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What is a Fabric Defect? A Fabric Defect is any abnormality in the Fabric that hinders its acceptability by the consumer What is a Defect-Free Fabric? A Fabric that exhibits a consistent Performance Within the boundaries of human use & human view A Fabric that exhibits a consistent Appearance Within the human sight boundaries

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What are the Factors that could lead to Fabric Defects? Machine-Related Factors:
Failure of spinning preparation to eliminate or minimize short and long-term variation Failure of opening and cleaning machines to completely eliminate contaminants and trash particles Failure of the mixing machinery to provide a homogenous blend Excessive machine stops particularly during spinning Excessive ends piecing during spinning preparation Poor maintenance and housekeeping Weaving-related defects Knitting-related defects Dyeing and Finishing-related defects

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What are the Factors that could lead to Fabric Defects? Material-Related Factors:
Fiber contaminants Excessive neps and seedcoat fragments Excessive short fiber content Excessive trash content High variability between and within-mix Clusters of unfavorable fiber characteristics Weight variation Twist variation Excessive Hairiness

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At Auburn University Testing Laboratory, we have a very sound sample analysis program in which we perform systematic Fabric & Yarn defect-diagnostic analysis and provide complete reports. Our laboratory has state-of-the-art Testing and Diagnostic systems including optical and scanning Microscopic systems, and all advanced physical & chemical testing techniques of fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Since 1989, we have handled over 3000 disputes for over 28 companies with a feedback rate down to few hours depending on the case in hand. Now, we have a Diagnostic-Expert Software program which assist in speeding up diagnostic fabric defects analysis using a large image-base & an image-recognition & comparison system. Examples from the image-base bank we have are shown below
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Fabric Barr

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Material

or machine related

Mixing is often a prime suspect

Weaving
Uneven Warp Tension Excessive Between-Mix Variation in Color +b or Rd Uneven Filling Tension Excessive Within-Mix Variation in Color +b or Rd Uneven Let-Off or Take-up Motion

Raw-Material

Excessive Between-Mix Variation in Fiber Fineness Excessive Within-Mix Variation in Fiber Fineness

Fabric Barr
Improper Stitch Length High Count Variation High Hairiness Variation High Twist Variation High Yarn Irregularity & Imperfection Mixing Fresh with Stored Yarns
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Worn* Needles

Improper Feed Tension (knitting) Excessive Lint Build-Up Double-Feed End Variation in Fabric Take-up from loose to tight

Yarn

Knitting

Different Causes of Fabric Barre [ * usually produce length direction streaks]

Shade Variation

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Material or machine related Dyeing & Finishing Mixing is often a suspect

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Synthetic Fiber Contaminant

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White Specs

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Small Bits of contaminants Spun into the Yarn

Filling Streaks & Slubs of Varying Lengths

42

Weak Spots (Over-bleaching)

Short Thick Places

8 cm ~2d d

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Long Thick Places

>> 40 cm (16 inch)

d ~40% to 100% of d
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Spun-in or knit-in Contaminant?

45

Spun-in or knit-in Contaminant?

46

Spun-in or knit-in Contaminant?

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Modeling Fabric Defects: The Problem-Theory

Fabric Defect = f (macroscopic parameters, microscopic parameters, noise parameters)

Fabric Defect = f (MaPs, MiPs, Noise)

MaP = f (visual illusion, physical reflection, gross parameters) MiP = f(within-yarn variation, clustering effects, color breakdown failure) Noise = f (Unknown Parameters, information resolution loss)
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The Textile Process Does not Eliminate Variability. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. As materials flow from one stage of processing to another, components of variability are added and the final product involves a cumulative variability that is much higher than the variability of the input fibers.

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The Textile Product is Positively Deceiving.

The main reason, the consumer does not realize the large magnitude of variability in the final product (fabric or garment) is that the different components of variability have been smoothed during processing to produce a product that exhibits a pattern of Consistent Variability at the naked-eye visual boundaries.
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Poor Cotton Mixing is a Sure Defect-Causing Factor & Good Mixing alone Does not Always Guarantee a Defect-Free Fabric

Machine-Related Factors cannot be emphasized enough

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99% of Fabric-Defects can be diagnosed with minimum or no testing if every involved personnel from the fiber to the fabric sector is willing to honestly tells his/her side of the story.
Fabric-defect diagnostic work has become more of detective work because of missing facts

When business is good, fabric defects are normally at their lowest rate Coincident!!

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In the absence of a well-established problem theory, in which backward projection of fabric quality is the foundation, fabric defects of the same type will always re-occur.

Current yarn testing techniques reveal minimum or no information about potential causes of Fabric defects.

It is truly disturbing that high cost yarn testing equipments available today reveal minimum or no prediction of potential fabric defects. Indeed, there is a significant gap between yarn quality as tested in the yarn raw form and corresponding yarn quality as it exists in the fabric. For instance, the 50 cm yarn length used to test yarn strength often proves no correlation with fabric strength or weaving performance. The capacitive mass variation measures often prove meaningless with respect to fabric weight variation.

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54

55

Bale Population

Micronaire Color +b Short Fibers

Process Average x

Upper Control Limit

Cotton Mixes

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le L Ba

Center Line

ayd ow n

Out of control

Lower Control Limit

Time

Micronaire Color +b Short Fibers

Cotton Mixes

57

le L Ba ayd ow n

Run Trend

Trend Trend Run

Between-Mix Runs or Trends

58

Between-Mix Pattern

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Bale Population Rp

Micronaire Short Fibers Color

R1

Cotton Mixes
R2
Tim

Process Range (R)

Upper Control Limit

60

Center Line

R3

Lower Control Limit

R4

Time

R5

Macro-Sections

Micro-Sections

61

>>>> FL

<<< FL

Ideally-Blended Fiber Strand: Definition

A fiber strand that has approximately zero variability between consecutive macro-sections and a variability of micro-sections that perfectly reflects the natural variability in the constituent fibers of the input fiber mix

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The Dimensional Allocation of Different Fiber Segments within the Structural Boundaries of the Fibrous Assembly
63

The Representation Factor

R
&
64

ij M icro

= P { F Fi / F L j M icro S } = P { F Fi / F L j M a cro S }

ij M acro

where Rij is the representation factor of a certain fineness/length combination in the micro-section or macro-section of fiber strand.

The Clustering Effect

n = C n q
n = The standard deviation of the No. of fibers/Cs C = the average number of fiber ends per cluster P = 1-q = n/nmax

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0.014 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.012 0.011 P(Macro) 0.01 0.009 0.008 0.007 0.006
5 1.1 1.1

0.012 0.011 0.01 0.009 0.008 0.007 0.006

5 4.5
5 1.0 c Mi

4
1 5 0.9

FL

3.5

Relationship Between the Probability of Representation of Fibers of Mic/FL Combination in the Macro-Section of Yarn [Ne = 20s] P(Macro) = 0.016014+ 0.0665027/Mic+ 0.0113814/FL

P(Macro)

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0.25

P{Ffi/FLjITuft}

0.2 0.15

0.1 0.05

C11

C12

C13

C21

C22

C23

C31

C32

C33

120%

Fineness/Length Category Comparison Between Probabilities of Representation in Micro-Sections and Macro-Sections of Fiber Strand [Yarn]

Cshort

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Appearance (Visual) Blending: The Homogenization of Different Fiber Colors in the Fiber Assembly
68

The Representation Factor Of Color

R ij M icro = P {( +b ) i M icroS } 1 & R ij M acro = P {( +b ) i M acro S } 1
69

The Representation Factor

Intimate Blending
Percentage No.in Yarn Cross-Sections % Black Fibers
70

Draw Blending

Percentage No.in Yarn Cross-Sections

% Black Fibers

The Clustering Effect

Clusters of Similar Color Fibers

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 They Undergo Changes During Processing

72

They embed in the fiber bulk very cleverly and manage to survive They cluster

0.5

0.2

200

100

50 1.2 2 3

0.1

0. 04

0. 05

0. 1

FL
FS Difference

Neps/g Difference
1. 0 1

2
1

5 6

2. 0

FM

3. 0

+b Difference

Threshold Values of Between-Mix Variability

D iff er en ce
2

0.7

Mic Difference
C SF ce en er iff D
3% 2% 1%

73

UV Range
3

% FE

ce en er iff D

10

12

C.V% Mic
14

400

200

100
0. 5

C
C.V% FS
11 13

Neps/g
1. 0
74

3
4 2

10
5

15

3. 0

20
UV Range

4. 0

FM

6. 0

C.V% +b

Threshold Values of Within-Mix Variability

.V % FE

w FC .S ax M

6 6 7 8

FL C % .V
9

12 10 8 6 4

4 6 8 10 12

Closing Remarks Every defect should not be treated only as a passing loss, but more importantly
as an opportunity to learn more about the root causes of the defect. As many defects as we see on daily basis we often focus on the effect and overlook the root causes The traditional approach of dealing with quality problems passively unless a significant cost is encountered should give way to more intelligent approaches in which problem prevention in the first place is the key factor Current yarn testing techniques are based on traditional thinking and they reveal virtually no indication of potential fabric defects. New approaches to yarn testing based on fresh innovative thinking should be introduced When the same type of defects reoccur once, it is perhaps because we failed to discover the root causes the first time. When the same defect reoccurs 100 times, our intelligence becomes largely in question In the era of SIX SIGMA, you can either lead, follow closely or get out out of the track Defects are not only about cost or loss, they are more importantly about customer trust and confidence Yehia El Mogahzy

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