Predicting the Strength Variation of Wool from Its Diameter Variation

Abstract

In this study, we have derived and evaluated a simple statistical relationship between the coefficient of variation (CV) of fiber breaking load and that of minimum fiber diameter. This relationship indicates the CV of fiber breaking load is about twice the CV of fiber minimum diameter. We have made single fiber measurements on a recently developed single fiber analyzer (SIFAN). We test wool fibers for both diameter along the fiber length and fiber breaking load, and use the coefficient of variation of minimum fiber diameters ( CV_{D min}) to predict the CV of single fiber breaking load (CVF). The results support the statistically derived relationship between the CV of fiber breaking load and that of minimum fiber diameter. In addition, we modify an equation we derived in a previous study to better relate the fiber diameter variation to fiber strength variation for small fiber samples.