Tensile Properties of Australian Soft Rolling Skin Wool and Conventional Merino Wool

ABSTRACT

Tensile properties are important to wool fiber because of their direct effect on the mechanical properties of wool yarns and fabrics. Many studies have been conducted to understand these fiber properties of conventional merino (CM) wool, while those of Australian Soft Rolling Skin (SRS) wool are not yet clear. In this work, SRS wool was compared with CM wool to find out the difference in these two types of wool and explore the underlying reasons for this difference. Experimental results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in the breaking strength between SRS and CM wool, while the average breaking elongation is slightly higher for SRS wool (37%) than CM wool (34%). SRS wool (2.38 GPa) has a lower modulus than CM wool (2.53 GPa). The lower coefficient of variation of mean fiber diameter (MFD) along fiber length (fiber irregularity) is likely responsible for the higher breaking elongation for SRS wool. These findings add new knowledge to the literature on SRS wool and may have implications for the processing performance of SRS wool.

摘要

拉伸性能对羊毛纤维非常重要, 因为它们直接影响羊毛纱线和织物的力学性能. 为了了解传统美利奴(CM)羊毛的这些纤维特性, 已经进行了许多研究, 而澳大利亚软卷皮(SRS)羊毛的纤维特性尚不清楚. 在这项工作中, SRS羊毛与CM羊毛进行了比较, 以找出这两种羊毛的差异, 并探索这种差异的潜在原因. 实验结果表明, SRS羊毛和CM羊毛的断裂强度没有统计上的显著差异, 而SRS羊毛的平均断裂伸长率(37%)略高于CM羊毛(34%). SRS羊毛(2.38 GPa)的模量低于CM羊毛(2.53 GPa). 平均纤维直径(MFD)沿纤维长度(纤维不规则性)的较低变异系数可能是SRS羊毛断裂伸长率较高的原因. 这些发现为SRS羊毛的文献增添了新的知识, 并可能对SRS羊毛的加工性能产生影响.

KEYWORDS:

• wool
• tensile properties
• breaking strength
• breaking elongation
• fiber irregularity

关键词:

• 羊毛
• 拉伸性能
• 断裂强力
• 断裂伸长率
• 纤维不规则性

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge Graham Walters, Errol Brumpton, Jim Gordon, Sally Watts and the late Dr Jim Watts for their great assistance with wool sampling for this work. The authors are also grateful to Deakin Advanced Characterisation Facility (Dr. Adam Taylor and Dr. Andrew Sullivan) for technical support. This work was also supported in part by the ARC Research Hub for Future Fibers (IH140100018).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the ARC Research Hub for Future Fibers [IH140100018].