Introduction to Textile
Testing
Session outcomes
1. State objectives of textile testing.
2. Explain the need and scope of standardization of textile testing.
3. Discuss various sampling techniques for fibre, yarn and fabrics.
Objectives of Textile Testing
• Checking the quality and suitability of raw material and selection of
material.
• Monitoring of production i.e. process control.
• Assessment of final product, whether the quality is acceptable or not.
• Investigation of faulty materials (analysis of customer complaint,
identification of fault in machine etc.).
• Product development and research.
• Specification testing: Specifications are formed and the materials are tested
to prove whether they fall within the limits allowed in the specification (e.g.
specified by a customer).
Standardization of Testing
The lack of reproducibility of results of material may be due to:
a) Variation in the material :
It can be solved through,
• By proper sampling
• Use of suitable statistical methods to analyze the results
b) Variation due to test methods
• Due to operator (care in mounting of specimen, adherence to the test procedures,
etc.)
• Specimen size
• Atmospheric condition
• Type of test equipment
• Test condition – speed, pressure, etc.
Standard Test Methods
To minimize these variation standard test methods are followed
• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) – India
• British Standards (BS) – Britain
• American Society for Testing of Materials (ASTM) - USA
• Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN) – Germany Standards Institute
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Some Definitions
• QUALITY: “Ensemble of properties and characteristics of a product or a service
which confer on it the capacity to satisfy expressed or implicit requirements” -
“suitable for use” or “fitness for use”.
• TESTING: A means of determining the capability of an item to meet specified
requirements by subjecting the item to a set of physical, chemical, environmental or
operating actions, and conditions.
• INSPECTION : Activities such as measuring, examining, testing, one or more
characteristics of a product or service, and comparing these with specified
requirements to determine conformity (end breakage study in R/F, looms, fabric
inspection etc).
• QUALITY CONTROL: The operational technique and activities used to fulfill
requirements of quality.
• QUALITY ASSURANCE: All those planned or systematic actions necessary to
provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirement
for quality.
SAMPLING
• Consignment: This is the quantity of material delivered at the same time.
Each consignment may consist of one or several lots.
• Test lot or batch: This consists of all the containers of a textile material of one
defined type and quality, delivered to one customer according to one dispatch
note.
• Laboratory sample: This is the material that will be used as a basis for
carrying out the measurement in the laboratory.
• Test specimen: This is the one that is actually used for the individual
measurement and is derived from the laboratory sample. Normally,
measurements are made from several test specimens.
• Sample: It is a relatively small fraction which is selected to represent a
population.
Reasons for sampling: To minimize time requirement for testing. Design
nature of many of the tests.
Aim of sampling: To produce an unbiased sample
Sampling methods are governed by:
1. Form of the material (fibre/yarn/fabric).
2. Amount of material available.
3. Nature of the test.
4. Type of testing instruments.
5. Information required.
6. Degree of accuracy required.
FIBRE SAMPLING FROM BULK
Zoning Technique:
• Suitable for cotton, wool etc. where large variation in
properties are there.
• A handful of fibres is taken at random from each of at
least 40 widely spaced places (zones) throughout the bulk
of the consignment.
• Each handful is divided into two parts and one half of it is
discarded at random.
• The retained half is again divided into two and half of that
discarded.
• This process is repeated until about n/x fibres remain in
the handful (where n is the total number of fibres required
in the sample and x is the number of original handfuls).
• Each handful is treated in a similar manner and the fibres
that remain are placed together to give a correctly sized
test sample containing n fibres.
Core Sampling:
• Core sampling is a technique that is used for
assessing the proportion of grease, vegetable
matter and moisture in samples taken from
unopened bales of raw wool.
• A tube with a sharpened tip is forced into the bale
and a core of wool is withdrawn.
• The tubes for manual coring are 600 mm long so
that they can penetrate halfway into the bale, the
whole bale being sampled by coring from both
ends.
• The tube enters in the direction of compression,
so perpendicular to the layers of fleece.
The method has been further developed to
• A detachable cutting tip is used whose internal
diameter is slightly smaller than that of the tube allow hydraulic coring by machine in
so that the cores will slide easily up the inside of warehouses where large numbers of bales
the tube. are dealt with.
• As the cores are removed they are placed
immediately in an air-tight container to prevent
any loss of moisture from them.
Fiber Sampling from Slivers/ Rovings/ Yarns:
• Difficult to do unbiased sampling.
• Longer fibres in the material being sampled are more likely to be selected by the sampling
procedures, leading to a length-biased sample.
• Two ways of dealing with this problem:
I. Prepare a numerical sample (unbiased).
II. Prepare a length-biased sample in such way that the bias can be allowed for in any
calculation (based on some assumptions).
• In a numerical sample the C
percentage by number of fibres
in each length group should be
the same in the sample as it is in
the bulk.
Length-biased sample:
• In a length-biased sample the percentage of
fibres in any length group is proportional to the
product of the length and the percentage of
fibres of that length in the bulk.
• The removal of a length-biased sample
changes the composition of the remaining
material as a higher proportion of the
longer fibres are removed from it.
Random draw method:
• This method is used for sampling card sliver,
ball sliver and top.
• The sliver is placed over two velvet boards
with the parted end near the front of the first
board.
• The opposite end of the sliver is weighed
down with a glass plate to stop it moving as
shown in Figure.
• A wide grip which is capable of holding
individual fibres.
• Take out fibre (2mm at each stage) and discard until a distance equal to that of the longest
fibre in the sliver has removed.
• After that each draw will be of numerical samples.
Cut Square Method:
• This method is used for sampling the fibres in a yarn.
• A length of the yarn being tested is cut off and the end untwisted by
hand.
• The end is laid on a small velvet board and covered with a glass
plate.
• All the fibres that project in front of the glass plate are removed one
by one with a pair of forceps and discarded.
• By doing this all the cut fibres are removed, leaving only fibres
with their natural length.
• The glass plate is then moved back a few millimetres, exposing
more fibre ends.
• These are then removed one by one and measured.
• When these have all been measured the plate is moved back again until a total of 50 fibres
have been measured.
YARN SAMPLING
• Use of random numbers:
• Count of yarn removed from fabric: Rectangular strips two for warp and five for
weft. Normal size = 20'' width at least 50 threads.
• Twist in yarn in package form: Specimens in equal no. of from 10 packages. No
specimen from within 1yard of the end of package. Minimum 1yard distance between
consecutive specimens.
• Lea strength of spun yarns: 20 complete leas, one each from 20 packages. If no. of
packages is less than 20, then 20 leas are selected at random approximately equal from
each packages.
FABRIC SAMPLING
• Fabric samples from warp and weft are taken separately.
• Warp direction should be marked before it is cut out.
• No two specimens should contain same warp or weft threads.
• Samples should not be from within 50mm of selvedge.
