Understanding Morphology, next to Skin Comfort, and Change of Properties during Washing of Knitted Blends of Eri Silk

Authors

  • Rebecca Van Amber Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Geelong
  • Rangam Rajkhowa Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Geelong
  • Rechana Remadevi Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Geelong
  • Dilip Barooah Fabric Plus Ltd. Guwahati, India
  • Maryam Naebe Deakin University, Institute for Frontier Materials, Geelong

Abstract

Eri silk is a commercial variety of non-mulberry silk. It has competitive advantage of rearing and special characteristics compared to other silk varieties. However, only a few studies investigating properties of Eri silk fabrics have been published. The purpose of this work was to investigate the properties of knitted fabrics composed of Eri silk and blends with other animal protein fibers. Pure Eri silk yarn and blends with Merino wool/ cashmere and Suri alpaca were knitted into coarse and fine fabric structures. Fabrics mass per unit area, thickness, dimensional stability, handle and next to skin comfort properties were assessed before and after laundering for the first time. Most of the properties changed due to washing, with overall handle and comfort decreasing. The finding suggests that Eri silk fibres are best suited to blending with other protein fibres of similar fibre diameter and extra controls are required to ensure that the Eri fibres remain on the surface of the yarn, not migrate to the interior. The results suggest that properties of knitted Eri silk and Eri blend can be improved by appropriate blending of fibres of required fineness and changing the yarn manufacturing parameters.

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Published

2018-10-15

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 4 (2018)

Section

Peer Reviewed Article

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