Vacuum Packing of Home Furnishings

Case Study on Blankets

Abstract

The vacuum packing of blankets has been investigated to reduce th bulk of the blanket. The applicability to practical use is also discussed.
Following results are obtained :
(1) To reduce the bulk of blanket by vacuum packing, it is necessary to regulate pre-conditioningby heat drying (without an increase in the level of segmental mobility in fibers).
To reduce the moisture regain of blanket, acrylic blankets should be dried for 40 minutes and wool blankets for 120 minutes at 58-60°C
(2) The compacting pressure should be determined by considering reduction ratio, kind of fibers, fabric weave of the blanket. Furthermore, the recovering ability of wrinkle and bulk of blankets after unpacking should also be considered .
(3) After vacuum-packing of the blanket, it is recomendedto store the blanket under low temperature of -2°C-0°C. Especially, the acrylic blanket recovers its thickness and creases quickly after unpacking.
(4) The questionnaire survey has shown that a vacuum-packed wool blanket is expected to recover its creases and bulk in short time of 24 hours by unpacking after 6-month storage at 10-30°C . By contrast, vacuum-packed acrylic blanket has some problems in crease recovery after unpacking.