Wool Testing - News
- Brochures have now been added to the publications available for download, conformity assessments have been added to the Certification page, and additional services to the Scoured Wool page.
- Jeremy Wear has compared test statistics on scoured wool in New Zealand over a 4 year period in technical paper M26
, presented at IWTO Beijing - Further trial results with the OFDA4000 were also presented to the IWTO Beijing meeting (L13)
- Two new pages have been added: Testing of tops and sliver, and Fibre length distribution
- Info-bulletins are being progressively reviewed. A downloadable index has been added for convenience. We have also added a direct link to Info-bulletins on the home page.
- If you have an interest in downstream products such as garments or textiles, why not sign up to one of our consumer product newsletters? Following this link will give access to SGS's Consumer Compact and Safeguards free subscriptions. This will keep you updated on industry news, and legislative changes in various countries that may affect your products.
- Labelling issues connected with Superfine wool and Cashmere are covered in a combined Safeguards bulletin which can be downloaded here.
- Fibre curvature in alpacas is discussed in Info-bulletin 5.13.
- Wool sampling is discussed in Info-bulletin 5.12.
- IWTO has published a document to clarify the definition of IWTO Certificates, which can be downloaded here.
- When sending samples to us from overseas, it is vital that a completed MAF document accompanies the package (preferably in a transparent envelope on the outside) in order to clear quarantine requirements at the border - this applies whether the package is sent by courier, by post, or carried by hand. n order to be able to handle overseas samples we are licensed as a "transitional facility", which means that all foreign samples must be securely controlled through to destruction. This license is renewed annually. If you already have a copy on file, please replace it with the latest version (MAF.pdf).
- Info-bulletin 1.6 discusses the importance of staple strength to fine wool growers and how they may improve their returns by both having their wool tested for staple length and strength and selecting animals to produce more uniform lines.
- Info-bulletin 1.4 (What do staple length and strength data mean?) has been updated with the TEAM-3 processing prediction formulae introduced this season.
- Helen Moore, a student at Massey University Department of Fashion and Textiles, won the "Kiwiana" and "Best use of fibres" awards at the 2006 Hokonui Fashion Design competition using some of our surplus scoured wool sample material <the dress> (photo by Linda Robertson, from www.hokonuifashion.com).
- Training of technicians for animal fibre blend analysis is discussed in a technical paper by Bill Ainsworth and Liqin Zhang, here.
- Insect-resist treatments on NZ scoured carpet wool have been a source of confusion since requirements vary from country to country. Info-bulletin 5.11 provides information on typical specifications and issues.
- Our recently-launched SGS Cashmere Labs range of services has demonstrated major growth within a matter of months. Careful attention to accurate and harmonised analytical quality across the 3 major laboratories in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bradford, together with development of a growing library of verifiably-traceable fleece samples from flocks across the world gives this service a major reliability advantage over other fibre composition laboratories. Further information can be found here.
- At the IWTO Cairo meeting a research paper was presented on the development and performance of a novel X-ray based portable and rapid yield measuring instrument. A copy of the paper may be downloaded here.
- Our Timaru fleece testing laboratory has moved to: 36 Meadows Road, Washdyke (at the entrance to Canterbury Woolscour). Tel.: 03.688.7107, Fax: 03 688 7108.
- Our Napier office has moved to: 176 Hyderabad Road, Ahuriri. Tel: 06-831-0870, Fax: 06-831-0880.
- A new section has been added to the website dealing with specialty fibres.
- Two new Info-bulletins have been added:
- Info-bulletin 3.12
Alpaca fleece testing. - Info-bulletin 5.10 Scouring detergent residues.
- Info-bulletin 3.12
- At the IWTO meetings in Biella in November 2005, there were two actions that affect fibre length measurement:
- Significant amendments were made to IWTO-17 (length by Almeter) to clarify sampling regimes, to remove obsolete options, and to update the precision statistics.
- A new draft test method (DTM-62) was finally agreed for "Determination of fibre length, length distribution, mean fibre diameter and fibre diameter distribution of wool top and slivers by the OFDA4000".
- Certificate validations – any of our certificates can be validated by faxing or emailing a copy to +64.4.387.8651 or E-mail.
- A new page has been added to cover some aspects of Accuracy and Precision.
- Two new Info-bulletins have been added:
- Info-bulletin 4.4 on 'Scouring outcomes' discusses some of the issues that can arise when predicting scoured properties from greasy wool inputs.
- Info-bulletin 5.9 on 'Test Precision' gives guidelines on the precision values for the most common tests. Whilst this 4 page document lists precision estimates for many situations, it is not definitive since the precision often depends on many parameters and for simplicity only the most frequently used are tabulated.
- A technical paper on the prediction of bulk using OFDA instruments has been added to the technical section (M24).
