The Influence of Silk/Cotton Blending in Microspinning on the Tactile Feeling of Knitted Fabrics

Abstract

Using the framework of a general study on the ‘spinnability’ of silk/cotton blends, studies have been carried out to characterize the mechanical properties and tactile feeling of these blended textiles for different blend proportions, processing, and yarn count. The variable spinning parameters include the type of silk fibre, the blending technique (intimate and drawframe blending) and the silk content in the blend (25 and 50&), as well as the pure cotton used as the reference. Yarns and knitted fabrics have been produced and tested using classical processing methods and test instruments. However, the instrumental test measurements do not seem to be relevant for characterizing the influence of the variable processing parameters on the hand improvement of the final knitted fabric. Therefore, sensory analysis methodologies have been used to objectively describe the tactile feeling of these products compared to the cotton one. In this paper, the results of both analyses show that the changes in the physical properties of the blended yarns and the tactile feeling of the knitted fabrics are affected more by the blending technique than by the silk content.

Citation

R., C., L., S., A., S. and D.C., A. (2005), "The Influence of Silk/Cotton Blending in Microspinning on the Tactile Feeling of Knitted Fabrics", Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 71-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/RJTA-09-03-2005-B011