Page 132 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

112 Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Cuticle scale measurements have received increased prominence in relation to fraud
in cashmere exports from China to USA and Europe, which have been contaminated
with wool, both chemically treated to remove or modify cuticle scales, and dehaired
native wool, yak, and other fibers that were blended with cashmere (Anonymous,
2010). A comparison of the cuticle scale heights of mohair, cashmere, camel, alpaca,
yak, and a wide variety of sheep wools was made by Wortmann et al. (1988). The
sheep wools show a mean scale height of 0.7e0.9 mm, while the values for rare animal
fibers are around a mean of 0.3 mm(Fig. 4.2) with values of z0.5 mm being rare.

Scale height (µm)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Mohair Wool
Cap kid Buenos aires 39.1 µm
Cap young Westd. Crossbred 26.5 µm
Cap adult Neuseeland 37.2 µm
Texas kid Cap a. 18.9 µm
Texas young Austral. 32.2 µm 1.55
Texas adult Austral. 35.3 µm
1.75
Neuseel. 35.5 µm 1.52
Cashmere
Brasil. 23.0 µm
Afghan
Westd. 28.6 µm
Mongol
Austral. 26.3 µm
China
Cap 23.5 µm
Iran
Chubut 20.7 µm
Afghan
Argent. 24.2 µm
Other fibers
Chile 26.1 µm
Kamel
Uruguay 20.5 µm
Alpaka
Austral. 21.2 µm
Yak
Cap 22.2 µm
1.47
Cap 23.3 µm
Explanation
50% of all
values

Smallest value Largest value
Median
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Scale height (µm)
Figure 4.2 The mean and variation in cuticle scale heights of mohair, cashmere, camel, alpaca,
yak, and a range of sheep wool shown as box and whisker plots. Austral, Australian; Cap,
South African; Westd, West German. Values based on five measurements for each of 20 fibers
/sample (Wortmann et al., 1988).