ICS 59.080.01 
W04 
 
 
 
  
National Standard of the 
People's Republic of China  
GB 9994-xxxx 
(Replacing GB 9994-2008 ) 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
Conventional moisture regains of textiles 
 
 
(Draft for approval) 
 
                      
 
Publishing date: xx-xx-xxxx  Im plementation date: xx-xx-xxxx  
Published by the General Administration of Quality Supervision,  
Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China 
   I  GB 9994-xxxx 
 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 
Chapter 4 of this Standard c ontains compulsory provisions. 
This Standard provides a draft of rules according to 
GB/T 1.1-2009. This standard replaces GB-9994-
2008 "Conventional Moisture Regains of Textiles". 
The main differences between this Standard and 
GB-9994 include: 
• The term ‘blended product’ has been changed to ‘multi-component product’ and notes on 
the scope have been deleted; 
• The conventional moisture regains of cotton fa bric, wool fabric, Modal fibre, and Lyocell 
fibre and aramid fibre have been modified; 
• The conventional moisture regains of Chitosa n fibre, polyethylene terephthalate fibre, 
polybutylene terephthalate fibr e, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibre, 
polyolefin elastic fibre, polyphenylene sulfid e fibre, polyimide fibre and carbon fibre  
have been added; and 
• Fluorocarbon fibre and its conventional moisture regain have been deleted. 
 
 
This Standard has been proposed by the China National Textile & Apparel Council and is 
the Basic Standards Subcommittee of the National Technical Committee for Textile Standardization is the authorit y responsible for this Standa rd (SAC/TC209/SC1). Bodies 
responsible for drafting this St andard: the Tex tile Industry Standardiza tion Institute and the 
Textile Industry Science and Technology Develo pment Centre. This Standard was drafted 
by Zheng Yuying, Xu Lu, Sun Ximin and Liu Feifei. 
Previous versions of this Standard include: 
GB 9994-1988 and 
GB 9994- 2008. GB 9994-xxxx 
1 
  
 
Conventional moisture regains of textiles 
 
 
  
 
1  Scope 
 
This Standard specifies the conventional moistu re regains of major te xtiles. It applies to 
textiles and can be used to cal culate conventional textile ma ss, yarn density, fabric mass 
per unit area and the fibre content in quantit ative analysis of multi-component products. 
 
2  Normative reference documents 
 
The following documents are indi spensable references for this  Standard. With regards to 
reference documents, only the dated version shall be applicable to this Standard. With regards 
to undated references, the late st edition of the document (i ncluding all amendments) shall 
apply. 
GB/T 4146.1   Textiles: Chemical Fibres: Generic terms (Part 1) 
GB/T 9995      Measure of moisture conten t and regains for textiles: Oven drying method 
GB/T 11951   Textiles: Natural fibres: Terminology 
3  Terms and definitions 
 
 
 
 
 
3.1Terms and definitions established in GB/T 4146.1 and GB/T 11951, as well as the 
following terms and definitions are applicable to this standard. 
 
Textiles 
A general term for raw materials to be proces sed into textiles, semi-finished products and 
finished products, including fibr es, slivers, yarns and fabrics.
 
3.2 
 
 
 
 
 
 3.3   
 
 
3.4   
  
3.5 Moisture regain 
The percentage of the mass of water existing in any form in the textile as compared to the 
dry mass of the material, measur ed using the prescribed method. 
 
 
Conventional moisture regain 
The agreed conventional value of moisture regain of a textile.   
Moisture regain in standard atmosphere 
After a textile is preconditioned, the moisture regain that said  textile reaches in standard 
atmosphere. 
 
 
Conventional mass                                                                                                                              
The mass obtained by adding to the oven-dry  mass of the textile to the conventional 
moisture regain mass of the textile. GB 9994-xxxx 
2 
  
4 Conventional moisture regains of textiles 
 
The conventional moisture regains of textiles are listed in Table 1. GB 9994-xxxx 
3 
  
Table 1 
  
Fibre 
type  
Textile  
Conventional 
moisture regain (%)
Cotton fibre 8.5 
Cotton yarn 8.5 
Cotton sewing thread 8.5  
 
 
Cotton 
Cotton fabric 8.5 
Scoured wool b  
(heterogeneous fleece)15.0 
Scoured wool b 
(homogeneous fleece) 16.0 
Comber noil 16.0 
Reused wool 17.0 
Dry combed top 18.25 
Oil combed top 19.0 
Worsted yarn 16.0 
Woolen yarn 15.0 
Yarn, knitting yarn 15.0 
Woven wool fabric 15.0 
Knitted wool fabric 15.0  
 
         
Wool 
Long-pile fabric 16.0 
Dehaired Cashmere 17.0 
Cashmere sliver 15.0 
Cashmere 
yarn15.0  
 
 
Cashmere 
Cashmere fabric 15.0 
Rabbit hair 15.0 
Camel 
hair  15.0 
Yak hair  15.0 
Alpaca 
hair  15.0  
                 
 
Wool a 
Mohair 
14.0 
 
 Ramie 12.0 GB 9994-xxxx 
4 
 Flax 12.0 
Jute 14.0 
Hemp 12.0 
Apocynum 12.0 
Sisal 12.0 
Mulberry silk 11.0  
Silk d Tussah silk 11.0 
Kapok fibre 10.9  
Other natural fibres c Coconut fibre 13.0 GB 9994-xxxx 
5 
  
Table 1 (continued) 
 
Fibre 
type Textile Conventional 
moisture regain 
(%) 
Viscose fibre 13.
Polynosic fibre 13.
Modal fibre 13.
Lyocell fibre 13.
Cupro fibre 13.
Acetate fibre 7.0 
Tri-acetate fibre 3.5 
Chitosan fibre 17.
Polyamide fibre (nylon) 4.5 
Polyethylene terephthalate 
(polyester) 0.4 
Polytrimethylene 
terephthalate fibre 0.4  
 
Acetate 
fibres 
Polybutylene terephthalate 
fibre 0.4 
Polyacrylonitrile fibre (acrylic) 2.0 
Polyvinyl alcohol fibre (PVA) 5.0 
Polypropylene fibre (PP) 0.0 
Polyethylene fibre 0.0 
Ultra-high molecular weight 0.0 
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) 0.0  
Chlorine-
containing fibres Polyvinylidene chloride 
(saran) 0.0 
Spandex 1.3 
Fluorine 0.0 
Aramid 1313 5.0 
Aramid 1414 (high modulus) 3.5  
Aromatic 
polyamide 
fibres 
(Aramid 
fibres) Aramid 1414 (other) 7.0 
Polylactic acid fibre 0.5 
Polyolefin elastic fibre 0.0 
Elastodiene fibre (rubber) 0.0 
Polyphenylene sulfide fibre 0.1   
                         
Chemical fibres 
c 
Polyimide fibre 1.5 
 Carbon fibre 0.0 GB 9994-xxxx 
6 
 Glass fibre 0.0 
Metal 
fibre 0.0 
a Besides wool and cashmere, other animal hair fibres all comprise fibres, yarns and 
fabrics.  
bScoured wool includes carbonized wool.  
C Comprises fibres, yarns and fabrics. 
dIncludes raw silk, dupioni silk, spun silk, processed silk, as well as and bleached, printed 
and dyed fabric.  
 
 
5. Moisture regains for fibres with unknown moisture regains and the products thereof 
 
5.1 Regarding new types of fibres, or those with unknown moisture regains and the products 
thereof, the standard fibre moisture regain s can replace the conventional moisture regains.  
 GB 9994-xxxx 
7 
 
5.2 The standard moisture regains shall be measur ed in accordance with the requirements of GB/T 
9995. 
Note: An explanatory note shall be made wher e a standard moisture regain in a standard 
atmosphere is used instead of conventional moisture regain. 
 
6. The moisture regains of multi-component products 
 
6.1 The conventional moisture regains of multi- component textile products are calculated by 
comparing the weighted average of the conventiona l moisture regains of each raw material with 
that of the multi-component product, a nd rounded off to the nearest decimal. 
6.2 The conventional moisture regain of multi- component products may be calculated either 
according to oven-dry mass blend ratio, or the co nventional mass blend ratio. See Formulae 1 and 
2.  
Note: To facilitate calculation, the conventional mass blend ratio is usually converted into the 
oven-dry mass blend ratio before us ing Formula 1) for calculation. 
a) Formula 1: The conven tional moisture regain ( R) is calculated using the oven-dry mass 
blend ratio and is expr essed as a percentage: 
R= A1R1 +A2 R2 +  +An Rn    
100 
 
a) Formula 2: The conven tional moisture regain ( R) is calculated usi ng the conventional mass 
blend ratio and is expr essed as a percentage: 
 
 
Where,    
A1, A2 , …An  is the oven-dry mass blend ratio of the fibre components in a multi-
component product, expressed as a percentage;  
B1,B2 …Bn is the conventional mass blend ratio of the fibre components in a multi-
component product, expressed as a percentage; and  
R1,R2      …. Rn is the conventional moisture regain of each fibre component, expressed as a 
percentage.  
7. Calculation of conventional mass 
 
7.1  The conventional mass ( Mr) of a single fibre is ca lculated using Formula 3. 
 
 
  
Where  GB 9994-xxxx 
8 
 md  is the oven-dry mass, measured in the same units as the conventional mass; and 
R is the conventional moisture rega in, expressed as a percentage.  
7.2  The conventional mass ( Mr) of a multi-component product is calculated using 
Formula 4. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
Where,  
md1,md2 …mdn  is the oven-dry mass of each fibre component, measured in the same units as the 
conventional mass; and  
R1,R2 …Rn is the conventional moisture regain of each  component, expressed as a percentage.