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1. TEXTILE TESTING
METHODS

2. Fabric testing is an important segment 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
• ISO: International organization for
INTRODUCTION

3. COTTON
Cotton fiber is a single
elongated cell.
Under a microscope, cotton
fiber looks like flat, spirally
twisted ribbon-like tube with
rough granular surface.
Mercerized cotton does not
have natural twist. The finishing
process makes them swollen,
straight, smooth and round with
a shining surface.
Microscopic
view of cotton

4. WOOL
Wool fiber has irregular,
roughly cylindrical, multi
cellular structure with tapered
ends.
Under a microscope, three
basic layers are shown-
epidermis (outer layer), cortex
(middle layer) and medulla
(inner layer).
Medulla is seen only in coarse
and medium wool fibers and
that too under a highly powerful
MICROSCOPIC
VIEW OF WOOL

5. 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

6. SILK
• Silk fibers are straight and
smooth.
• Raw silk 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 silk
is narrower fiber with no marks on
MICROSCOPIC
VIEW OF SILK

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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
change.

16. 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.

17. 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 of fabric.

18. VARIABLES WHICH AFFECT AIR
PERMEABILITY
Fiber content: more crimp, lower air
permeability.
Yarn Twist: less twist, less air permeability.
Yarn size: heavier yarns, lower 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 permeability.

19. ABRASION RESISTANCE
Abrasion resistance is the wearing away of any part of a
material when rubbed against any other material.
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 used for lining in
jackets and coats.
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..

20. CHEMICAL TESTING
• COLORFASTNESS PROPERTIES.
• CHEMICAL SOLUBILITY TEST .

21. 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.

22. COLORFASTNESS
PROPERTIES
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.
Problem persists with deeper colors like red rather than
pastel colors.
Colorfastness to light is rated on L9 to L1 scale with L9
being the best rating and L1 the worst .

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

24. 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.

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

26. 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.

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

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. COLORFASTNESS TO CROCKING
• Crocking is the transference of
color by rubbing from one
colored textile material to
another .
• Wet fabrics will crock more
easily than dry ones because the
moisture present assists in
removing the dye.
• 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.

31. 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).
The device used is
crock meter

32. 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).

33. 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.

34. 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 specimens are tested.
• The one with the most color change is used to
represent the fabric and its class rating is used as
a result.

35. 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.
•Dry cleaning solvent instead of water is used as
liquid.

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. Chemical solubility
test
COTTON & FLAX:
They can be differentiated by observing their
longitudinal appearance with a microscope.
CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
SULPHURIC
ACID
70% 38*C 20 COTTON
SULPHURIC
ACID
70% 38*C 20 FLAX

39. SILK & WOOL:
Differentiate visually
SOLVENTS CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
SODIUM
HYPOCHLORITE
5.25% 20*C 20 WOOL
SODIUM
HYPOCHLORITE
5.25 % 20*C 20 SILK

40. Polyester:
SOLVENTS CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
META-CRESOL 100% 139*C 5 POLYESTER
Acetate :
SOLVENTS CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
ACETIC ACID 100% 20*C 5 ACETATE

41. Rayon:
SOLVENT CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
HYDROCHLORIC
ACID
38% 24*C 5 RAYON
Nylon:
SOLVENTS CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
META-CRESOL 100% 139*C 5 NYLON

42. Spandex:
SOLVENT CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE MINUTES FIBER
DIMETHYL
FORMAMIDE
100% 90*C 10 LYCRA/
SPANDEX