TEXTILE TESTING

METHODS

INTRODUCTION
testing is an important segment

Fabric
of
the textile industry. We can easily detect
the faults of machinery and materials
during test of textiles.
Textile standards: Standard is a prescribed
required level of performance of material.
These standards are:
NFPA: National Fire Protection Association
ANSI:
American
National
Standard
Institute

COTTON
Cotton fiber is a single
elongated cell.
Under a microscope, cotton
fiber looks like flat, spirally
twisted ribbon-like tube
with rough
granularsurface.
Mercerized cottondoes not
have natural twist. The
finishing process makes
them swollen, straight,
smooth and round with a

Microscopic
view of cotton

WOOL
Wool fiberhas irregular,
roughly cylindrical, multi
cellular structure with
tapered ends.
Under a microscope, three
basic layers are shownepidermis (outer layer),
cortex (middle layer) and
medulla (inner layer).
Medulla is seen only in
coarse and medium wool
fibers and that too under a

MICROSCOPIC
VIEW OF WOOL

LINEN
Linen fiber, under a
microscope, looks like
having multiple sided
cylindrical filaments with
fine pointed edges.
The filaments show nodes
at intervals.
It, in fact, looks like a
bamboo stick having joints
that results into a little
unevenness.

Microscopic view
of linen/flax

SILK
Silk fibers are straight and

smooth.
Rawsilk fiber, composed of
two filaments, has elliptical
shape under the microscope.
The two fine and lustrous
filaments are shown clearly
looking like transparent rods
with triangular shape.
Wild silk or tussah fiber has
different appearance than
the cultivated silk. It is
flattened, coarse, thick and
broader fiber having fine,
wavy lines all across its
surface whereas cultivated

MICROSCOPIC
VIEW OF SILK

POLYESTER
Polyester (aka Terylene ) is a category of polymers
which contain the ester functional group in their main
chain.
Generally, polyester fibers are smooth and straight and
the cross-section is round.
With various finishing processes, its appearance
changes in context of texture and luster.

MICROSCOPIC VIEW OF POLYESTER

NYLON
The basic microscopic appearance is generally
fine, round, smooth, and translucent.
Sometimes it has shiny appearance. If it looks
dull, it will also be dotted under the microscope.
It is also produced in multilobal cross-sectional
types.

MICROSCOPIC VIEW OF NYLON

PHYSICAL TESTS
BREAKING
STRENGTH
TEARING STRENGTH
BURSTING
STRENGTH
PILLING PROPENSITY
AIR PERMEABILITY
ABRASION
RESISTANCE

BREAKING STRENGTH

Breaking strength is the force

required to break a fabric when it is
under tension (being pulled).
Breaking longation is the increase in
length that has occurred when the
fabrics breaks.

BREAKING STRENGTH
Mainly used for woven fabric because the
tests are unidirectional and woven
fabrics have unidirectional yarns.

Factors that produce a strong fabric

include fiber content, yarn size and type,
weave, and yarns per inch.
Breaking strength is expressed in
pounds
and
the
elongation
is
expressed as a percent and in both
cases a number of warp tests and weft
test are performed.

IMPORTANCE OF BREAKING STRENGTH

TEST
Breaking strength is important in various
end uses such as automotive safety
belts, parachute harness and pants.

Breaking strength can also be used to

test the effects of destructive forces
upon a woven fabric including sunlight,
abrasion, laundering etc.

TEARING STRENGTH
Tearing strength is the force required to
continue a tear or rip already stated in a
fabric.

This test is used mainly in

woven fabrics because the
test is unidirectional and
woven fabrics have
unidirectional yarns.
A number of tear strength
test is carried out and the
average is taken to
determine the tear
strength.
Tearing strength is
expressed either in
pounds or grams.

BURSTING STRENGTH
Bursting strength is the amount of pressure required to
rupture a fabric.

In this test, the testing force is applied radially and not

in one direction as in breaking or tearing strength tests.
Fabrics like knits, felt, non woven, lace and netting are
usually tested in this manner because these fabrics
either do not have yarns or yarns are not in any given
direction.
The bursting strength is expressed in pounds.

PILLING PROPENSITY
Pilling is the formation of small balls of fibres
called pills on the surface of the fabric.
Pilling occurs only when there
is rubbing or an abrasive
action on the surface of the
fabric.
Pilling usually occurs during
normal wear and also while
clothes are in the dryer
Evaluation should be made
taking into account the size,
number, and visibility of the
pills as well as the type and
degree
of
other
surface

PILLING PROPENSITY
After each test, each of the specimen is first evaluated for
pilling usually on a 5-4-3-2-1 pilling scale, then surface
appearance is evaluated both for colour change as well as
for fuzz.
An average of ratings is usually taken as a result.

AIR PERMEABILITY
Air permeability is the rate of air flow through a
material under a differential pressure between
two fabric surfaces.
This property is important for a wide range of
textile applications.
With some products like curtains
high air permeability is required
and for other products like
parachutes and gas filters air
permeability required is very less.
Air permeability is expressed as
cubic feet per square foot of
fabric at a stated pressure
differential between two surfaces

VARIABLES WHICH AFFECT AIR

PERMEABILITY
Fiber content: more crimp, lower air
permeability.
Yarn size: heavier yarns, lower air
permeability.
Yarn Twist: less twist, less air
permeability.
Fabric Thickness: thicker fabric, lower air
permeability.
Multiple layers: more layers, lower air
permeability.
Fabric yarns per inch or stitches per
inch: greater density, lower air

ABRASION RESISTANCE
Abrasion resistance is the wearing away of any part of
a material when rubbed against any other material.

Garments that are made

from fibres that possess
both high breaking
strength and abrasion
resistance can be worn
often and for a long
period of time before
signs of physical wear
appear..
Nylon is extremely high in abrasion resistance so it is
used widely in action outer whereas Acetate has poor
abrasion resistance so it does not last long when

CHEMICAL TESTING
COLORFASTNESS PROPERTIES.
CHEMICAL SOLUBILITY TEST .

COLORFASTNESS
PROPERTIES
Used to determine
the resistance of dyed
or printed fabrics to color change under
various conditions.

There are various reasons as to which a fabric

changes colors like sunlight, pollution gases,
abrasion, perspiration, dry cleaning etc.
A fabric that experiences little color alteration
when exposed to a fading force is said to have a
good colorfastness while if the color does not
hold, then the fabric has poor colorfastness.

COLORFASTNESS
PROPERTIES

Problem persists with deeper colors like red

rather than pastel colors.

There is a scale from 5 to 1 for evaluating

colorfastness.
Class 5 means no shade change and class 1
means very great shade change.
Colorfastness to light is rated on L9 to L1 scale
with L9 being the best rating and L1 the worst .

DIFFERENT TYPES OF COLORFASTNESS

TESTS.
1. COLORFASTNESS TO SUNLIGHT .
2. COLORFASTNESS TO WASHING.
3. COLORFASTNESS TO CROCKING.
4. COLORFASTNESS TO FROSTING.
5. COLORFASTNESS TO PERSPIRATION.
6. COLORFASTNESS TO DRY CLEANING.
7. COLORFASTNESS TO BURNT GAS
FUMES
( GAS FADING ).

COLORFASTNESS TO SUNLIGHT
Dyed fabrics when exposed to
sunlight will in time fade or
change color. This property is
called as colorfastness to
sunlight.
Many apparels are tested up to
40 hours because certain fabrics
have to resist the fading effect of
the sun to a much greater
degree.eg men's suit.
Drapery fabrics are usually
tested for 8 hours whereas
canopy fabrics for 160 hours.

COLORFASTNESS TO SUNLIGHT
the no of hours that the specimens are in the
machine should be indicated .
The device used is called a weatherometer.
This machine offers accelerated weathering and
light fastness test for chemicals.
A combination of artificial light, heat &
moisture is used.

COLORFASTNESS TO WASHING
A no of variations are followed
to test colorfastness to washing
because there are differences in
washing procedures of different
fabrics.
Eg wool fabrics cannot be
washed like cottons i.e. with
same considerable mechanical
action in hot, soapy solutions.
The machine used is called
launder-ometer.

COLORFASTNESS TO WASHING
This instrument determines a materials
colorfastness to washing and staining as well as
to dry cleaning .
The specimens are placed in containers in which
there is either dry cleaning solvent or water.
The container rotate inside the machine,
agitating the specimens.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE

WASHING
The washing
temperature should
have a great affect on
colors.
Often the dye is loosened
from fabrics by the action
of hot water.

Additions to bath
Bleaching and sodium
carbonate should be
included to intensify
the washing action.

Time is important
Articles from which dye
runs should be washed
without soaking and for
less time so that less
amount of color runs
out.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE

WASHING
Mechanical action.
Mechanical action subjected to
laundering should also be
included in washing test.

Proportion of liquid.
The proportion of liquid to the
amount of material washed is
important because if volume of liquid
is too high, the material would just
float without the squeezing .
Whereas in smaller amount there
would be twisting action.

COLORFASTNESS TO CROCKING
Crocking is the
transference of color by
rubbing from one colored
textile material to
another .
Similarly, printed
fabrics often will
crock more easily
than dyed fabrics
because in printed
fabrics the dye is on
the surface than
inside the fabric.

Dark shades are

more likely to crock
than light colors
because there is
more dye in dark
colors than light
ones.

Wet fabrics will crock

more easily than dry ones
because the moisture
present assists in removing
the dye.

COLORFASTNESS TO CROCKING
The arm is rotated back & forth causing
the white crock test cloth to rub against
the specimen.
The device used
The cloth is
is crock meter
removed and
evaluated on a
scale of 5 to 1.
(class
5:negligible or no
crocking; class
1 : large amount
of crocking).

COLORFASTNESS TO CROCKING
The arm is rotated back & forth causing
the white crock test cloth to rub against
the specimen.
The cloth is
removed and
evaluated on a
scale of 5 to 1.
(class
5:negligible or no
crocking; class
1 : large amount
of crocking).

Colorfastness to frosting
Frosting is a localized color change
produced by a relatively severe, localized
flat abrasion action. Eg back pocket of a
pair of trousers.
Fabrics with poor dye penetration will fade
quickly from abrasion as on the surface will
wear, leaving a very little color.
Blended fabric can change colors if each
fiber has different abrasion resistance.
Eg in a dark grey fabric, the black cotton
will abrade more quickly than a white
polyester fabric, developing a light grey
color.
The device used is a surface Abrader.

Colorfastness to perspiration
Perspiration may change the color of a
fabric.
Three things may take place :
1. color change of the dyed fabric.
2. Loosening and uneven repositioning of
color on colored fabric.
3. Staining of material next to the colored
fabric.
.

.
.

Perspiration maybe slightly acidic but

through bacterial action, it becomes
alkaline. The dye may get affected by
both.
The device used is the perspiration
tester.
a slightly acid solution on one cloth &
alkaline on another is used. Both

Colorfastness to dry cleaning

Color may change due to dry cleaning
too.
This test indicates what will happen to
the color of textile materials after
repeated commercial dry cleaning.
Perchlorethylene is used in the test:
Commonly used dry cleaning
solvents.
It is slightly more severe in solvent
action.
A color that may get affected by
perchlorethylene will not get affected
by Stoddard solvent (petroleum base).
Device used for this test is the
launder- ometer.

Colorfastness to
burnt gas fumes
Lastly, color changes due to the presence
of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Acetate is the most susceptible to this gas.
When disperse dye is combined with
acetate , severe color changes take
place.eg blue which changes to purple.
Solution dyeing & inhibitors can be used
to reduce or eliminate color fading .
The device used to perform the test
is called gas fading chamber.
The source of burnt gas fumes is a Bunsen
burner placed at the bottom of the
instrument.

Chemical test
In these types of tests ,
chemicals are used as a part of
the test procedure.
the specimen is dissolved in
the chemical to check its
solubility .

The test include :

Colorfastness
Fiber identification using the
solubility test.

Chemical solubility
test
COTTON & FLAX:
They can be differentiated by
observing their longitudinal
appearance with a microscope.
SOLVENTS

CONCENTRA
TION

TEMPERAT
URE

MINUTES

FIBER

SULPHURIC
ACID

70%

38*C

20

COTTON

SULPHURIC
ACID

70%

38*C

20

FLAX

SILK & WOOL:

Differentiate visually
SOLVENTS

CONCENTRAT TEMPERAT
ION
URE

MINUTE
S

FIBER

SODIUM
5.25%
HYPOCHLOR
ITE

20*C

20

WOOL

SODIUM
5.25 %
HYPOCHLOR
ITE

20*C

20

SILK

Polyester:
SOLVENTS

CONCENTRAT TEMPERATU MINUTES

ION
RE

FIBER

METACRESOL

100%

POLYESTE
R

139*C

Acetate :
SOLVENTS

CONCENTRATI TEMPERATU MINUTE

ON
RE
S

ACETIC ACID 100%

20*C

FIBER

ACETATE

Rayon:
SOLVENT

CONCENTRA
TION

HYDROCHLO 38%
RIC ACID

TEMPERAT
URE

MINUTES

FIBER

24*C

RAYON

Nylon:
SOLVENTS

CONCENTRA
TION

TEMPERATU
RE

MINUTES

FIBER

METACRESOL

100%

139*C

NYLON

Spandex:
SOLVENT

CONCENTRA
TION

TEMPERATU MINUTES
RE

FIBER

DIMETHYL
FORMAMIDE

100%

90*C

LYCRA/
SPANDEX

10