STEELY (LOW-CRIMP LOW-STRENGTH) AND DOGGY (LOW-CRIMP NORMAL-STRENGTH) WOOLS - SOME NOTES ON PERFORMANCE

Steely wool has a low crimp rate and low strength and doggy wool a low crimp rate but normal strength, so that both wools are exceptionally useful experimental materials. An account is given in this paper of a comparison of the processing behaviour of wools of the two types with that of matched normal wools from yarn to fabric. The tensile properties and abrasion-resistance of the anomalous wools were as expected, but an unusual effect of the steely wool in washing shrinkage was found. The presence of steely-wool yarn in one direction (e.g., warp) caused increased shrinkage of the yam in the cross direction. Thus, in a fabric with a steely-wool warp yarn and a normal-wool weft yarn, the shrinkage index of the weft yam increased from 1.8 to 3.0; when the normal-wool yarn was used as warp with a steely-wool weft, the increase was from 1.7 to 2.4, This co-operative shrinkage did not occur with the doggy wool; it is thought to be caused by the low tensile modulus of the steely wool. © 1969 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.