The use of proteolytic enzymes to reduce wool-fibre stiffness and prickle

Carefully controlled treatments with proteolytic enzymes were used to reduce the buckling load and collapse energy of wool yarns. These treatments are shown to improve the softness and reduce the subjectively perceived prickle of fabrics knitted from the treated yarns. A new yarn-bundle compression test was used to quantify changes in the fibre-buckling properties. The method discriminates between wool samples that differ by about 1.0 mm in mean fibre diameter.