Textile Testing:
Textile testing is a vital basic tool during the processing of a textile raw material into the product. It also helps the distributors and consumer to determine the end product’s quality. So, textile testing refers to the procedures adopted to determine quality throughout the textile product chain. It can be summarized as the application of engineering facts and science to determine the quality and properties of a textile product. In this article I will discuss importance and reasons for textile testing.
Importance of Textile Testing:
Textile testing is extremely important as it ensures quality and can eliminate any problems ahead of manufacturing. By textile testing we can easily detect the faults of machinery and materials during test of textiles. Following are the common importance of textile testing:
- To ensure the product quality
- To check the quality and suitability of textile raw material
- To control the manufacturing process
- To investigate the faulty materials
- For customer satisfaction and retention
- Good reputation (brand image) among consumers
- For research and development
- For product failure analysis
- For process development
- For new product development
- For product testing
- For conformity with government regulations and specifications
- To assess the quality of final product
Importance of textile testing is undeniable because it importantly supports the personnel involved in the textile supply chain, from the textile fiber to the end product. Persons involved in textiles should have knowledge of production as well as statistics. This helps them to interpret data efficiently.
The testing of textile products aids persons involved in the running of the production line. During testing, the discrepancy of the product, for example, its strength, maturity, waste percentage (for fibers), aerial density, and weave design (for fabrics), is properly measured. Thus the selection of the proper raw material is an important factor. Standards of control should be maintained to reduce waste, minimize price, and so on. Faulty machine parts or improper maintenance of the machines can be easily detected with the help of textile testing. Improved, less costly, and faster protocols can be developed by researchers with the aid of testing. The efficiency and quality of the product can also be enhanced with the help of regular and periodic testing. Customer satisfaction and loyalty can also be won by producing according to customer specification in good time. In short, testing is an essential pivot to the whole textile product supply chain.
Reasons for Textile Testing:
Textile testing is an expensive business. Because, testing needs to be carried out in a well-organized manner since test results are used for evaluating product or fabric quality. A laboratory has to be set up and furnished with a range of test equipment. Proper trained operators have to employ. Moreover all these costs are nonproductive and therefore add to the final cost of the product. Therefore it is important that testing is not undertaken without adding some benefit to the final product. There are a number of points in the production cycle where testing may be carried out to improve the product or to prevent sub-standard merchandise progressing further in the cycle.
Following are the important reasons for textile testing:
- Checking Raw Materials
- Monitoring Production
- Assessing the Final Product
- Investigation of Faulty Material
- Product Development and Research
All reasons for testing of textiles are described below.
1. Checking raw materials:
The production cycle as far as testing is concerned starts with the delivery of raw material. If the material is incorrect or sub-standard then it is impossible to produce the required quality of final product. The textile industry consists of a number of separate processes such as natural fiber production, man made fiber extrusion, wool scouring, yarn spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, knitting, garment manufacturing and production of household and technical products. These processes are very often carried out in separate establishments, therefore what is considered to be a raw material depends on the stage in processing at which the testing takes place. It can be either the raw fiber for a spinner, the yarn for a weaver or the finished fabric for a garment maker. The incoming material is checked for the required properties so that unsuitable material can be rejected or appropriate adjustments made to the production conditions. The standards that the raw material has to meet must be set at a realistic level. If the standards are set too high then material will be rejected that is good enough for the end use, and if they are set too low then large amounts of inferior material will go forward into production.
2. Monitoring production:
Production monitoring, which involves testing samples taken from the production line, is known as quality control. Its aim is to maintain, within known tolerances, certain specified properties of the product at the level at which they have been set. A quality product for these purposes is defined as one whose properties meets or exceeds the set specifications. Besides the need to carry out the tests correctly, successful monitoring of production also requires the careful design of appropriate sampling procedures and the use of statistical analysis to make sense of the results.
3. Assessing the final product:
In this process the bulk production is examined before delivery to the customer to see if it meets the specifications. By its nature this takes place after the material has been produced. It is therefore too late to alter the production conditions. In some cases selected samples are tested and in other cases all the material is checked and steps taken to rectify faults. For instance some qualities of fabric are inspected for faulty places which are then mended by skilled operatives; this is a normal part of the process and the material would be dispatched as first quality.
4. Investigation of faulty material:
If faulty material is discovered either at final inspection or through a customer complaint it is important that the cause is isolated. This enables steps to be taken to eliminate faulty production in future and so provide a better quality product. Investigations of faults can also involve the determination of which party is responsible for faulty material in the case of a dispute between a supplier and a user, especially where processes such as finishing have been undertaken by outside companies. Work of this nature is often contracted out to independent laboratories who are then able to give an unbiased opinion.
5. Product development and research:
In the textile industry, technology is changing all the time, bringing modified materials or different methods of production. Before any modified product reaches the market place it is necessary to test the material to check that the properties have been improved or have not been degraded by faster production methods. In this way an improved product or a lower-cost product with the same properties can be provided for the customer. A large organization will often have a separate department to carry out research and development; otherwise it is part of the normal duties of the testing department.
You may also like:
- What is Textile Testing and Quality Control (TTQC)
- Why Textile Testing is Important
- Scope of Fabric Testing | Different Types of Fabric Testing
- Reasons for Textile Testing and Different Fabric Test
- List of Basic Tests of Textile Fabric
- Different Types of Testing Equipments Used in Textile Lab
Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.