Abstract
Pilling on wool fibers is a serious defect not to be left unnoticed. We have investigated the behaviors of the formation and wearing off of pills on knit goods with the aid of a sponge- and-brush pilling tester.
(1) A distinct trait of pilling on wool fibers is that pills form rapidly and have a longer life than pills on other specimens (e.g., acrylic, cotton and their blends).
(2) The unit weight of pills fluctuates with the passing of abrasion time. It has a maximum weight point and increase gradually until it reaches that point.
(3) The unit weight of pills takes a maximum value when the speed of pill-formation in weight equals the speed of pill-wear off in weight. Until they are equal, the speed of pill-formation in weight exceeds the speed of wear off in weight and helps to increase the weight of pilling.
(4) The unit weight of pills is proportional to the amount of fuzz generated on knit goods.
(5) The maximum speed of pill-formation in weight arrives slightly later than the maximum amount of fuzz on knit goods.
(6) The amount of fuzz generated tends initially to increase sharply as a function of sponging time, then levels off as it approaches a nearly horizontal asymptote. Therefore, shearing fuzz in the early stage of abrasion is an efficacious method of pilling control.
