DEVELOPING WAYS TO DETERMINE THE BLENDING PERFORMANCE OF MULTI-COMPONENTFIBER MIXTURES PART I: THE ANALYTICAL APPROACH

摘要

This paper represents a small part of an extensive study sponsored by Cotton Incorporated and the National Textile Center. Inthis study, we developed a new integrated analytical and experimental approach for handling the different aspects of fiberblending. In this Part of the study, we discuss the analytical approach. This is based on classifying the blending phenomenoninto four basic modes: structural blending, attributive blending, appearance blending, and interactive blending. Structuralblending implies the extent of geometrical allocation of different fiber segments within the structural boundaries of the fiberstrand. Attributive blending indicates the extent of interaction of different fiber attributes within the characteristic boundariesof the fibrous assembly. Appearance blending describes the extent of homogenization of color or component apparent intensityin the fiber assembly. Interactive blending implies the interaction between different fiber components during the blendingprocess. The concepts underlying the analyses of these different blending modes are discussed.