Reasons for Textile Testing and Different Fabric Test

Reasons for Textile Testing and Different Fabric Test

Muhammad Bilal Younas
Dept. of Textile Engineering
University of Management & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Email: 101611005@umt.edu.pk

Reasons for Textile Testing
The testing of textile products is an expensive business. A laboratory has to be set up and furnished with a range of test equipment. Trained operatives have to be employed throughout the year. All these costs are nonproductive and therefore add to the final cost of the product. There are a number of reasons in the production cycle where textile testing may be carried out to improve the product.

1. Checking Raw Materials
2. Monitoring Production
3. Assessing the Final Product
4. Investigation of Faulty Material
5. Product Development and Research

Greige Fabric Faults
Before going to textile testing we should know about fabric faults. The greige fabric faults can be categorized into the followings;

1. Spinning Faults
2. Warping Faults
3. Sizing Faults
4. Production Faults
5. Maintenance Faults

1) Spinning Faults

• Black Ends
• Count Variation
• Shade Variation
• Cockled Yarn
• Polypropylene

2) Warping Faults

• Extra End/ Double End
• Loose End

3) Sizing Faults

• Hard Size/ Size Hole/ Over Size
• Sizing Stains
• Sizing Balls/Beeds

4) Production Faults

• Miss Pick
• Double Pick
• Hanging Thread
• Wrong Drawing
• Wrong Denting
• Count Mix
• Broken End/ Short End

5) Maintenance Faults

• Starting marks
• Repping mark
• Nozzle mark
• Temple mark
• Temple cuts (warp/weft cuts)
• Let off mark
• Shadow
• Lashing in
• Floats
• Reed cuts
• Reed mark
• Oil/grease stains
• Weft loose
• Short double picks
• Reediness
• Needle top
• Needle mark
• Short miss picks
• Crack
• Snarling

There is another comprehensive article on greige faults. You can see here, Greige Fabric Inspection | Greige Fabric Defects, Causes and Their Remedies

ABRASION RESISTANCE
“The resistance offered by the fabric against the production of pills is called as abrasion resistance.”

Factors Affecting Abrasion Resistance
The factors that have been found to affect abrasion resistance include the following:

1. Fiber Type
2. Fiber Properties
3. Yarn Twist
4. Fabric Structure

ABRASION TESTS

Factors Affecting Abrasion Tests
The factors which can affect the results of an abrasion test are the following.

1. Type of Abrasion.
2. Type of Abradant
3. Pressure
4. Speed
5. Tension
6. Direction of Abrasion

Snagging
“A snag is a loop of fiber that is pulled from a fabric when it is in contact with a rough object.” Snags detract (take away) from the appearance of the fabric but do not reduce its any other property.

Fabrics made from bulked continuous filament yarns and woven fabrics with long floats suffer this problem (snagging).

Mace Snagging Test
The mace snagging test is a comparative test for the snagging of knitted fabrics of textured polyester yarn. In the test a metal ball fitted with spikes bounces randomly against a sleeve of the test fabric as it rotates. The spikes only catch the loops of threads that are lying in a particular position, so that it is important to test both directions of a fabric.

Creasing of Fabrics

Crease Angle
“The angle between two limbs of a sample after creasing under standard conditions is called crease angle.” This angle is the measure of resistance of fabric to creasing.

Crease Resistance
“The ability of textile fabric due to which it resists against deformation in its shape is known as crease resistance.” (More resistance means less crease production.)

Crease Recovery
“The power of textile fabric to recover from creasing in known as crease recovery”

Crease Resistant Material
“The material which resist creasing or any deformation in their shape is called crease resistant material.” The descending order of crease resistant materials is shown below;

1. Wool
2. Silk
3. Acetate rayon
4. Cuprammonium rayon
5. Viscose rayon
6. Cotton
7. Flax

Measurement of Crease Resistance

1) Circular Dial Apparatus

Working Principle
“The crease ability of a fabric is measured by gripping one arm of previously creased sample near to the crease so that other arm hangs vertically, and then crease angle is observed.”

2) The Total Test

Fabric Stiffness

Stiffness
“The resistance of the fabric against bending is called stiffness.” If the length of fabric bends easily, then it is less stiff and vice versa.

The stiffness of the fabric is associated with the following parameters;

1. Handle
2. Drape
3. Fullness or paperiness

The above properties are dependent on the following parameters:

1. Yarn T.P.I (yarn TPI stiffness)
2. Fabric Design (plain weave (1 x 1) is less rigid than twill, satin, sateen, etc.)
3. Count of warp and weft (count stiffness)
4. Density of warp and weft (density of warp/weft stiffness)

Test Equipments for Fabric Stiffness

1. Shirley Stiffness Tester
2. Loop Method

Pilling of Fabrics

Pilling
“A little fuzz ball or pills of entangled fibers, formed during wear and washing of the garment due to protruding fibers is called pilling.”

A pill is formed due to the migration of the fibers in the yarn. It is clear that the prevention or reduction of the pilling is affected by reducing migratory behavior of the fibers. The migratory behavior of the fibers is reduced by the followings;

• Higher twist factor in yarn
• Brushing and cropping of the fabric surface
• Special chemical treatment (cellulose for the cotton fabric)
• Longer staple length of the fiber

Pilling Test Methods
Two types of instruments are used for determination of pilling of fabric;

1. Martindale Pilling Tester
2. ICI Pilling Box

There are several articles published on pilling and pilling test. You can read here,

1. Pilling on Clothes | Causes and Reduction of Pilling from Clothes
2. Mechanism and Factors Affecting the Pill Formation on Fabric
3. An Accurate Professional Martindale Abrasion and Pilling Tester: A Chance to Success
4. Working Process of Martindale Abrasion cum Pilling Tester

Seam Strength
It is often seen that the fabric is in good condition but seam failure make this fabric unusable. There are a number of causes of seam failure but some of them are;

• Yarns making up the fabric are broken or damaged by needle during sewing
• Seam slippage occurs

For apparel manufacturing, seam slippage is an important factor. Seam failure in fabric depends upon:

• The sewing thread
• The sewing speed
• Size of sewing needle
• Stitch length

Tests for Seam Slippage
1) Fixed Load Method:

2) Load Extension Curve Method / Variable Load Method

Tensile Strength
“The breaking strength of given textile material when stretched along length is known as tensile strength.”

The breaking strength of a fabric is expressed in Newton. It can be measured by two methods;

1. The Strip Test
2. Grab Test

1. The Strip Test:

2. Grab Test

Tearing Strength
“A fabric tears when it is snagged by a sharp object and the immediate small puncture is converted into a long rip”

Tear Tests

1. Single Rip Tear Test/ Tongue Tear Test/ The Trouser Tear Test
2. Double Rip Tear Test/ Tongue Tear Test
3. Wing Rip Tear Test
4. Elmendorf Tear Test
5. Ballistic Tear Test

COLOR FASTNESS
“It is a resistance offered by a fabric to change in its color.”

Color Fastness to Rubbing

RUBBING:
“Movement of one surface over another is called as rubbing.”

Principle:
“A white crocking cloth is rubbed against the test specimen and the amount of color transferred from the test specimen to the white crocking cloth is assessed using grey staining scale and grading is done to that scale.”

Crocking (Color Fastness to Crocking)
“The transfer of color from the test sample to the adjacent fabric in the process of rubbing is termed as crocking.”

Color Fastness to Washing (By ISO Test No. 01)

Principle:
“The fastness of a died or printed fabric is checked by washing the specimen at specific standard conditions of temperature and for specific time and the change in color is assessed by comparing with the grey staining scale.”

You may also like:

1. How to Determine Color Fastness to Wash
2. Light Fastness of Textiles: Factors Affecting and Control Measures
3. Color Fastness to Laundering Test
4. Scope of Fabric Testing | Different Types of Fabric Testing
5. List of Basic Tests of Textile Fabric

Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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