Standard Regain Testing Protocols for Importing Scutched Line Flax Fibres
Core oven drying per ISO 6741 fixes official commercial mass at 12.00% regain, protecting import margins against ocean freight transit moisture gain.
Strick Sampling
Bundle Selection
Manual fiber extraction techniques draw small, representative hand-sized bundles from bulk raw flax bales for physical grading and length measurement. Raw material inspectors employ strick sampling to extract intact fiber strands without breaking or tangling the long bast structures. Pulling small fiber bundles from multiple locations within a compressed bale yields representative test specimens for evaluating fiber fineness, color, strength and cleanliness.
Standardized extraction ensures that raw material pricing accurately reflects the actual fiber quality of delivered flax lots.
Sorting Technique
Systematic hand pulling removes representative fiber stricks from upper and lower layers of uncompressed flax bales arriving at spinning mills. Quality control technicians perform strick sampling by grasping fiber ends cleanly and pulling small bundles parallel to the lay of the bale to avoid damaging individual filaments. Extracted stricks undergo visual evaluation for hackling yield and residual shive content.
Consistent sampling technique prevents bias caused by surface contamination or localized compaction, providing mill managers with reliable data for blending decisions and carding adjustments during yarn preparation.
Evaluation Boundary
Material constraints restrict hand selection methods to long scutched flax strands rather than short tow fibers or combed slivers. Evaluation accuracy depends on operator skill, requiring standardized procedure guidelines to minimize human sampling variability across fiber lots.