Textile Testing & Quality Control

Textile Testing & Quality Control:

(TTQC) is very important work or process in each department of export
oriented industry. Buyers want quality but not quantity. In every department of textile industry
quality maintained of each material. Because one material’s quality depend on another’s quality.
For example, if qualified fiber is inputted then out put will be good yarn.

Testing: Testing means checking, examine and verification of some items. On the other way
we can define testing as; it is the process or procedure to determines the quality of a product.

Testing is the process or procedure to determines the quality of a product.

Object of testing:
 Research
 Selection of raw material
 Process control
 Process development
 Product testing
 Specification test
Testing is governed by 5M, which are: Man, Machine, Material, Method and
Measurement.

Textile testing:
Textile testing is checking the quality and suitability of raw material and selection
of material. It is an important part for textile production, distribution, and consumption. Though
it is an expensive business but essential too. There are some reasons for textile testing; such as,
checking raw materials, monitoring production, assessing the Final Product, investigation of
faulty material, product development and research.

Textile testing is a most important way to certified a textile fiber, yearn or fabric as
a use able material in textile products or garments. Testing will inform you what kind of fiber is
this and approximately what kind of garments you’ll be produce by this fiber, yearn, fabric. Let’s
have a look basically how many textile testing is used to test, textile fiber, yearn, fabric in the
textile lab.
Quality:
The term quality refers the excellence of a product. When we say the quality of a product is
good. We mean that the product is good for the purpose for which it has been made.

Control: To check or verify and hence to regulate.

Quality control:
Quality controls is a process by which entities review the quality of all products in an
industry. It refers to ways of ensuring the quality of a service or product. Actually quality control is a
system for verifying and maintaining a desired level of quality in an existing product or service by careful
planning, use of proper equipment, continued inspection, and corrective action as required.

Quality control is the synthetic and regular control of the variable which affect the
quality of a product. It is the checking, verification and regulation of the degree of excellence of
an attribute or property of something.

The operational techniques and activities that sustain the quality of a product or service in order
to satisfy given requirements. It consists of quality planning , data collection, data analysis and
implementation and is applicable to all phases of product life cycle ; design, manufacturing,
delivery and installation, operation and maintenance.

Objects of Quality Control:

 To produce required quality product.
 To fulfill the customer's demand.
 To reduce the production cost.
 To reduce wastage.
 To earn maximum profit at minimum cost.
 Fig: Different textile testing

Importance of Textile Testing | Reasons for Testing of Textile

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 whose salaries have to be paid
throughout the year, not just when results are required. 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.
Importance of Textile Testing:
The primary objective of textile testing is to assess the product properties and predict its
performance during use. The information obtained may be used for the following:
1. Research and development
2. Selection of raw materials/inputs
3. Process development
4. Process control
5. Quality control
6. Product testing
7. Product failure analysis
8. Comparative testing and bench marking
9. Conformity with government regulations and specifications

Reasons for Textile Testing:

1. Checking Raw Materials
2. Monitoring Production
3. Assessing the Final Product
4. Investigation of Faulty Material
5. Product Development and Research
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 fibre production, man-made fibre extrusion, wool scouring, yarn spinning,
weaving, dyeing and finishing, knitting, garment manufacture 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 fibre 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 organisation will often have a
separate department to carry out research and development; otherwise it is part of the normal
duties of the testing department.

Role & Principles of Textile Quality Control

Principles of Textile Quality Control :

Principles of quality control in textile industry refer to the various concepts that make
up a textile factory’s quality assurance program. Quality assurance programs provide managers
and staff with the philosophy, structure and strategies necessary to improve service and product
delivery. Many businesses follow established concepts as outlined by quality organizations, such
as Six Sigma, Total Quality Management or International Organization for Standardization.

Textile Quality Control

Principles of Quality Control:
The essential requirements for producing a reliable product has been stated as follows:

1. A satisfactory design of product, thoroughly proved by adequate development testing in

order to establish its reliability under the conditions to which it will be subjected in use. This
is the Requisite Quality of the product.
2. A full specification of the requirements of this quality, which must be clearly understood by
everyone concerned with the production of the constituent parts and of the complete end
product.
3. Confirmation that the manufacturing processes are capable of meeting these requirements.
4. Full acceptance, by all those concerned with production, of the responsibility for meeting the
standards set by the specification.
5. Checks on the product at every stage of manufacture to detect any departures from
the specification.
6. Record essential information derived from these checks to provide accurate evidence for
action.
7. Establishment of lines of communication, - i.e. Feedback to Production, - to ensure that this
action is taken to effect the appropriate adjustments to materials, process and operatives to
maintain future production within the specification.

An important feature to realise in the establishment of these principles is that, whilst tolerances
and quality standards for goods going for despatch may often vary rapidly, depending on the
urgency of call off, it is the duty of Quality Control in enacting items 4-7 above, to stabilise the
tolerances and quality standards for goods in production, based on the recognised Requisite
Quality. Only by production personnel knowing exactly what is expected can they respond to the
requirements of Quality Control.

The Role of Quality Control:

In a total quality control scheme, the total involvement of all personnel is required as a
philosophy.

1. The staff concerned in all duties must be given authority to carry out their functions. These
functions should be defined.
2. Lines of communication and responsibility should be established to carry out an effective
policy. Horizontal communication at all levels of personnel between Quality Control,
Production and other departments is needed. Also there must be vertical lines, which follow
the lines of responsibility and authority. In order to achieve this aim, the terms of reference
 under which staff work, must be established. This is, perhaps, best accomplished by job
descriptions.
3. It is the job of Quality Control to establish the correct information concerning a quality
situation, and present this clearly to their colleagues.
4. Persons outside Quality Control must be authorised to make the commercial decisions
involved from a pre-established series of options, the consequences of each being fully
understood.
5. Payment schemes should be re-examined where necessary to reward quality as well as
production, in a balanced way, since both are commercially important.

Classification

Classification of Fiber Testing:

1. Identifications of fiber
2. Grading
3. Color of fibers
4. Fiber Length
5. Fiber strength and elongation
6. Fiber fineness
7. Fiber maturity
8. Trash
9. Neps
10. Short fiber index- SFI
11. Short fiber content- SFC
12. Immature fiber content
13. Dust

Classification of Yarn Testing:

1. Yarn count
2. Twist per unit length
3. Single yearn strength
4. Lea strength and elongation
5. Appearance
6. Evenness and regularity
7. Hairiness
Classification of Fabric Testing:
1. Strength and elongation
2. Length
3. Width
4. Thickness
5. Weight
6. Number of warp yarn per unit length
7. Number of weft yarn per unit length
8. The count of yarn used
9. Design and construction of cloth
10. Yarn permeability
11. Crimp
12. Shrinkage test
13. Stiffness
14. Handle
15. Drape
16. Crease resistance and recovery
17. Abrasion
18. Thermal properties
19. Pilling test
20. Water absorbance and resistance

Name of Important Textile Test

Textile Testing is the process of determining the properties of different kinds of Textile
substances. It is very important for checking the quality and suitability of raw material and
selection of material, monitoring of production i.e. process control. It helps the scientist to decide
which route should be followed. There are different types of testing process are done in textile
and apparel industry. In this article various types of textile testing methods are given here.
Fig: Different types of textile testing process

Quality Control Testing:

1. Mechanical
 Tensile Strength and Elongation
 Breaking Strength
 Bursting Strength of Paper
 Tear Strength
 Elmendorff Tear Strength
 Air permeability of Paper
 Pilling Test
 Dry and Wet Rubbing (Crock Meter)
 Ether Soluble Matter
 Water Absorbency
 Lead and its compounds
 Scouring loss
 Flammability
 Crock master

2. Physical
 GSM
 Fiber Diameter
 Ends per inch
 Linear Density

3. Chemical
 PCP
 Blend composition
 Identification of Fiber
 Identification of Dyes
 Solvent Extractable matter
 Chloride Content
 Sulphate Content
 pH value of water extract
 Moisture Content
 Shrinkage to Water
 Colour Fastness Tests

Product Tests
 HDPE bags/Jute Bags
 Crepe Paper
 Filter Paper
 Writing/Printing paper
 Coated paper
 Corrugated Box
 Carpet
 Filament Yarn
 Fabric
 Congo red Dye
 Vinyl Coated Fabric
 Socks
 Jersey
 Various Leather Products

Instruments
 Universal Testing Machine
 Xenon Arc Weatherometer
 UV weatherometer
 Flammability Chambers
 Crock meter
 Burst Strength Test Apparatus
 Air permeability apparatus
 Elemendorff Tear Tester
 Pilling Tester
 Crease Recovery Tester

Standard Methods Adopted:

 American Society of Testing &Materials (ASTM)
 American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC)
 International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
 European Norms (EN)
 British Standards (BS)
 British Standards for European Nations (BSEN)
 DeutschesInstitut fur Normung (DIN)
 Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS)
 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)