Quantitative Fiber Mixture Analysis by Scanning Electron Microscopy

Abstract

The possibilities and limitations of analyzing by scanning electron microscopy wool blended with two unmedullated specialty fibers, mohair and cashmere, were studied. The measurement of the height of the cuticle scale at the scale edge was used as an objective criterion for distinguishing between the wool and the specialty fibers. For both blend types and for the experimental procedure used, the mean absolute error of 1% was less than a third of the mean confidence distances and compared well with the accuracy of the chemical methods of analyzing fiber blends. The remaining errors were attributed to purely random variations, so that systematic errors of any kind can largely be excluded.