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flexitest1234 · 1 year ago

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Principle & importance of textile testing in the textile industry.

Air permeability tester is an instrument which is used to measure the permeability or the ability of a material to allow the passage of air through it. This measurement is typically performed on fabrics, textiles, and other porous materials. The air permeability of a material is an important factor in various industries, including textiles, filtration, and packaging. Air permeability testers are designed to provide accurate and reproducible measurements. They typically consist of a test chamber or holder to secure the material, a pressure source to create the pressure differential, and a flow measurement device to determine the airflow. The device may also have features such as automatic sample clamping, digital displays, and data logging capabilities for convenient and efficient testing. The principle of an air permeability tester is based on measuring the resistance of a material to the flow of air through it. The device creates a pressure differential across the material and measures the airflow rate, allowing the determination of its air permeability. he specific principle of operation may vary depending on the design and type of air permeability tester, but the basic concept involves the steps like test specimen preparation, it is a type of method where any material is prepared in the form of a circular or square sample of known area. The sample is carefully clamped or mounted in the test apparatus to ensure airtight sealing. A pressure source is connected to the test apparatus. The device applies a pressure differential across the material, with higher pressure on one side and lower pressure on the other side. The pressure differential forces the air to flow through the material. The tester is equipped with a device to measure the airflow rate through the sample. This is commonly done using a calibrated orifice or flow meter. The airflow is typically measured in terms of volume per unit time, such as milliliters per second. The time required for a specific volume of air to flow through the material is measured. The test apparatus records the time taken for the predetermined volume of air to pass through the sample. The air permeability of the material is calculated based on the measured airflow rate and the area of the sample. It is often expressed in terms of air volume (such as milliliters) passing through a specific area (such as square centimeters) under the given pressure differential in a given time period. To ensure accuracy and reliability, multiple measurements are typically taken on different areas or samples of the material, and the results are averaged to obtain a representative value.

textile testing is vital for maintaining product quality, meeting regulatory requirements, evaluating performance, supporting research and development, facilitating material selection, and enhancing customer satisfaction. It helps the textile industry produce safe, reliable, and functional textiles that meet market demands and contribute to its overall growth and success. Textile testing plays a crucial role in the textile industry for reasons such as quality control, compliance with regulations, performance evaluation, reasearch and development, material selection and customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

There are few examples of types of textile testing conducted in the industry. The specific tests performed depend on the properties and characteristics of the textiles being evaluated and the intended applications. Some common types of textile testing include:

Physical Testing: Physical testing involves assessing the physical properties of textiles, such as fabric weight, thickness, tensile strength, tear strength, abrasion resistance, and dimensional stability. These tests help determine the durability, performance, and structural integrity of the materials.

Colorfastness Testing: Colorfastness testing evaluates the resistance of textile materials to color fading or transfer when exposed to various conditions. Tests include colorfastness to light (sunlight), washing, rubbing, perspiration, and other environmental factors. This ensures that the colors of textile products remain stable and do not fade or bleed during use or after washing.

Flammability Testing: Flammability testing assesses the ability of textile materials to resist ignition and spread of flame. These tests are important for ensuring the safety of textiles, especially those used in bedding, upholstery, and children’s clothing. They help determine if a fabric meets specific flammability standards and regulations.

Chemical Testing: Chemical testing involves the analysis of textile materials to detect and quantify the presence of harmful substances, such as heavy metals, formaldehyde, phthalates, or other restricted chemicals. These tests ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and standards related to consumer safety and environmental protection.

Care Labeling Testing: Care labeling testing involves evaluating the performance of textile materials when subjected to recommended care procedures, such as washing, drying, ironing, and dry cleaning. These tests help determine the appropriate care instructions for textiles to maintain their quality, appearance, and functionality.

Comfort Testing: Comfort testing focuses on assessing the comfort-related properties of textiles, including breathability, moisture management, thermal insulation, and skin irritation potential. These tests help manufacturers develop textiles that provide optimal comfort for different applications, such as sportswear, bedding, or medical textiles.

Dimensional Stability Testing: Dimensional stability testing evaluates the ability of textile materials to maintain their shape and size when subjected to various conditions, such as washing, stretching, or heat. This testing ensures that textiles retain their intended dimensions and fit after use or laundering.

Pilling Resistance Testing: Pilling resistance testing measures the tendency of textile materials to form surface fuzz or pills due to friction or wear. These tests help assess the appearance and longevity of fabrics, especially those used in garments or upholstery.

Water and Moisture Management Testing: Water and moisture management testing assesses the ability of textiles to repel or absorb moisture, transport moisture away from the body, or dry quickly. These tests are important for evaluating the performance of fabrics used in sportswear, outdoor gear, or medical textiles.

Textile testing is vital for maintaining product quality, meeting regulatory requirements, evaluating performance, supporting research and development, facilitating material selection, and enhancing customer satisfaction. It helps the textile industry produce safe, reliable, and functional textiles that meet market demands and contribute to its overall growth and success.

Quality Control: Textile testing ensures that the manufactured products meet specific quality standards and requirements. By conducting various tests, such as fabric strength, colorfastness, dimensional stability, and durability, manufacturers can identify any defects or inconsistencies in the materials or production processes. This helps in maintaining consistent quality and prevents substandard products from reaching the market.

Compliance with Regulations: Textile products are subject to various regulations and standards related to safety, health, and environmental factors. Textile testing helps manufacturers ensure that their products comply with these regulations, such as restrictions on hazardous substances (e.g., REACH and Oeko-Tex standards) and flammability requirements. Compliance with these regulations is essential for consumer safety, market access, and avoiding legal issues.

Performance Evaluation: Textiles are used in diverse applications, ranging from apparel and home furnishings to industrial and technical textiles. Testing allows for evaluating the performance characteristics of textiles under specific conditions. For example, tensile strength testing helps determine the fabric’s ability to withstand stress, while moisture management testing assesses its wicking properties. Performance evaluation ensures that textiles perform as intended and meet the functional requirements of different applications.

Research and Development: Textile testing supports research and development efforts in the industry. By testing new fibers, fabrics, or textile treatments, manufacturers can assess their properties, performance, and potential applications. This enables the development of innovative and improved textile materials that meet market demands and offer competitive advantages.

Material Selection: Textile testing assists in the selection of appropriate materials for specific applications. By comparing different fabrics or materials through testing, manufacturers can evaluate their characteristics, such as strength, abrasion resistance, breathability, and colorfastness. This aids in choosing the most suitable materials for desired performance, aesthetics, and cost-effectiveness.

Customer Satisfaction and Brand Reputation: Consistently delivering high-quality textiles builds customer trust and satisfaction. Testing ensures that the products meet the expected standards, reducing the risk of customer complaints, returns, or product failures. Meeting or exceeding customer expectations leads to a positive brand reputation, customer loyalty, and repeat business.

Cost Savings: Textile testing helps identify potential issues or weaknesses in the materials or manufacturing processes at an early stage. This allows manufacturers to make necessary adjustments, avoid costly rejections or recalls, and optimize production efficiency. By ensuring quality and compliance, testing reduces waste, rejects, and associated costs.

Market Differentiation: In a competitive textile industry, testing can be used as a means of market differentiation. Certifications or test reports from reputable testing laboratories or organizations can provide assurance to customers and enhance the marketability of textile products. Demonstrating compliance, superior performance, or specific attributes through testing can give manufacturers a competitive edge.

#textile industry #textest #textile testing #fabrics #air permeability

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juniperpublishers-fashion-b-blog · 5 years ago

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Effect of Plasma Treatment on Moisture Management Properties and Drying Behavior of Polyester and Blend Fabrics for Sportswear Application - Juniper Publishers

Abstract

The hygienic and comfort properties of fabrics for clothing are basically determined by their electrifiability and ability to absorb moisture, i.e. the hygroscopicity and capillarity, which are quantitative characteristics of the hydrophilicity of materials. Unfortunately, the most common synthetic fibre, Polyester exhibits high electrifiability and low hydrophilicity, which makes it unsuitable for fabrication of fabrics with properties close to cellulosic fibre and significantly restricts the area of their application. However, now a days, it is more preferable in the active sportswear due to its excellent physical properties like abrasion resistance, strength etc. and low cost. The present study aims at increasing the hydrophilicity of polyester and polyester blends by combination of plasma modification and chemical treatment. Surface modification of the developed fabrics is carried out by di-electric barrier discharge plasma in presence of air and subsequently the fabrics are subjected to chemical treatment to impart hydrophilic property to make it suitable for active sportswear. The moisture management properties, drying rate and air permeability, abrasion resistance etc. of these fabrics are evaluated.

Keywords: Sportswear; Hydrophilicity; Polyester; Plasma modification; Moisture management

Abbreviations: DBD: Di-Electric Barrier Discharge; OWTC: Accumulative One-Way Transport Capacity; OMMC: Overall Moisture Management Capability

Introduction

Polyester fiber is one of the most widely consumed fibers (about 70%) in sportswear application but its hydrophobic properties causes discomfort to the wearer [1]. Hydrophobic nature of polyester can be a disadvantage for certain applications like moisture management properties, dyeing, finishing, detergency, etc. [2]. During sports activity, wearer perspires a lot and it is essential that the perspiration should transfer to the outer surface of the fabric from where it gets evaporated and wearer feels dry and comfortable. Physical or chemical modification of polyester to make it more hydrophilic is therefore desirable for certain performance characteristics. Surface modification of polyester for hydrophilicity can be achieved by application of adsorbing polymers on the polyester surface [3].

Moisture management is one of the important property in Active sportswear fabrics with respect to thermo-physiological comfort. Therefore, it is essential to increase the hydrophilicity of polyester. In moisture management fabrics, the body perspiration is transported away from the skin to the outer surface of fabric where it can evaporate quickly in order to accomplish the consumer satisfaction of comfort [4]. To achieve such moisture management, the structural design and quality of fibers are modified so that the textile products can have good performance in absorbing, transporting, and dissipating moisture [5,6]. According to The Tai Lee Textiles Company, moisture management is related to wickability of the fabric which mainly depends upon the type of fiber and its chemical characteristics, diameter of the fiber, diameter of the yarn, yarn regularity, surface structure of the fabric, fabric construction, weave pattern, the cover factor, fabric weight etc. [7]. Das et al. [8] also described that moisture management can be enhanced through a suitable chemical treatment or coating [8].

It is evident that fiber type, yarn properties, fabric structure, finishing treatments affects the clothing comfort. The use of blended fibre combinations in sportswear has grown in the past decade as brands attempt to improve function and comfort using different fiber blends. The use of blending technologies and the chemical finishing available for sportswear will continue to provide a source of innovation for sportswear products. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the moisture management properties and drying rate of commercial garments, and 16 knitted fabrics developed for sportswear application, composed of plasma and chemically modified polyester and polyester blend fabrics.

Materials and Methods

Materials

Polyester filament yarn (85 denier), Cotton yarn (Count 60 Ne), Lycra (20 denier), three sport fabrics were procured from specialty sportswear store. Single Layer interlock knitted fabric with lycra (Spandex) and polyester was developed. Lycra filament yarn was added to the single layer knitted polyester fabric to provide stretchability to the fabric. Similarly, Double Jersey interlocks and bi-layer interlocks knitted fabrics were also developed. Construction parameters of Single layer and double layer developed knitted fabrics are mentioned in Table 1. And construction parameters of commercial garments are mentioned in Table 2.

Plasma treatment of developed fabrics

To study the effect of plasma treatment on moisture management properties and drying behavior of knitted fabrics, a Di-electric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma chamber was employed for plasma treatment of polyester fabric at different duration keeping voltage and electrode spacing constant. Air was used as non-polymerizing gas for plasma treatment. Undyed microfilament polyester fabric of sample size 40cm width and 50cm length was spread between the two electrodes and then plasma treatment was carried out. The treatments were given only on one side of the fabric i.e., inner side of the garment to be worn. Table 3 indicates the details of plasma trials conducted on single layer and double layer knitted fabrics.

Application of moisture management finish

To remove the impurities like lubricants and antistatic agents, 100% polyester and Modal/Cotton, Modal/Polyester woven and knitted fabrics were scoured using 1gpl nonionic surfactant (Archroma) at 65 °C for 30min followed by rinsing, hydro extraction and drying at room temperature. These scoured fabrics were then used for moisture management finish. 30gpl Hydrophillic Softener (Archroma) which is a modified polyester copolymer based nonionic chemical; was used for finishing of polyester fabrics with 60% weight pickup. The trials were conducted using pad - dry - cure method on laboratory pad dry cure machine (R. B. Electronics and Electrical Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai); curing was carried out at 120 °C for 4min.

Results & Discussion

Moisture management properties

Fabric liquid moisture transport properties in multi dimensions, called moisture management properties significantly influence human perceptions of moisture sensation. Moisture management tester has been developed by SDL Atlas to evaluate textile moisture management properties. This method can be used to quantitatively measure liquid moisture transfer in one step in a fabric in multiple directions. Moisture spreads on both surface of the fabric and transfer from one surface to the opposite. Here ten indices are introduced to characterize the liquid moisture management properties of fabric. It measures electrical conductivity changes as a test solution migrates across the top of, through, and across the bottom of the test specimen. Factors affecting this movement include fabric water repellency, water resistance, and water absorption, and fiber and yarn wicking properties. Perspiration is mimicked with TM 195. The results obtained with this test method are based on water resistance, water repellency and water absorption characteristics of the fabric structure, including the fabric’s geometric and internal structure along with the wicking characteristics of its fibers and yarns.

Moisture management tester indices

The indices of the MMT that are used to characterize the moisture management properties of a fabric are as mentioned below:

i. Wetting time top (WTt)

ii. Wetting time bottom (WTb)

iii. Top absorption rate (MARt)

iv. Bottom absorption rate (MARb)

v. Top maximum wetted radius (MWRt)

vi. Bottom maximum wetted radius (MWRb)

vii. Top spreading speed (SSt)

viii. Bottom spreading speed (SSb)

ix. Accumulative One-Way Transport Capacity (OWTC)

x. Overall Moisture Management Capability (OMMC) [9,10].

The OWTC is the difference of accumulative moisture content between the two surfaces of fabric. The OWTC reflects the oneway liquid transport capacity from the top (inner) surface to the bottom (outer) surface of the fabric Table 4. The OMMC is an index indicating the overall capacity of the fabric to manage the transport of liquid moisture, which includes three aspects:

a. Average moisture absorption rate at the bottom surface;

b. One-way liquid transport capacity;

c. Maximum moisture spreading speed on the bottom surface [11,12].

According to AATCC Test Method 195-2009, the indices are graded and converted from value to grade based on a five point grade scale (1-5), The five grades of indices represent: 1-Poor, 2- Fair, 3- Good, 4- Very Good, 5- Excellent. Table 1 shows the range of values converted into grades.

The moisture management properties of the commercial garments and developed fabrics in grades are mentioned in Table 5.

Figure 1 indicates mean grade of accumulative one way transport index for all 3 commercial fabrics and 16 developed fabrics. In non blended fabric 100% Polyester (K1-UT and K3- UT) has fair one way transport capacity whereas Polyester/Lycra (K2-UT) blend fabric and Polyester/Cotton blend fabric (K4-UT) shows poor one-way transport capacity. Commercial garment has fair OWTC. Plasma and chemically treated Polyester (K1AK1C, K3A- K3C), Polyester/Lycra (K2A- K2C) and Polyester/ Cotton (K4A- K4C) fabric shows very good to excellent one way transport index grade indicating that these fabrics can also be effectively used for sportswear application.

Figure 2 indicates overall moisture management capability for all 3 commercial fabrics and 16 developed fabrics. 100% Polyester (K1-UT and K3-UT) has good OMMC grades. Whereas Polyester/Cotton blend fabric (K4-UT) shows poor OMMC grades and Polyester/Lycra (K2-UT) blend fabric shows fair OMMC grades. Commercial garment has fair to good OMMC properties. Plasma and chemically treated Polyester (K1A- K1C, K3A- K3C), Polyester/Lycra (K2A- K2C) fabric shows very good overall moisture management capability grade indicating that these fabrics can also be effectively used for sportswear application.

From the Table 5, it is observed that 5minute plasma treatment is optimum as giving higher one way transport index and overall moisture management capability grade in almost all the fabrics. It can be seen that OWTC grade and OMMC grades are higher for plasma pre-modified followed by chemical treated samples compared to untreated and commercial fabric samples indicating suitability of developed fabrics for effective moisture management properties required in sportswear application.

Drying rate

This drying rate test determines the drying rate of textile fabrics based on the evaporation rate at standard atmospheric conditions. This testing is based on measuring the weight of water content which is applied on the fabric for a particular time period by using a weighing balance and with drying rate software connected to it. Table 6 elaborates drying rate of 3 commercial fabrics and 16 developed fabrics. Drying rate of commercial garment is in the range of 0.29-0.38%/min.

Figure 3 shows that untreated Polyester fabric shows drying rate of 0.60 and 0.43%/min whereas Polyester/Lycra and Polyester/Cotton blend fabric shows drying rate of 0.47 and 0.43%/min respectively. From the results it is observed that after plasma and chemical treatment drying rate of Polyester, Polyester/Lycra and Polyester/Cotton blend decreases. It is found that with the increase in plasma treatment time, the drying rate (%) per minute decrease. It may be due to the more surface roughening of Polyester fabric resulting in more absorption of the hydrophilic chemicals. But even after considerable drop in drying rate of developed fabric their drying behavior are comparable with commercial garment. This indicates that plasma and chemically modified Polyester and Polyester blends show low drying rate compared to untreated fabrics but still they are suitable for sportswear application when compared with commercial garment.

Conclusion

Sportswear is a very vast and challenging field in which required functionality can be designed by suitable choice of raw materials, structure and geometry of fibers, yarns and fabrics, surface modification and garment assembly techniques. Moisture management properties like sweat absorption, sweat dissipation and faster drying are the primary desirable functions of high active sportswear which affects the comfort sensation of a player during a game. To achieve these properties, Polyester and Polyester/Lycra and Polyester/Cotton blend fabrics are treated with air plasma followed by a chemical treatment to enhance hydyophilicity. Plasma treatments help in surface roughening of Polyester. Plasma pre-modified knitted Polyester fabrics are given hydrophilic chemical treatment. The plasma treatment time of 5min followed by chemical treatment is found to give the optimum results with respect to moisture management properties and drying rate. The study indicates that after plasma and finishing with hydrophilic finishing chemical; the Polyester fabrics shows enhance moisture management properties with moderate drying arte which makes it suitable for sportswear application. These modified and light weight moisture management fabrics will be helpful to keep the sportsman free from uncomfortable clinginess and it can also improve the performance of sportsperson.

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#Juniper Publishers #Juniper Publishers group #fashion technology #textile engineering #Fashion Textile #textile

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