Efforts to control pilling in wool/cotton fabrics

To determine nylon's role in pilling and to examine how resistance to pilling can be increased in a commercial wool/cotton/nylon knit blend, new blends without nylon were constructed, unchlorinated wool was substituted for chlorinated (shrinkproofed) wool, and functional finishes were applied. Pilling was measured by an ASTM standard test and the results correlated with an image analysis method. There was less tendency to form pills in blends of wool treated by chlorination, yet unchlorinated wool blends attained higher resistance to pilling when finished with soft acrylic resins combined with dimethylsiloxane, synthetic waxes, glyoxal, and melamine. There was less pilling when nylon was absent. Untreated wool/cotton textiles can be made resistant to pilling provided the appropriate finish is applied. Cost comparisons showed that removing nylon from these blends can offer the consumer a product with good pilling resistance and cost savings to the manufacturer.