ASSIGNMENT II: TESTS FOR TESTING PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FIBRES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CONTENTS
 TYPES OF TEST METHODS
Although textile testing is broad in scope, encompassing many textile properties, most of
the tests performed on textiles can be grouped into the following major categories:

 Physical properties: These tests are physical or mechanical in nature. Examples

include breaking strength, abrasion resistance, and pilling propensity.
 Tests to determine colourfastness properties: These tests are used to determine the
resistance of dyed or printed fabrics to colour change under various conditions.
These include colourfastness to sunlight, washing, and crocking ( rubbing off of
colour).
 Chemical tests: In these tests, chemical are used as part of the test procedure.
Examples include fibre identification using the solubility method, determination of
the presence of the presence of mercerization in cotton fabrics.
 Optical tests: In these tests a microscope or another magnifying device is used.
Examples include grading of wool fibres, fibre identification, and inspection of textile
defects.

Textile tests can also be grouped according to their relationship to general fabric
characteristics, such as aesthetics, care, comfort, durability, environment, and safety. In this
chapter, a variety of the most frequently used textile tests is included. They are grouped
according to type of test: strength, surface tension, appearance, functional, and
colourfastness.
Fabric Strength Tests
Various fabric strengths can be measured. These include breaking, tearing and bursting .
Astrong fabric with good abrasion resistance usually results in a long lasting material

Breaking strength
Breaking strength is the force required to break a fabric when is under tension (being
pulled). Breaking elongation is the increase in length that has occoured when the fabric
breaks. These tests are usually performed simultaneously because both results can be
obtained from the chart used with the test. Wear life of a fabric correlates to both
properties and not to strength alone. With all other factors equal, a fabric with lower
breaking strength and higher elongation may remain wearable for as long a period as a
stronger fabric with lower elongation. The extra elongation enables fabrics to better
withstand of forces of normal wear. These tests are used mainly for woven fabric because
the tests are unidirectional and this material has unidirectional yarns. Tests are done both
lengthwise and widthwise. Knitted fabrics are not usually tested in this manner because as
the loops elongate , failure would probably occour at the sections where the loops are
joined as a result of a shearing force and not a breaking force. Knit fabrics also tend to curl
at the edges when elongated , thus preventing good reproducibility of the test results
Other materials such as felt , nonwovens, lace, and netting are also usually not tested for
breaking strength because their weakest point may not be in the direction the breaking
force is being applied. These materials are usually tested for bursting strength, which gives
us more meaningful results.
The factors that produces strong fabric include fiber content, yarn size and type , weave and
yarns per inch . Thus a 100% nylon material with heavier yarns, plain weave , relatively high
yarns per inch would be inherently strong
Breaking strength is important for various end uses such as automotive safety belts ,
parachute harness and pants . Breaking strength can also be used as to test the effects of
destructive forces on a woven fabric including sunlight abrasion, laundering, and some
finishing processes such as napping, embossing and those using rasin chemical in cotton
fabric.
The breaking strength is expressed in pounds and the elongation is expressed as percentage.
In both cases a number of warp tests and filling tests are performed. An average is then
calculated for both the warp tests and the filling tests . Neither the thickness nor the weight
of the fabric is considered in these results
The device most used for this tests are the constant-rate-of-transverse type tester and the
constant-rate-of-extension type tester . The CRL is another type of tester.
Tearing strength
Tearing strength is the force required to continuea tear or rip started in a fabric. The tearing
strength test is used mainly to test woven fabric but is also used on nonwoven materials .
The test is unidirectional, with the tests made both for the lengthwise and the widthwise
directions. Tearing strength is not related to the force required to start the tear and is
usually of a low magnitude.
If the yarns shift easily in a woven fabric ,then the tearing force doesn’t break successive
individual yarns but rather breaks group of yarns that have shifted together. As a result, the
tearing strength indicated is greater than if the yarns do not shift easily. This is why a plain-
weave fabric usually has a lower tearing strength than a comparable two-week fabric.
It is possible for a woven fabric that has a high breaking strength to have a relatively low
tearing strength a cotton fabric with thin yarns but a large number of yarns per inch is an
example
Tearing strength is expressed either in pounds or geams. The average of the lengthwise and
widthwise tests are each given as the result. The most used device for this tests are the
Elmendorf Tear Test and the CRE tester .

Bursting Strength
Bursting strength is the amount of pressure required to rupture a fabric. The force is applied at right
angles to the plane of the fabric. Either a rubber diaphragm is expanded by liquid pressure until it
pushes its way through the fabric clamped over it, or a steel ball is pushed through the fabric. All
yarns or areas are tested simultaneously for the weakest point because the testing force is applied
radially and not in one direction, as in breaking- or tearing-strength tests. Fabrics tested in this
manner are either those that do not have yarns or those in which the yarns are not in any given
direction (e.g., knits, felt, nonwoven, lace, netting). Elongation, how. ever, cannot be determined
with these procedures.
Bursting strength is expressed in pounds and is an average of the tests. The devices used for this
test are the Mullen@ tester for the diaphragm-bursting strength method (Figure 14.10), and a
breaking-strength tester with a ball-bursting attachment for fabrics that exhibit a high degree of
ultimate elongation.

Surface-Friction Tests
Surface-friction tests are performed by rubbing action. The two tests that are discussed here are
abrasion resistance and yarn distortion. Some colorfastness tests, such as those for crocking and
frosting, could also be included, but they are discussed in the colorfastness section, where they
more properly belong.

Abrasion Resistance
Abrasion resistance is the resistance to the wearing away of any part of a material when it is
rubbed against another material. The various conditions of use of the end product create a
problem in trying to correlate the results of an abrasion-resistance test with the actual wear in the
intended end use. Some of the variables that must be considered are type of abradant, amount of
pressure between fabric and abradant, position of fabric while being abraded (e.g., flat, curved, or
 folded, as at the edge of a shirt collar), frequency and time duration of each abrading sequence,
and tension exerted on the fabric while it is being abraded.

The factors that produce an abrasion-resistant fabric include smooth surface, tightly twisted
yarns if spun, heavier yarns, and higher yarns per inch.
Both widthwise and lengthwise directions are tested, if possible, with the final result an
average number Of cycles, or "rubs," before the test is terminated.• Three popular criteria used
to determine when the end of the
test has been reached are the completion of a specified number of cycles on the testing machine
(the fabric appearance, strength, weight loss, thickness, etc., is then checked); visuaj assesstnent
(e.g., first sign of wear or a yarn breaking); and specilnen breaking or being completely rubbed

Various tesæt:g, devices can be used. Each one uses a differenc and different abrading
action. The most appropriate test is determined by the degree of correlation with the end
product. The following are five examples of different types of abrasion testers. The Flexing
and Abrasion tester uses a flexing abrasion action in which the specimen is rubbed back and
forth over a thin metal bar or blade so that it is doubling back and also rubbing against itself
when not in contact with the blade. The Stoll Flex tester shown in Figure 14.11 is one type of
this tester. The Taber Abraser uses a flat abrasion action in which the fabric specimen is
placed on a rotating platform and, as it turns, is rubbed by two abrasive wheels. (See Figure
14.12.) The Martindale Abrasion tester also uses a flat abrasion action, but the specimen is
rubbed against an abrading fabric. The rubbing motion begins as a straight line which
gradually widens into an ellipse and then narrows until it again becomes a straight line in the
opposite direction. The