Textile & Geotextiles

Materials and Component Testing for Textiles

Textiles are materials that are composed of flexible strands, filaments or fibers. The fibers may be either natural or synthetic and are joined together using one of several techniques depending on whether the material is considered to be a woven or nonwoven textile. A woven textile is created by intertwining the individual strands using any number of processes the most common of which are weaving, knitting, knotting and crocheting. Textiles, which are more commonly known as fabrics and cloths, are used in a wide range of industries ranging from apparel to biomedical to aerospace.

Textile Testing Properties:

The purpose of testing the mechanical properties of textiles is to determine their ability to perform under the service conditions of their desired application and whether or not a different material is needed. These properties are dependent upon the material used to make the fibers as well as their physical geometry and the method used to join them together and generally fall into the following categories: tensile, flexural, friction and tear.

The tensile properties of textiles usually describe the amount of tensile force necessary to cause a fiber or the textile as whole to rupture and the elongation at the breaking point. Tensile properties accurately describe the expected behavior of a textile material as it encounters forces that cause it to stretch or expand.

Flexural properties determine the textile’s stiffness and bending strength. By definition a textile is designed to be flexible, but many have an adhesive or laminate coating applied to them which will increase the stiffness and alter the bending strength.

Friction properties indicate the textile’s ability to with stand abrasive forces that may wear upon the material and cause it to fray, come undone or otherwise decrease its integrity. The frictional force a textile may experience generally occurs when it is rubbed against a more rigid surface for an extended period of time.

Tear properties determine the behavior of the individual fibers of a textile when they are subjected to breaking forces that affect them separately from one another. Tear properties include the tear strength, tear resistance and puncture resistance and are directly affected by the method used to join the fibers together.

Common Textile Test Methods:

Textile testing may be performed upon a sample of the textile material or upon a single fiber used to create the textile. A single fiber is generally tested in tension to measure its breaking strength and elongation at the breaking point. These values are used to determine if the material used to make the fiber is strong enough for the application and the method of joining the fibers to one another to form the textile. A sample of the textile itself can be tested in any number of ways with the common methods being tension, bending, tear, puncture, friction, and abrasion. For both sample types the tests can differ in the method used to grip the material. The test specimen will either be gripped using a fixture designed for a grab test or a strip test. A grab test requires the sample to be gripped by placing its ends into the grips and applying a compressive force to hold them in place. The strip test fixtures require the ends of the sample to be coiled tightly around a bar in the fixture so that the loops compress themselves until they will not slip.

Textile Testing Specimens:

Textiles come in one of two forms: woven and nonwoven. The difference between the two is the method used to join the fibers together. For woven textiles the fibers are intertwined together in a pattern that allows the fibers to benefit and rely upon each other; however for nonwoven textiles the fibers are joined together with chemical, mechanical, or thermal forces that cause the strength of the material to be dependent upon the strength of the method used.

The fibers of both materials have a range of materials that they can be made from. These materials are either natural or synthetic. The natural fibers are made from animal and plant materials such as wool and cotton. The synthetic fibers are commonly made from petroleum, which tend to be more elastic in nature, and minerals such as nylon and asbestos respectively.

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