Texturing
Also searched as: texturising, textured yarn, DTY, draw-textured yarn, false-twist texturing, air-jet texturing, ATY, bulked yarn
Texturing treats smooth continuous-filament yarn to give it crimp, loops or bulk, making it softer, fuller, more opaque or stretchier than flat filament yarn.
In detail
Flat synthetic filaments pack tightly and feel slick, and texturing disrupts that parallel arrangement. In false-twist texturing the yarn is twisted, heated so that the twisted form is set, cooled and then untwisted; because the twist exists only between two points, the filaments emerge with a set, helical crimp that gives stretch and bulk. In air-jet texturing, overfed filaments pass through a turbulent air jet that forms stable loops and entanglements, producing a spun-like yarn with little stretch. Stuffer-box and knit-deknit methods are other routes.
The science and numbers
False-twist machines commonly draw and texture partially oriented yarn (POY) in one step, called draw texturing; one review states that this route handles about 60 percent of the world's melt-spun filament yarn. Reported settings include exit speeds of about 600 to 900 m/min, heater temperatures around 200 to 220 C for polyester, and a disc-to-yarn speed ratio of roughly 1.9 to 2.1 on friction-disc twisters. Heat and torsion partly disorient the polymer's supramolecular structure. A second heater can reduce stretch and torque to make 'set' yarns. Air-jet texturing depends on overfeed into the jet, and filament preheating is reported to improve loop frequency, stability and bulk.
A practical example
A designer handles knit swatches made from the same polyester. The one from flat yarn is shiny, slippery and somewhat see-through; the one from false-twist textured yarn is matte, bulkier and stretches noticeably. A third, made from air-jet textured yarn, looks and feels closer to a spun-yarn fabric but lacks the stretch of the false-twist version.
What to distinguish
Textured does not mean staple: a textured yarn is still continuous filament and behaves differently from spun yarn in pilling and snagging. Texturing crimp is heat-set, so high temperatures in finishing, drying or ironing can relax it. The word also has an everyday meaning (a fabric's surface texture), so check whether a specification refers to the yarn process.
Origins and history
Texturing developed in the mid-twentieth century, once nylon and then polyester filament yarns were widely available, as a way to give them the stretch, comfort and cover associated with spun natural-fiber yarns. Early false-twist machines twisted yarn with rotating spindles; friction discs and belts later raised speeds, and research systems have replaced friction discs with water-jet twisters and steam heaters for texturing at up to about 1,500 m/min.
Related terms
Sources & further reading
- Preprints.org: A review on false-twist texturing
- ScienceDirect (Woodhead): False twist textured yarns
- Academia.edu: Air-jet texturing of draw-textured yarns
- ResearchGate: False-twist texturing with water-jet twister/cooler
Technical references reviewed 2026-09-22. Examples are illustrative. Industry organizations and manufacturers describe their own fields; their references are not independent product endorsements. Figures are approximate and depend on the stated test conditions.