The textures of nine covering fabrics for car seat were evaluated by male students in their twenties and male experts in their fifties using only human tactile sensation, and physical properties of those fabrics were measured. We examined the correlations between the subjective evaluations of the texture image and the physical properties of covering fabrics. It was determined that image adjectives had correlations with physical adjectives, and physical adjectives had correlations with physical properties in both of the test groups. We developed objective evaluation equations for predicting a texture image by multiple regression analysis using the principal component of physical properties as explanatory variables and the mean preference scores of image adjectives as criterion variables. And it was confirmed that the texture image was predicted by the physical properties of covering fabrics.

One of the important end-use performance measures of fabrics and other textile products is the handle, which measures the quality of fabrics as evaluated by reactions obtained not only tactilely but also visually. The well-known Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) includes both an objective evaluation and a prediction method of the handle. However, objective evaluations of the handle based on a visual perception of fabric aesthetics have not been investigated systematically. Thus, as the first step of a systematic study, we attempted to carry out a sensory evaluation of fabric aesthetics by experts on textile and untrained consumers using worsted and spun silk woven fabrics, which have different material effect and structural effect. Thereafter, the mean preference scores were examined by factor analysis to identify the principal factors of fabric aesthetics. From the result, it was found that two common factors--"Luster and depth sensation" and "Surface roughness sensation"--were identified tentatively as the principal factors of fabric aesthetics.

We have developed a mechanical hybrid yam spinning system that produces different kinds of yam on a modified open-end rotor spinning frame. In order to understand the characteristics of hybrid yam and produce novel yarns, it is necessary to investigate yarn formation and the twisting mechanism in the spinning rotor during yam production. Our results reveal that the rotor revolution generally results in combining the filament yam and the staple fiber strand. The fiber twist angle of the strand in a hybrid yarn is smaller than that of a rotor spun single yam with the same spinning conditions. Although a fed filament yam has a false twist inserted by increasing the filament over-feed, the filament yarn in the hybrid yarn has a smaller level of fiber twist angle in the same direction as the twist of the staple fiber strand due to untwisting of the false twist.

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