Weighting

Description

A process of loading yarns or fabric with minerals or organic materials. Weighting fabrics increases their body, thickness and stiffness. From early times, silk fibers were sometimes weighted with sugar or gum to replace sericin that was lost during processing. From as early as 1548, tannins were used for weighting silk, often in combination with iron salts. Iron salts (sulfate, acetate, nitrate, tannate) were later used as a mordants and weighting agents in blue and black silks. From the mid-19th century, silk was weighted industrially using tin salts. By the end of the 19th century, several other metal salts were also being used. Metal salts usually accelerate degradation of the silk fibers. Examples of materials that have been used for weighting fabrics are: sugar, gum, starch, chalk, oil, wax, polyvinyl acetate, acrylic polymers, tannins, and inorganic salts of aluminum, tin, iron, lead, magnesium, tungsten, and zinc.

Synonyms and Related Terms

weighted silk

Hazards and Safety

Weighted fabrics are more susceptible to damage from sunlight, salts, perspiration and solvents.

Additional Information

M.Bogle, "The Deterioration of Silks through Artificial Weighting" Textile Conservation Center Notes, No.11, Merrimack Valley Textile Museum, MA, 1979.

Authority

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Rosalie Rosso King, Textile Identification, Conservation, and Preservation, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, 1985

• Meredith Montague, contributed information, 1998