Determining the Permeability and Handle Properties of Wool, Yak and Cashmere Hand-knitted Fabrics

ABSTRACT

Luxury fibers are used for their tactile properties, comfortable feeling for the users, and sometimes for status in society. These fibers are all protein-based and have always been compared to the properties of wool. Cashmere is known for its incredibly soft and warm yet lightweight and breathable qualities, making it a must-have fabric for any fall and winter closet. Besides labored and time-wasting cashmere production makes the fiber very expensive. Yak fiber is an alternative to expensive cashmere with similar properties, which costs only a quarter of cashmere. In this study, air and water vapor permeability properties, which are important for consumer comfort were investigated in addition to handle properties of the fabrics compared with the properties of the fabrics made of wool fibers. It was found that yarns made of wool fibers were easy to spin in fine yarn counts whereas yarns made of yak fibers were the coarsest. Hand-knitted fabrics made of cashmere fibers had the softest feeling even if the fabrics were produced with similar technical specifications. The permeability results of the fabrics were different, especially the porosity of the fabrics had a higher impact on the permeability of the fabrics.

摘要

奢侈纤维被用于其触觉特性、使用者的舒适感，有时还用于社会地位. 这些纤维都是以蛋白质为基础的，一直被拿来与羊毛的性能进行比较. 羊绒以其令人难以置信的柔软、温暖、轻盈透气的品质而闻名，是秋冬衣橱的必备面料. 除此之外，羊绒的生产既费力又浪费时间，这使得纤维非常昂贵. 牦牛纤维是昂贵羊绒的替代品，具有类似的性能，而昂贵羊绒的价格仅为羊绒的四分之一. 在这项研究中，除了研究织物的处理性能外，还研究了对消费者舒适性很重要的透气性和水蒸气渗透性，并将其与羊毛纤维织物的性能进行了比较. 研究发现，羊毛纤维制成的纱线很容易纺成细纱线，而牦牛纤维制成的纱最粗. 由羊绒纤维制成的手工针织织物即使生产的织物具有类似的技术规格，也具有最柔软的感觉. 织物的渗透性结果各不相同，尤其是织物的孔隙率对织物的透气性影响较大.

KEYWORDS:

• Wool
• yak
• cashmere
• handle
• permeability
• color

关键词:

• 羊毛
• 牦牛
• 羊绒
• 手柄
• 渗透
• 颜色

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the late Dr. Erhan ATAV, who supplied white and brown yak fibers from local farms during his touristic visit to Mongolia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval is not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.