Changes in fibre curvature during the processing of wool and alpaca fibres and their blends

This paper studied the wool and alpaca fibre curvature and its variation during the fibre processing. It revealed the effect of wool fibre crimp on the cohesion properties of alpaca and wool blended slivers. Different wool and alpaca tops were blended via a number of gillings, and the role of wool fibre curvature in alpaca/wool blend processing has also been investigated. During the wool fibre processing, fibre curvature tended to diminish gradually from scoured fibre to top. Blending wool with alpaca fibres improved the cohesion properties of the blended sliver, compared with pure alpaca slivers. For a high ratio of alpaca component in the blend, a high-crimp wool should be used to achieve good sliver cohesion.