1988 Volume 39 Issue 11 Pages 1179-1185
In order to clarify the reason of good warmth of silk fabric in low humidity conditions, thickness of the fabric is investigated precisely by measuring compressional property of the fabric in relation to relative humidity. It was shown that the thickness of silk fabric under small pressure became large at low humidity conditions because of changes in characteristics and shapes of silk single fiber. The crimp shrinkage of silk fiber increased and the fiber length along fiber axial direction decreased as decreasing relative humidity. Amplitude and wavelength of the crimp wave are quite random and irregular with one another and silk fiber assemblies are considered to become more bulky at low humidity conditions and this may be one of the reason why silk fabric is preferred mainly for autumn and/or winter clothes in Japan.
