The Influence of Moisture Content on Shrinkage of Wool Fabrics during Domestic Tumble Drying Process

Abstract

Shrinkage of wool fabrics caused during tumble drying is a serious defect. In the drying process, the felting shrinkage of wool fabrics was influenced by the moisture content and temperature of wool fabric as well as mechanical action being applied on the wool fabric. In the current study, the relationship between moisture content of wool fabrics and shrinkage was studied in the drying programs under no heating condition or heated condition. This study also analyzed shrinkage behaviors of the untreated wool fabric and the Chlorine-Hercosett treated wool fabric with different moisture contents. For the untreated wool fabric, moisture content in the fabric could influence the mechanical properties of wool fibers, resulting in the different extent of felting shrinkage of wool fabric during tumble drying. For the Chlorine-Hercosett treated wool fabric at different initial moisture contents, there was no obvious variation in the length change under no heating condition, but a slight difference in the shrinkage under heated condition. The study could lead to the new guidance for efficient drying of wool fabric with less felting shrinkage.