Study of Physical, Mechanical Properties and Sewability of Modal and Micromodal Fabrics and Comparing it with Cotton

Recently, textile manufacturing companies have turned to the production of eco-friendly fabrics, in order to, reduce the harm of using chemicals and replace them with natural resources that do not pollute the environment such as Modal and Micromodal fabrics. Therefore, the research idea of this paper is to study of the natural and mechanical properties and sewability of modal and micromodal fabrics, in order to find out the advantages and disadvantages of these fabrics and to know the level of quality of their sewing to determine the possibility of their use in the manufacture of clothes by making a comparison between the results of these fabrics tests and the results of tests of Egyptian cotton fabrics knitted with same specifications. The research followed the experimental method, where the research included 3 different types of materials, which are (100% Modal - 100% Micromodal - 100% Cotton) single jersey construction. Each raw material has two types of fabric (single jersey without lycra - single jersey with 5% lycra) The number of fabrics became 6. Then some mechanical and natural tests were done, and (sewability test) called on the research materials, samples were cut and sewn by two types of sewing machines (over look 4-thread, orle) with variables (three levels of sewing thread tension, two degrees of machine caliber) and then some sewing tests were performed (tensile strength and elongation - sewing appearance - sewing Stiffness), statistical treatment of some results of the tests was done. As for the burst strength, the order of preference was as follows (cotton then micromodal then modal); for pilling, the order of preference was as follows (cotton then modal then micromodal) in both types of fabric. For both sewability test and the air permeability test, the order was in terms of preference (modal then micro-modal Then the cotton), and the test of Stiffness and wettabilitywas the order of preference (micromodal, then modal, then cotton), and the results also found that the presence of a percentage of lycra (5%) leads to an increase in the values ​​of both fabric g/m², thickness, wettability, penetration force of the knitting stitch and stiffness, as it led to a decrease in the values ​​of both burst strength, and air permeability, as for pilling test, the presence of lycra led to an increase in the values ​​of the resistance of the pilling in both cotton and modal, and a decrease in the resistance of the pilling to the micro-modal. As for the sewing properties, samples sewed on orle machine, the materials are arranged in terms of preference: modal, followed by, micro-modal and then cotton, for single jersey with lycra, but for single jersey without lycra, the materials are arranged in terms of preference: modal, followed by, cotton and then micro-modal. As for the samples sewed with the overlook machine, the raw materials are arranged in terms of preference: micro-modal, followed by cotton, then modal, for single jersey fabric with lycra, but for single jersey without lycra, the order is cotton, followed by modal and then micro-modal, and it was recommended by this research to conduct more natural and mechanical tests to identify other properties not covered in this work.