November 4, 2009

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By Ron Pacheco

Chenille is defined in Dan River Dictionary of Textile Terms as “a fuzzy yarn whose pile esembles a caterpillar. This yarn is used for filling in cloth for embroidery, tassels, rugs and draperies. Named for the French word meaning caterpillar. Also name of the fabric woven from chenille yarns”. Women’s chenille robes and blouses are a very popular items and have been sold by major retailers for many years. So what’s the problem???

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Some years ago 100% cotton chenille disappeared from the market because of the fact that upon testing for flammability according to the Flammable Fabrics Act (16 CFR Part 1610) when the one second impingement was applied, a surface flash of the surface of the fabric occurred causing the testing specimen to ignite and fail. When polyester was added to the chenille yarn the surface flash disappeared and these fabrics would then pass easily.

Recently there have been a rash of burn injuries leading to 9 deaths due to robes made of chenille yarn. Why all of sudden do we have this unusual problem? There are possibly a number of reasons.

First of all where these fabrics properly tested by an independent laboratory? Did the laboratory use the proper test procedure (16CFR Part 1610)? Did the aboratory properly evaluate the tested specimens? Was the fabric tested in the original state and after one dry cleaning/one laundering as prescribed by the regulation?

Other questions that need to be asked and answered are how many launderings were performed by the owners of these failed garments. Were the items laundered & dried with the use of fabric softeners? It is well known that the use of fabric softeners in the wash and in the drying can create different burning characteristics.

It is difficult if not impossible to resolve these recent flammability deaths until we get some, if not all, of the above questions answered.

Ron Pacheco is Technical Director Textiles at Logical Metrics. Contact him at at ron.pacheco@logicalmetrics.com / ron@rjpacheco.com or visit www.get-logical.com.