Standard wool fabric as a reference material

Standard wool fabric is investigated as a potential reference material. A screening test method for relative toxicity exposes four albino male rats enclosed in a 4.2 liter hemispherical chamber to pyrolysis effluents produced by pyrolyzing a 1.00 g sample under a variety of test conditions (200-800 C with a 40 C/min heating rate). It is found that for fabrics containing 86-100% wool, animal response remains virtually unchanged, although a 100% wool fabric is preferred as it eliminates local composition differences as a source of variation.