Mechanical Behavior of Silk Fabric with Different Fiber Diameters Using a Non-contact Laser sensor

In this study, the development of a laser-sensor-based, non-contact size control system for reeling thin raw silk is described. Thin raw silk cannot be reeled with current automatic reeling machines because they yield unusual silk fabrics. The effectiveness of the developed system was confirmed by a comparison of the properties of raw silk obtained from the developed system with that obtained from a conventional silk reeling machine. Next, for thin and thick raw silk, which are thinner than 10 d (denier, 1 denier = 1 gram per 9,000 meters) and thicker than 100 d, respectively, the influence of raw silk size and twist number on the characteristics of the obtained twisted yarn was examined. The results showed that the thread properties are strongly influenced by the twist number. Furthermore, the fiber number influenced the fiber structure, depending on the raw silk size. The bending characteristic of a 100 d silk was shown to be particularly good among the degummed silk. It was also shown that silk with lower bending strength and greater bending recovery can be crafted using thicker raw silk. In addition, thin and thick fabrics were woven using thin and thick raw silk respectively and the texture of each fabric was measured using the JIS test fabric silk as a control. The Hakugin fabric was found to be soft because the value of its "KOSHI" (stiffness) and "HARI" (anti-drape stiffness) was low and that of its "SHINAYAKASA" (flexibility) was high. Furthermore, the level of significance for the main and combinational effects for the "softness" and "luster" categories was 1%, that for the combinational effect for the "smoothness" category was 1%, and that for the main effect for the "likability" category was 1% respectively.