Characteristics of fibre blends

Blended yarn parameters

Often we mix different fibres, say cotton and polyester fibres or polyester and viscose fibres to produce yarns. When
we mix 2 different types of fibres, the mix, the fibre mix is often called as fibre blends. This fibre blends are important
to achieve functional properties, aesthetic properties, performance of the materials and also it is done to reduce the
cost of materials.

ti Average fineness of the ith component fibre

Notations ρi
si
Average density of the ith component fibre
Average cross-sectional area of the ith component fibre
.
.

t Average fineness of the fibre blend

ρ Average density of the fibre blend
s Average cross-sectional area of the fibre blend
Mass fraction, gi

Sometimes we call it as mass proportion. Often in textile industries, we mix fibres in terms of mass fraction or
mass proportion.

So in textile industry, we say 67% cotton fibres and 33% polyester fibres are mixed. That means here g for cotton
fibre is 67% and g for polyester fibre is 33%. As mass or weight is easy to measure, we often in industry go by
mass fraction or mass proportion.

Mass fraction/ mass proportion of the ith component of fibre is denoted by g i

Mean fibre density, ρ

Volume of the ith component

Mean fibre density

It is the harmonic mean of the individual component fibre densities weighted by mass fraction of the fibres in the blend
Volume fraction, vi and Mean Fibre Fineness, t

Volume fraction of the ith component

Mean Fibre Fineness,

Li = total length of all fibres of ith component

So here again we see that the mean fibre fineness of the blend is the harmonic mean of the fineness of individual components
weighted by mass fraction of the blend, fibres in the blend
 Mean fibre cross-sectional area

So here again the mean fibre cross-sectional area=the harmonic mean of the individual components cross-sectional area
weighted by the volume fraction, not by the mass fraction.
Mean equivalent fibre diameter
 Length fraction and Mean fibre length

Ni is the number of fibre in ith component of fibres

Number fraction (Relative Frequency), υi
Summary
Numerical

Consider a bi-component fibre blend that is made up of 40% cotton fibres by weight and 60% polyester fibres by weight.
The average properties of individual fibre components are:

Cotton: Fineness 1.5 dtex; length 28 mm; and density 1520 Kg/m 3
Polyester: Fineness 1.7 dtex; length 40 mm; and density 1360 Kg/m 3

Estimate the following characteristics of the blend:

1.Average Fineness
2.Average length
3.Average density
4.Volume fraction
5.Average cross-sectional area
6.Average diameter
7.Length fraction
8.Number fraction
 Cotton (40%): Fineness 1.5 dtex; length 28 mm; and density 1520 Kg/m 3
Solution Polyester (60%): Fineness 1.7 dtex; length 40 mm; and density 1360 Kg/m 3

Average Fineness

Average Length Length fractions

Average Density
 Cotton (40%): Fineness 1.5 dtex; length 28 mm; and density 1520 Kg/m 3
Solution Polyester (60%): Fineness 1.7 dtex; length 40 mm; and density 1360 Kg/m 3

Volume fractions Average Cross-

sectional Area

Average Diameter
 Cotton (40%): Fineness 1.5 dtex; length 28 mm; and density 1520 Kg/m 3
Solution Polyester (60%): Fineness 1.7 dtex; length 40 mm; and density 1360 Kg/m 3

Number Fractions