Evaluation of Comfort and Handle Behavior of Mulberry Silk Waste/Wool Blended Fabrics for End Use

The present study investigates tactile, thermal, physiological comfort, and hand values of newly developed mulberry silk waste/wool blended fabrics for end use. Intimate blended fabrics S1 (65s/35w, 2/33 × 33 tex) and S2 (65s/35w, 2/25 × 25 tex) had higher resilience as well as warpwise extensibility, whereas union-blended fabrics S3 (100w × 65s/35w, 2/33 × 33 tex) and S4 (100w × 65s/35w, 2/25 × 25 tex) had high bending hysteresis, high tensile energy, lower coefficient of friction, and less geometric roughness. S1, S2, and S4 fabrics exhibited higher transmission properties against air and moisture vapor whereas S3 fabric showed superior thermal insulation properties. S1 found significantly different (p ≤ .05) from S2 in terms of smoothness, uniformity, and aesthetic appearance. Total hand value of developed fabrics showed its suitablilty for women's light weight winter dress material and suitings, whereas union-blended fabrics were suitable for men's winter suitings. Stoles, mufflers, throws, and khes (bed covering) were the most suitable end uses in terms of intimate blended fabrics while shawls, lohis (gents shawl) mufflers, and khes were the most suitable end uses of union-blended fabrics.