Mixture (textile)

In the textile industry, a mixture is understood to be a thread or a flat structure that consists of more than one material.

One tries to combine their positive properties by mixing different types of fiber. An example: Cotton absorbs moisture well, but does not give it off again, which makes clothing feel damp and uncomfortable on the skin. Polyester absorbs moisture less well, but releases it again quickly. A cotton / polyester mixture absorbs moisture well and releases it again. For this and above all price reasons, many sportswear items are made from cotton / polyester blends.

One differentiates:

• System mix : the individual threads are made of different materials (for fabrics e.g. warp made of cotton - weft made of polyester)
• intimate mix : the threads themselves are made of different materials. A distinction can be made between twine mixtures (two different threads twisted) and fiber mixtures ( fibers already mixed and then only spun). In this way, completely different color effects or product properties are obtained with an identical mix of materials.

The most common are mixing ratios of: 30/70, 50/50 and 70/30.

The dyeing of mixtures is a special art, as the types of fibers used can differ greatly in terms of their optimal dyeing conditions (such as temperature , pH value and chemical additives) and the dyes are sometimes based on the wrong type of fiber (so-called "soiling") or Pull up unevenly.