Eri silk (Philosamia ricini) is a variety of wild silk originally from India and cultivated in other countries such as Thailand. It is known as a high elongation silk material from open-mouthed cocoon. Due to its discontinuous filament, it cannot be reeled in the silk-reeling process. In order to spun yarns with these fibres, it is necessary to process them in a discontinuous fibre system. Furthermore, it may be advantageous to use this silk material as a blend component with cotton fibre. In the present study, the Eri silk was treated in the degumming and bleaching processes according to the industrial method. The degummed silk was then cut and opened by recycling machines. The physical properties of Eri silk fibre were examined and compared with Thai pierced cocoon (Bombyx mori, Chul no 4) and Thai cotton variety. It is found that the length distribution and fineness of Eri silk are similar to the cotton fibre but the fibres are shorter and coarser than the pierced cocoon. Regarding the mechanical properties, Eri silk is more resistant than cotton, and also provides more strain than cotton and pierced cocoon. Two blending techniques -intimate blending and drawframe blending- were used in this study in order to blend silk and cotton at 50/50 ratio. The blended slivers as well as pure component ones were spun following ring spinning techniques. Due to a presence of non negligible amount of impurities in the Eri silk raw material and the small quantity disposed, it is necessary to prepare laps by the mean of a long fibre minicard prior to a industrial cotton card. Similarly, the cotton fibre was processed in the minicard at the same conditions. All the process parameters are the same except for ratch in the ring spinning process, which depends on the fibre length. The blended yarns for both blending techniques are evaluated in terms of evenness and mechanical properties and compared with those of pure components.
展开▼
