PACK: 1. The complete assembly of filters and spinneret through which polymer flows during extrusion. 2. A unit of weight for wool, 240 pounds.

PACKAGE BUILD: A general term that applies to the shape, angles, tension, etc., of a yarn package during winding. Package build affects performance during subsequent processing.

PACKAGE DYEING: See DYEING, Yarn Dyeing.
PACKAGES: A large selection of forms for winding yarn is available to meet the requirements of existing machinery and a variety of package builds is used to ensure suitable unwinding in later stages of manufacturing. Since a package with flanges cannot be unwound easily and quickly by pulling the yarn off overend, most packages are flangeless with self-supporting edges. Some can be unwound at speeds up to 1500 yd/min. The accompanying diagram shows six common types of yarn packages.
PACK LIFE: The time during which a pack assembly can remain in use and produce goodquality yarn.
PADDING: The application of a liquor or paste to textiles either by passing the material through a bath and subsequently through squeeze rollers, or by passing it between squeeze rollers, the bottom one of which carries the liquor or paste.

PADDLE DYEING MACHINE: A machine used for dyeing garments, hosiery, and other small pieces that are packaged loosely in mesh bags. The unit consists of an open tank and revolving paddles that circulate the bags in the dyebath.

PAD DYEING: See DYEING.

PAISLEY: A drop-shaped pattern that is extremely popular for men’s ties and womenswear.
PANELS (HOSIERY): Knitted panels used for testing purposes.
PANNÉ SATIN: A satin fabric with an unusually high luster because of the application of very heavy roll pressure in finishing. Panné satin is made of silk or one of the manufactured fibers.
PANNÉ VELVET: Velvet of silk or a manufactured fiber, with a finish in which the pile is flattened and laid in one direction. Panné velvet is a lustrous, lightweight fabric.
PAPERMAKER’S FELT: Formerly, a heavy, wide, coarse, worsted or woolen fabric that was threaded between the rolls of the papermaking machine to form an endless conveyer belt for pulp or wet paper in its passage through the machine. These products are now also made of various constructions, woven and nonwoven, of manufactured fibers and monofilaments.
PARA: A chemical prefix, usually abbreviated p, indicating that two substituents on a benzene ring are separated by two carbon atoms.
PARALLELING: The process of aligning fibers to produce a more uniform, smoother, stronger yarn.
PARTIALLY ORIENTED STAPLE: Staple fibers cut from tow that has been drawn less than normal so that only partial longitudinal orientation of the polymer molecules exists.
PARTIALLY ORIENTED YARNS (POY): Filament yarns in which the draw ratio is less than normal resulting in only partial longitudinal orientation of the polymer molecules.
PART RUN: A partially filled bobbin that occurs when an end breaks before the completion of a doff cycle. The total weight of yarn normally wound during a cycle is not obtained on the bobbin at the break position. The number of part runs is used as a measure of spinning performance.
PATTERN: 1. An arrangement of form; a design or decoration such as the design of woven or printed fabrics. 2. A model, guide, or plan used in making things, such as a garment pattern.
PATTERN WHEEL: In a circular-knitting machine, a slotted device for controlling individual needles so that patterns can be knit in the fabric.
PBI: See POLYBENZIMIDAZOLE FIBER.
PEARL: See PURL, 2.
PEAU DE SOIE: A heavyweight, soft satin of silk or manufactured fiber with a fine cross rib and a dull luster. The term is French for “skin of silk.”
PEBBLE-WEAVE FABRIC: A fabric with an irregular or rough surface texture formed by either a special weave or by the use of highly twisted yarns that shrink when they are wet.
PECE: Post-chlorinated vinyl chloride polymer. The post-chlorination process increases chlorine content form 57% to 64%. The resulting polymer is soluble in acetone and can be wet spun.
PEEL ADHESION: The force required to delaminate a structure or to separate the surface layer from a substrate. Peel adhesion is the usual measure of the strength of the bond between fiber reinforcements and rubber in tires and other mechanical rubber goods.
PEELER: In beaming, a defect caused by a portion of an end sticking or remaining on the beam, causing the filament to strip back or peel until it is broken. Although they are often associated with ringers, peelers are not necessarily defects that will circle the beams.
PEGGING: A finishing process for velveteen consisting of applying friction with blocks of wood or soapstone to impart a gloss or sheen to the fabric.
PEGGING JETS: A technique for freeing a plugged hole in a spinneret by rubbing the face with a piece of wood. Use of the technique has been discouraged because of damage to the spinneret.
PELERINE: A device for transferring stitches from the cylinder to the dial or vice versa on a circular-knitting machine.
PERCALE: A closely woven, plain-weave, spun fabric used for dress goods and sheeting, generally 80 x 80 threads per inch or better.
PERCHING: Inspection of cloth for defects while it is run over a roller.
PERMANENT DEFORMATION: The change in length of a sample after removal of an applied tensile stress and after the removal of any internal strain (e.g., by boiling off the sample and allowing it to dry without tension). The permanent deformation is expressed as a percentage of the original sample length.
PERMANENT FINISH: A term for various finishing treatments, chemical and/or mechanical, applied to fabric so that it will retain certain properties, such as glaze of chintz, crispness of organdy, smoothness of cotton table damask, and crease, crush, and shrinkage resistance of many apparel fabrics during the normal period of wear and laundering.
PERMANENT GROWTH: See SECONDARY CREEP.
PERMANENT PRESS: See DURABLE PRESS.
PERMANENT SET: See SECONDARY CREEP.
PERMEABILITY: The state or quality of being penetrable by fluids or gases.
PERMITTIVITY: See DIELECTRIC CONSTANT.

pH: Value indicating the acidity or alkalinity of a material. It is the negative logarithm of the effective hydrogen ion concentration. A pH of 7.0 is neutral; less than 7.0 is acidic; and more than 7.0 is basic.
PHASES BEAM: A beam on which each of the ends is wound from the same depth of each of the bobbins on the creel. Phased beams are prepared when yarn properties vary from the inside to the outside of the bobbins in order to prevent warp streakiness in the finished fabric.
PHASE-SEPARATION SPINNING: See SPINNING, 2.
PHENOLIC: 1. A resin or plastic made by the condensation of a phenol with an aldehyde and used particularly in coatings and adhesives. 2. Containing or pertaining to phenol.
PHENYL: A chemical radical, (C6H5-), derived from benzene. It is the basis of many aromatic derivatives.
PHOSPHORESCENCE: Emission of light that persists for a noticeable time after the removal of the excitation source.
PHOSPHORIC ACID: An inorganic acid having the formula (H3PO4).
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING: See PRINTING.
PHTHALIC ACID: An organic acid obtained by oxidation of various benzene derivatives and having two adjacent (ortho) acid (COOH) groups on the benzene ring.
PICK: A single filling thread carried by one trip of the weft-insertion device across the loom. The picks interlace with the warp ends to form a woven fabric. (Also see FILLING.)
PICK COUNT: The number of filling yarns per inch or per centimeter of fabric.
PICK COUNTER: 1. A mechanical device that counts the picks as they are inserted during weaving. 2. A mechanical device equipped with a magnifying glass used for counting picks (and/or ends) in finished fabrics.
PICKER: 1. A machine that opens staple fiber and forms a lap for the carding process used in the production of spun yarns. 2. That part of the picking mechanism of the loom that actually strikes the shuttle.

PICKER LAP: A continuous, considerably compressed sheet of staple that is delivered by the picker and wound into a cylindrical package. It is used to feed the card.
PICKER STICKS: The two sticks that throw the shuttles from box to box at each end of the raceplate of the loom.
PICKING: 1. A process that continues the opening and cleaning of staple and forms a continuous fiber sheet (or lap), which is delivered to the card. 2. The operation of passing the filling through the warp shed during weaving.
PICK-OUT MARK: A fillingwise band or bar characterized by a chafed or fuzzy appearance due to pulled-out picks.
PICOT: 1. A small loop woven on the edge of ribbon, or a purl on lace. A picot edge may also be produced by a hemstitching machine. 2. A run-resistant loop usually found at the top of hosiery.
PIECE: A standard length of a fabric, such as 40, 60, 80, or 100 yards.
PIECE DYEING: See DYEING.
PIECING: The joining of two or more ends of sliver, roving, yarn, etc.
PIGMENT: An insoluble, finely divided substance, such as titanium dioxide, used to deluster or color fibers, yarns, or fabrics.
PIGMENTED YARN: A dull or colored yarn spun from a solution or melt containing a pigment. (Also see DYEING, Mass-Colored.)
PIGMENT PRINTING: See PRINTING.
PILE: 1. A fabric effect formed by introducing tufts, loops, or other erect yarns on all or part of the fabric surface. Types are warp, filling, and knotted pile, or loops produced by weaving an extra set of yarns over wires that are then drawn out of the fabric. Plain wires leave uncut loops; wires with a razor-like blade produce a cut-pile surface. Pile fabric can also be made by producing a double-cloth structure woven face to face, with an extra set of yarn interlacing with each cloth alternately. The two fabrics are cut apart by a traversing knife, producing two fabrics with a cut-pile face. Pile should not be confused with nap. Corduroys are another type of pile fabric, where long filling floats on the surface are slit, causing the pile to stand erect. 2. In carpets, pile refers to the face yarn, as opposed to backing or support yarn. Pile carpets are produced by either tufting or weaving. (Also see CUT PILE and LOOP PILE.)
PILE CRUSH: The bending of upholstery or carpet pile that results from heavy use or the pressure of furniture.
PILE WEAVE: A weave in which an additional set of yarns, either warp or filling, floats on the surface and is cut to form the pile. Turkish toweling is a pileweave fabric with uncut loops on one or both sides.
PILE WIRE: A metal rod over which yarn is woven to generate a pile fabric.
PILL: A small accumulation of fibers on the surface of a fabric. Pills, which can develop during wear, are held to the fabric by an entanglement with surface fibers of the material, and are usually composed of the same fibers from which the fabric is made.

PILLING: The tendency of fibers to work loose from a fabric surface and form balled or matted particles of fiber that remain attached to the surface of the fabric.

PILOT: A woolen cloth generally made in navy blue and used for seamen’s coats. It is usually a heavily milled 2/2 twill with a raised, brushed finish.
PIN DRAFTING: Any system of drafting in which the orientation of the fibers relative to one another in the sliver is controlled by pins.

PINHEAD: A small pinhead-sized opening usually found about 10 to 12 inches from a selvage. Pinheads usually run in a fairly straight line along the warp and are formed by the shuttle pinching the filling, causing small kinks that show up as small holes in transmitted light.
PINHOLE: A very small hole in hosiery or fabric.
PINION BARRÉ: A fine, fillingwise fabric defect appearing as one or two pick bars in an even repeat. It is caused by a faulty loom pinion.
PIN MARK: See CLIP MARK.
PINNING: See PIN DRAFTING.
PINSONIC® THERMAL JOINING MACHINE: A rapid, efficient quilting machine that uses ultrasonic energy rather than conventional stitching techniques to join layers of thermoplastic materials. The ultrasonic vibrations generate localized heat by causing one piece of material to vibrate against the other at extremely high speed, resulting in a series of welds that fuse the materials together.
PIQUÉ: 1. A medium weight to heavyweight fabric with raised cords in the warp direction. 2. A double-knit fabric construction knit on multifeed circular machines.
PIRN: 1. A wood, paper, or plastic support, cylindrical or slightly tapered, with or without a conical base, on which yarn is wound. 2. The double-tapered take-up yarn package from drawtwisting of nylon, polyester, and other melt spun yarns.
PIRN BARRÉ: A fabric defect consisting of crosswise bars caused by unequal shrinkage of the filling yarn from different points on the original yarn package.
PITCH: In pile floor covering, the average number of pile ends per inch in the fillingwise direction.
PLAIN-KNIT FABRIC: See FLAT-KNIT FABRIC.
PLAIN WEAVE: One of the three fundamental weaves: plain, satin, and twill. Each filling yarn passes successively over and under each warp yarn, alternating each row.

PLAITING: See BRAIDING.

PLASTIC: A high polymer, usually combined with other ingredients such as curatives, plasticizers, and fillers. It can be molded under heat and pressure and then machined accurately in its hardened state. General term for a wide range of substances.
PLASTICIZER: 1. A chemical added to polymers and resins to impart flexibility, workability, or stretchability. 2. A bonding agent that acts by solvent action on fibers.
PLATED: 1. A term to describe a fabric that is produced from two yarns of different colors, characters, or qualities, one of which appears on the face and the other on the back. 2. A term to describe a yarn covered by another yarn.
PLEAT: Three layers of fabric involving two folds or reversals of direction; the back fold may be replaced by a seam.
PLIED YARN: A yarn formed by twisting together two or more singles yarns in one operation.
PLIED YARN DUCK: See DUCK.
PLISSÉ: A cotton, rayon, or acetate fabric with a crinkled or pleated effect. The effect is produced by treating the fabric, in a striped or spotted motif, with a caustic-soda solution which shrinks parts of the goods.
PLUCKING: A condition found at the feed roll and lickerin section of the card when larger than normal clusters of fiber are pulled from the lap by the lickerin. This situation is normally caused by uneven laps or the inability of the feed rolls to hold the lap sheet while small clusters of fibers are being pulled from the lap by the lickerin. Plucking inevitably produces flaky webs.
PLUGGING VALUE: In the manufacture of acetate fibers, a measure of filterability. It is the weight of solids in an acetate dope that can be passed through a fixed area of filter before the filter becomes plugged. It is expressed as weight of solids per square unit of filter area, e.g., g/cm2.
PLUSH: A term describing a cut-pile carpet in which the pile yarns are only slightly twisted, dense, and very evenly sheared. A plush carpet has the look of a solid, flat velvet surface. Similar pile constructions are also used in upholstery fabric.
PLY: 1. The number of singles yarns twisted together to form a plied yarn, or the number of plied yarns twisted together to form cord. 2. An individual yarn in a plied yarn or cord. 3. One of a number of layers of fabric (ASTM). 4. The number of layers of fabric, as in a shirt collar, or of cord in a tire.
PLYFIL®: A proprietary system of making two-fold long-and-short staple yarns by using ultrahigh drafting. The slightly twisted ends produced are not useable yarns but are well suited for subsequent processing, i.e., twisting.
PLYING: Twisting together two or more singles yarns or ply yarns to form, respectively, ply yarn or cord.
PLY TWISTING: See PLYING.
POINT BONDING: See BONDING, 2.
POLYAMIDE: A synthetic polymer and the fibers made from it in which the simple chemical compounds used for its production are linked together by amide linkages (-NH-CO-). (Also see NYLON FIBER.)
POLYARYLATE: High-temperature-resistant aromatic polyesters from bisphenols.
POLYBENZIMIDAZOLE FIBER (PBI): A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is a long chain aromatic polymer having recurrent imidazole groups as an integral part of the polymer chain. (FTC definition). The polymer is made from tetraaminobiphenyl and diphenyl isophthalate and is dry spun from a dope with dimethylacetamide as a solvent.

CHARACTERISTICS: A high-performance fiber with high chemical resistance that does not burn in air. It has no melting point and does not drip when exposed to flame. The fiber and fabrics from PBI retain their flexibility, dimensional stability, and significant strength without embrittlement even when exposed to flame or extreme heat. The fiber emits little smoke in extreme conditions. It processes well on conventional textile equipment, having processing characteristics similar to polyester. It can be used in 100% form or blended with other fibers. It has a high moisture regain and low modulus with comfort properties similar to cotton. The natural color of PBI is a gold-khaki shade, but it can be dyed to almost any medium to dark shade with conventional basic dyes.

END USES: With excellent thermal, flame, and chemical resistance, combined with good comfort properties, PBI is a good fiber for many critical uses including: firefighter’s protective apparel, aluminized proximity gear, industrial apparel such as pants, shirts and underwear, protective gloves, welder’s apparel, aircraft fire-blocking layers, aircraft wall fabrics, rocket motor insulation, race car driver’s apparel, and braided packings among others.

POLYBLENDS: See BICONSTITUENT FIBER.
POLYCHLAL FIBER: A manufactured, bicomponent fiber of polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl chloride. Some vinyl chloride is grafted to the polyvinyl alcohol (Japanese Chemical Fibers Association definition). The fiber is emulsion spun into tow and staple.

CHARACTERISTICS: Polychlal fibers have a soft, lamb’s wool-like hand and moderate moisture regain. The fibers are also characterized by high flame resistance and high abrasion resistance.

END USES: Polychlal fibers are suitable for end uses such as children’s sleepwear, blankets, carpets, curtains, bedding, upholstery, nonwovens, and papermaking.
POLYESTER FIBER: A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is any long chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 85% by weight of an ester of dihydric alcohol and terephthalic acid (FTC definition). The polymer is produced by the reaction of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid or its derivatives. Fiber forms produced are filament, staple, and tow. The process of production resembles that of nylon. Polymerization is accomplished at a high temperature, using a vacuum by one of two methods. (1) The glycol and a terephthalate ester react to form a polymer chain, releasing methanol; or (2) the glycol and terephthalic acid react directly to form the polymer with water as the by-product. As with nylon, the filaments are spun in a melt-spinning process, then stretched several times their original length, which orients the long chain molecules and gives the fiber strength.

CHARACTERISTICS: Polyester fibers have high strength and are resistant to shrinking and stretching. Fabrics are quick drying and tend to have wrinkle resistance and crease retention, wet and dry. Polyester is used alone and in blends. It has been one of the first fibers to be developed in fabrics with durable-press features.

END USES: Polyester is widely used in many types of apparel fabrics such as textured knits and wovens, durable-press blend fabrics, shirtings, dress goods, rainwear, worsted-blend summer suitings, sleepwear, underwear, bloused, and lingerie. It is also used extensively in floor coverings and for tire cord and other industrial uses such as sewing thread. Polyester fiberfill is used in filled items such as quilted jackets, comforters, pillows, furniture cushions, and sleeping bags.

POLYETHERETHERKETONE FIBER (PEEK): A manufactured fiber from polyetheretherketone polymer with high temperature and chemical resistance used in composites as a