Comparison of the Pilling Resistance of Linen and Hemp Woven Fabrics

Abstract Good comfort properties and biodegradability are characteristic of linen fabrics. However, hemp fabrics also have high comfort properties, but hemp has been rarely used for textile manufacturing for a long time due to myths about its opiate effect. Today, a special species of hemp which does not have the above-mentioned effect has started to be cultivated again. Hemp fiber from these plants is being used for textile production. Therefore, it is very important to study the properties of hemp fabrics and compare them with those of other known cellulosic fibers such as linen. The aim of this study was to investigate the pilling resistance of linen, hemp, and linen/hemp woven fabrics before and after anti-pilling finishing. Linen, hemp and linen/hemp woven fabrics of plain weave from linen and hemp spun yarns of 28 tex linear density in the warp and weft directions before and after anti-pilling treatment with enzyme BEIZYM UL were investigated. A Martindale pilling and abrasion tester MESDAN-LAB, Code 2561E was used for pilling tests in accordance with the standard LST EN ISO 12945-2:2000. The pilling grades for blended linen and hemp fabric decreased from 0.5 grade after 125 cycles to 1.5 grade after 2000 cycles, whereas they remained constant at 1.0 grade after 2000 cycles for linen fabrics. The use of BEIZYM UL enzymes in additional fabric treatments increased the pilling resistance to 1.0 grade for linen fabric and 0.5 grade for hemp and blended linen/hemp fabrics. In conclusion, hemp fabric is the most resistant to pilling. Thus, a linen-hemp blend can significantly enhance linen fabric pilling resistance. The finishing process improves the pilling performance of fabrics of all raw materials. The finishing has the greatest influence on linen fabric pilling resistance and the least on hemp fabric pilling resistance because the usual finishing improves the pilling performance of hemp fabric more than the additional enzymatic treatment.