• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.12 s.148
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• pp.1619-1626
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• 2005

The durability of a stretch fabric is mainly related to the change in the dimension and mechanical properties of elastomeric fibers during wearing and washing. In this study, we examined the effects of washing temperature, presoaking time and the number of washing cycles on the change in length, tenacity, elongation at break, and permanent elongation after six repeated cycles of $100\%$ extension and relaxation of spandex yams with varying fineness and with a different rate of extension during heat-set. The spandex yarns continued to shrink as the wash temperature and the number of wash cycles increased. In addition, the finer spandex yams decreased in length more than the thicker yams. The increase in temperature and presoaking time tended to cause a slight decrease in the tenacity and elongation at break of the spandex yarns. Permanent elongation of the spandex yams also increased as the temperature, presoaking time and the number of washing cycles increased. Moreover, an extended presoaking time followed by washing at $40\%$ like repeated washing cycles showed the great increase in the permanent elongation of spandex yams. The thinner spandex yin had a better elasticity than the thicker one, since the former had a lower permanent elongation percentage than the latter. Based on the DSC thermograms, the melting points of the spandex yarns after washing were almost the same as those of the spandex yarns before washing.