Engineering the Structure of Multi-thread Fancy Bouclé Yarn: Individual Effects of the Number of Wraps and the Overfeed Ratio

This study is about the influence of the number of wraps and the overfeed ratio on the fancy bouclé yarn structure. The bouclé yarns of this study were made on a hollow-spindle spinning system. The number of wraps and the overfeed ratio were increased incrementally and individually in two different experiments. It was found that there were significant linear relationships between increasing the overfeed ratio and increasing the number and size of fancy bouclé profiles, but at the expense of decreasing their circularity ratio and changing the bouclé yarn morphology. However, increasing the number of wraps made a significant linear reduction to the size of fancy bouclé profile but without affecting their number. This study aids bouclé yarn manufacturers to increase their understanding of the structure and aesthetics of bouclé yarns. It also shows them how the morphology of bouclé profiles may change when the overfeed ratio or the number of wraps is changed. In particular, variants of bouclé profiles may appear, which can increase the potential for those variants to attract the attention of designers and consumers. It also can strengthen the manufacturers’ capabilities to satisfy the needs of a wide range of consumers, by creating a wider range of novelty clothing.