A Survey of 18-Ounce Blended Serge Fabrics: Manufacturing and Physical Properties

This report describes the manufacturing and physical properties, of 20 experimental serge fabrics which will be evaluated as alternate fabrics for the 18-ounce, all-wool serge now used by the Army and Air Force. These experimental fabrics are blends of wool with such synthetic fibers as have shown promise of being good "wool-supply extenders" as well as wear and appearance improvers. During the manufacture of these fabrics, the modified Bradford worsted system was found to be satisfactory and no greater production difficulty was encountered than is normally met with in processing the all-wool standard fabric. All of the blends met the specification requirements for weight and strength. Each of the fiber types, however, when blended with wool, will require modification of the specification in terms of ends and picks per inch. Although dyeing all-wool fabrics to match Air Force Shade Blue 84 is possible, dyeing of the blends was only partially successful, therefore greater experience must be gained by the mills in dyeing these fabrics before the specification requirements for shade can be consistently met on a full production basis. Data on the evaluation of these fabrics in the laboratory and by means of accelerated wear and service acceptability tests will be published in later reports.