References
References P.J. Davies, Auxetic Polypropylene Fibres Part 1-
Manufacture and Characterisation, Plastics, Rubber and
[1] B. Alcock, N.O. Cabrera, N.M. Barkoula, A.B. Spoelstra, Composites 31/8 (2002) 344-349.
J. Loos, T. Peijs, The mechanical properties of woven tape [12] V.R. Simkins, N. Ravirala, P.J. Davies, A. Alderson,
all-polypropylene composites. Composites Part A: Applied K.L Alderson, An experimental study of Thermal Post-
Science and Manufacturing 38 (2007) 147-161. Production Processing of Auxetic Polypropylene Fibres,
[2] S. Zhang, A.R. Horrocks, A review of flame retardant Physica Status Solidi, (2008) 1-8.
polypropylene fibres, Progress in Polymer Science [13] N. Ravirala, Fabrication, Characterisation and Modelling of
28 (2003) 1517-1538. an Expanded Range of Auxetic Polymeric Fibres and Films,
PhD Thesis, University of Bolton, 2006.
[3] J.W.S. Hearle, High-performance fibres Woodhead
[14] J.E. McIntyre, P.N. Daniels, Textile Terms and Definitions,
Publishing Ltd and CRC Press LLC, Cambridge, 2001.
The Textile Institute, Manchester, 1995.
[4] V.R. Simkins, N. Ravirala, P.J. Davies, A. Alderson,
[15] D.J. Spencer, Knitting Technology, Woodhead Publishing,
K.L. Alderson An experimental study of Thermal Post-
Cambridge, 2001.
Production Processing of Auxetic Polypropylene Fibres,
[16] J.L. Marjory, Essentials of Textiles, Saunders College
Physica Status Solidi (2008) 1-8. Publishing, 1980.
[5] K.E. Evans, M.A. Nkansah, I.J. Hutchison, S.C. Rogers, [17] X.Y. Wang, R.H. Gong, Z. Dong, I. Porat, Abrasion
Molecular Network Design, Nature 353 (1991) 124. Resistance of Thermally Bonded 3D Nonwoven Fabrics,
[6] A. Alderson, A triumph of lateral thought, Chemistry and Wear 262 (2007), 424-431
Industry (1999) 384-391. [18] TS EN ISO 12947-2 NISAN 2001 – Determination of
[7] A. Aldersom, K. Alderson, Expanding Materials and abrasion resistance
Application: Exploiting Auxetic Textiles, Technical Textiles [19] E. Miller, Textiles: Properties and Behaviour in Clothing
International 777 (2005) 29-34. Use, Redwood Books, 1992.
[8] J. F. Archard, Contact and rubbing of flat surfaces, Journal [20] M.A. Taylor, Technology of Textile Properties, Forbes
of Applied Physics 24/8 (1953) 18-28. Publications, London, 1992.

READING DIRECT: www.archivesmse.org 125