The Comparison of Physical Characteristics of Anatolian Native Goat Down Fibers With Cashmere

Abstract

Very fine and soft down fibers of native goats can have a potential as a valuable raw-material source for high-quality products. Therefore, down fibers were collected from native goats raised in different regions of Turkey, then their physical properties were analyzed and results were compared with cashmere fibers. Along with fiber diameter and fiber length, which are the most important parameters regarding spinnability of a textile fiber, fiber scale characteristics of Anatolian native goat down fibers were reported for the first time. In this respect, scale pattern, mean scale density, cuticle scale height, curvature, visual fiber crimp were analyzed as well as fiber tenacity and breaking elongation properties. The economical potential of these fibers in Turkey were also investigated. The findings of this work showed that average fiber fineness changed between 14-19 mu m while the single fiber length varied as 33.0-61.0 mm. The mean scale density and cuticle scale height were between 6-7 scales/100 mu m and 0.41-0.55 mu m, respectively while the visual crimp frequency was 5-6 crimps/cm. On the other hand, the average tenacity and breaking elongation was above 12 cN/tex and 28%, respectively. These results show that these native goat down fibers, that have been wasted mostly, have very similar properties to cashmere fibers with adequate properties for spinnability, hence they have a potential for high-quality textile products as a substitute for cashmere fiber.