16—THE VARIANCE BETWEEN ULTRA-SHORT LENGTHS OF YARN

A method for measuring the variance between ultra-short lengths of yarn is presented and shows that the reported flattening of the B(L) curve to a constant value in the B(0) region does not occur at lengths of down to at least 0.1 cm. The curve continues to rise logarithmically as the length decreases, possibly as far as 0.045 cm, though detection imperfections render readings at this length open to some doubt. Yarn irregularity is shown to be strongly dependent on fibre length and on yarn fineness, particularly at short test lengths, and the possibility of periodicities at less than 1-cm ‘wavelengths’ is shown to exist.