Fabric Testing and Approval

Testing.?
Testing ensures that a product meets the
buyers contractual requirements
Fitness for purpose or intended use
It ensures that the product meets the legal
and regulatory criteria of the country of
Import.

Conditions for Approval

Color should not fade on repeated washing.
Color should not fade when exposed to sun
It should not shrink or expand too much after washing.
Appearance should remain same as original on usages.
Meets Functional properties

Antibacterial,
Stain Release etc
Better comfort Moisture management
Wrinkle Free - Easy Care

Testing is also required for other

reasons..

Safety : To avoid potential hazards for the user which become apparent
on everyday use.

Compliance with Government Regulations: In response to ever

changing governmental regulation, regulatory testing is essential to
minimize risk and protect the interest of both manufacturers and
consumers.

The following are certain legality issue which have become important.

Legality Issues
Fiber Identification Most countries importing
apparel and soft home furnishing products
require fibre identification labels that indicate the
fibre type and percentage of fibre components.
Some countries even use fibre composition to
classify quota categories.
Care Label Instructions Many countries have
mandatory or voluntary standards for care label
instructions that apply to apparel or soft home
furnishing products.

Flammability Testing For apparel, it is especially important that the

materials used are in compliance with the flammability regulations. In
particular, adult apparel and childrens sleepwear have specific
requirements that must be acceptable before importing or selling a
product. Also important to follow are the regulations for upholstery, rugs
and carpets.
Eco Textile Testing - The trend of green consumerism has been
extended to textile and apparel products. Major European and USA textile
product buyers have responded to this public awareness by viewing their
textile products from an ecological viewpoint and are establishing relevant
requirements. Eco-Testing targets environmental protection and/or
consumer health and safety.

Test Methods and Standards

These are well defined procedure which defines how a test

should be performed.

These are generated by Standard bodies.

Standards are validated and published only after

satisfactory reproducibility.

Standards are used as rules and guidelines.

Ensures that the materials, products, processes and

services are fit for their purpose.

Test Standard of Different

Countries

Various Fabric Tests

Colourfastness Tests
Washing
Rubbing
Water
Perspiration
Phenolic Yellowing
Dimensional Stability and Appearance after wash
Durable Press Rating
Spirality after wash
Physical test
Tensile Strength
Tear Strength
Crease Recovery
Pilling
Abrasion

You must have observed that the fabric losses colour resulting from detergent
solution & abrasive action during hand or machine washing.
One garment does stains other garments when washed together.
Colour fastness is a term that describes the property of an article to change
or lose colour when treated in a certain way.
Colour fastness to Washing
Evaluates the colorfastness to Laundering of textiles which are expected to
withstand frequent or accelerated laundering.
Test Method:
-ISO 105 C06
- AATCC Test Method 61
-*American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists

Apparatus

Launderometer

Machine and Material

Laundering machine : Launderometer

Stainless steel canister
Stainless steel balls
Teflon fluorocarbon gaskets
Detergents
Multifibre strip/ Cotton adjacent fabric
Scales for rating test results

Assessment of Colourfastness and

Staining
The assessment is being done using grey scales by Visually comparing the difference in colour or contrast between the
untreated and treated specimens with the differences represented by the
scale.
Visually comparing the difference in colour or the contrast between the
stained and unstained adjacent fabrics with the differences represented by
scale.

Conditions of
Viewing

The source under which

the comparison is made
can beD65 - daylight

The specimen should be

placed on a flat, uniform
surface having no
distortions. The
surrounding field shall be
uniform grey.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Colour fastness to washing:

WHY FAILURE ????
The dyes are not fixed well.
Improper quality dyes used.
Bad dyeing / Bad printing.
Improper finishing / improper curing.

Colour fastness to Rubbing

The reason is transfer of colourant from the surface of a coloured yarn

or fabric to another surface or adjacent area of the same fabric
principally by rubbing.

Evaluates the degree of colour transfer from the textile surface to

other surface.
Test Method:

- AATCC 8 ,116, 165

- ISO 105 X12 , ISO 105 X16

Apparatus - Crock meter

Crock Cloth
Weight
Rubbing peg

Rubbing area
Clamp

Standard cotton fabric is rubbed against the surface of

colored textile specimen to check the transfer of color.

Machine and Material

Motorized or manual crock meter

Crock cloth
Distilled water, Blotting paper
Grey Scales (Staining)
Colour matching cabinet.

Test Procedure
Specimen to be tested is clamped on base plate.
Crocksquare (Standard cotton fabric) is mounted on rubbing
finger.
Rubbing finger is moved against the fabric surface for
defined number of cycles.
Crocksquare is removed from rubbing finger. It is conditioned
and then evaluated for staining using grey scales.
In case of wet rubbing, the crocksquare is wetted with water
and rubbed against the specimen in the same way as
mentioned above.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Colour fastness to Rubbing:
HOW TO IMPROVE????
A good and thorough SOAPING will remove the
undyed particles and improve the Rubbing fastness.
Good dye & dye fixing to be used
Better selection of dyestuff with necessary certification
from dye manufacturer.
In case of Pigment prints good curing.

Colourfastness to Perspiration

A specimen of coloured textile in contact with

other fiber materials (multifibre) is wet out in

simulated perspiration solution, and then
subjected to a fixed mechanical pressure and
temperature for defined time. The specimen is
then dried and evaluated for colour change &
staining.
As human body temperature is around 38 deg
C, the test is performed at same temperature.

Dimensional Changes after washing

This test method is intended for the determination of

dimensional changes in woven & knit fabrics / garments,
when subjected to repeated automatic laundering procedures commonly
used at home.
The dimensional changes of textile specimen subjected to washing are
measured using pair of bench marks applied to the fabric before washing.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Dimensional Stability to washing:
WHY FAILURE ????
During spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing and the various finishing
processes, yarns and cloth are under a continuous tension.
Yarns and/or fabrics are not fixed materials. They consist of separate,
stretchable fibers which submit to the tension. In other words, fabrics do
stretch in length and width.
The tension within the yarns is eliminated when friction occurs during
laundering where both water and soap act as a lubricant.
The lubricant, along with the mechanical action of the washer, helps the
fibers relax and contract to their original length before the elongation takes
place.
This means that the fabric shrinks.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Dimensional Stability to washing:

HOW TO IMPROVE????
A mechanical means of reducing the shrinkage (compacting,
overfeeding, Sanforising) is suggested.

Durability Tests

Tensile Strength
Tear Strength
Seam Strength
Seam Slippage
Bursting Strength
Abrasion
Pilling

Tensile Strength
This test is used for determining the breaking strength and elongation of most textile
fabrics.
Breaking force - the maximum force applied to a material carried to rupture.
Elongation - the ratio of extension of a material to the length of the material prior to
stretching, expressed as percentage.
Test is divided into two categories
Grab test
Raveled strip and cut strip test
Test Method
-ASTM D5034/ASTM D5035
- ISO 13934-2/ISO 13934-1
- BS EN ISO 13934-2/BS EN ISO 13934-1

Seam Slippage
This test method is used to determine the resistance to slippage of filling
yarns over warp yarns , or warp yarns over filling yarns, using a
standard seam.
It is used as an indication of the tendency of yarns to slip at a seam when
stress is applied.
The result is that the yarns pull out but the thread and the stitch doesn't
rupture. Seam slippage is usually caused by poor fabric design (too
loose of a weave) or too narrow of a seam margin. Not using enough
stitches per inch and a poor stitch balance can also contribute to
seam slippage.
Test Method:
- ASTM D434
- ISO 13936 - 1 & 2

Seam Strength
This test method is used to determine the seam maximum force of
sewn seams when the force is applied perpendicularly to the seam.
The test applies to the standard seam applied to fabric samples or
the Production seam as received in finished garments.
This test does not predict actual wear performance of the seam
since wear life depends on additional factors in addition to seam
stressing.

Seam Strength
A measurement of the load required to rupture a seam.
The five major contributors to seam strength include
1. Fabric type and weight;
2. Thread type and size;
3. Stitch and seam construction;
4. Stitches per inch; and
5. Stitch balance.

International Standards

ASTM D1683
ISO 13935 - 1 & 2
BS EN ISO 13935
AS 2001.2.20
JIS L 1093

Apparatus

Instron

Procedure

Condition the specimen till equilibrium is reached.

Adjust the distance between the clamps.
Place the specimen in the clamp with the seam line centrally located between
the clamp faces and perpendicular to the pulling force.
Set the m/c speed.
Start the m/c and extend the specimen to the point of rupture.
Record the maximum force and whether the rupture is caused by
- fabric tear;
- fabric tear at jaws:;
- fabric tear at the seam;
- breakage of sewing thread;
- thread pull out; or any combination of these.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Seam properties:
WHY FAILURE ????
The slippage of yarns in the fabric
along a seam when stress is applied.
The result is that the yarns pull out
but the thread and the stitch doesn't
rupture.
Seam slippage is usually caused by
poor fabric design (too loose of a
weave) or too narrow of a seam
margin.
Not using enough stitches per inch
and a poor stitch balance can also
contribute to seam slippage.

FAILURES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Seam properties:
HOW TO IMPROVE????
If the fabric construction or weave is loose then drastic
improvements are difficult.
Seam Slippage can be marginally improved by
increasing the SPI (Stitches per Inch).
If it is failing by Single needle stitch, then can try with
Double needle stitch.

Bursting
Bursting Strength - Distending force which is applied at right angles
to the plane of the fabric, under specified conditions, which will
result in the rupture of a textile.
This test is used to determine the resistance of textile
materials to bursting using
Hydraulic Diaphragm bursting tester - Applicable to wide variety of
textile products.
Pneumatic Diaphragm bursting tester
Ball bursting tester - Applicable to textile or garments that exhibit
high degree of ultimate elongation.

Diaphragm Burst

The area of sample of fabric to test is clamped over an elastic diaphragm

by means of a flat annular clamping ring, and an increasing fluid
pressure is applied to the underside of the diaphragm until the specimen
bursts.

Pneumatic Bursting
Strength Tester

Diaphragm Bursting

Pilling
Pills - we've all had them, we've all done
battle with them.

Pills are those tenacious little fuzz

balls that sometimes appear on our
garments.

Pilling

Pilling is a process of formation of pill because of entanglement of

surface fibres during wear. The propensity of pilling is determined
by the rates of following parallel processes:
- fibre entanglement leading to pill formation;
- development of more surface fibre;
- fibre and pill wear off.
Fabric property to surface fuzzing and pilling is determined by:
- Martindale Method
- Pill box method
- Random tumble method

Pilling - Martindale
Method
The face of the test specimen is rubbed against the
face of the same fabric at a defined force. Fuzzing
and pilling are assessed visually after defined stages
of rub movements.

Bottom specimen mounting

Mounted specimen on base frame

Tested specimen in pilling viewer

Mounted specimen in top holder

Top holder mounted on m/c

Pilling Box Method

Principle
Specimen are mounted on polyurethane tubes and tumbled randomly
in a cork-lined box at a constant rotational speed. Fuzzing and pilling is
assessed visually after a defined period of tumbling.
Any special treatment of the test specimen i.e. washing, drycleaning,
has to be agreed upon and shall be stated in the test report.

Pill Box Equipment

Pilling - Visual assessment

5 - No Visual Change
4 - Slight surface fuzzing and/ or partially formed pills.
3 - Moderate surface fuzzing/or moderate pilling.
Pills of varying size and density partially covering the specimen
2 - Distinct surface fuzzing and/ or distinct pilling.
Pills of varying size and density covering a large proportion of
specimen.
1 - Dense surface fuzzing and / or severe pilling.
Pills of varying size and density covering the whole of the specimen

Random Tumble Method

Principle
Pills are caused to form on the fabric by random rubbing action
produced by tumbling specimens in a cylindrical test chamber lined
with a cork lining & subjected to compressed air pressure.
To form pills which are close in appearance to those formed
during actual wear , small amount short length gray cotton
fibers are added to each test chamber with the test specimens.
The degree of fabric pilling is evaluated by comparison of tested
specimen with standard photographs.

Random Tumble Pilling Tester

Abrasion Resistance

The ability of a fabric to withstand loss of appearance, utility,

pile or surface, through the destructive action of surface wear
and rubbing.
Abrasion resistance is measured on Martindale Abrasion
tester by subjecting the specimen to rubbing motion in the
form of a geometric figure called Lissajous figure.
Abrasion resistance is measured by the number of cycles of
a surface abrader required to rupture a yarn. The higher the
number of cycles, the better.
Resistance to abrasion is evaluated by end point i.e.
when two or more yarn breaks

when change in shade or appearance is sufficient to cause customer to

complain
mass loss

By testing products in the process, we know exactly the Quality of the

product.
This further helps to find out Failures and gives opportunity to Improve,
before it reaches the consumer.