11—ASSESSMENT OF BLENDING TECHNIQUES IN WORSTED-YARN PRODUCTION PART I: FACTORS AFFECTING STREAKINESS

An account is given of the effect on the streakiness of coloured worsted yams of the use of different blending techniques, levelling colours, and different counts. The yarns were knitted into fabrics, and the streakiness of the fabrics was assessed by a panel of judges, whose ranking of the fabrics was analysed statistically. It is shown that the number of doublings employed during drawing has no effect on fabric streakiness. No difference in streakiness was observed between yams spun on a high-draft system and those spun on a conventional system. When pre-mixing was omitted, decreasing the weights of slivers and increasing their number produced only a slight improvement in the degree of mix, and maintaining an orderly arrangement of slivers behind the gill-box by means of special sliver guides led to only a slight improvement. Card-mixing is shown to be a valuable mixing technique that deserves serious consideration. The inclusion in a blend of additional components whose colours are intermediate to the ...