The influence of front-loading and top-loading washing machines on the persistence, redistribution and secondary transfer of textile fibres during laundering

Rebecca Szewcow, James Robertson, Claude Patrick Roux

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    21 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This study investigated the influence of several factors on the redistribution of extraneous textile fibres on garments during machine washing. Cotton T-shirts were seeded with known numbers of acrylic, wool and viscose target fibres in controlled positions and laundered in top-and front-loading machines, both individually and accompanied by undergarments. The persistence of target fibres was low (generally <10%), but never zero. Between 50% and 100% of recovered fibres were redistributed away from the primary contact area. A secondary transfer of target fibres always occurred to at least one undergarment, 90% of experiments resulting in fibres transferred to the inside surface of the undergarments. This implies that whilst valuable fibre evidence may be recovered from garments after machine washing, the location of recovered fibres should not be relied upon to corroborate alleged scenarios when it is known or suspected that the garment under investigation has been laundered.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)263-273
    Number of pages11
    JournalAustralian Journal of Forensic Sciences
    Volume43
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • fibers
    • laundry
    • persistence
    • textile fibers
    • washing machines

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