Dr.

Prithwiraj Mal,
 FIBRES
Fibres are the primary materials from which the
textile products are made

Fibres are those materials that are either continuous

or discrete pieces and have high length to width
ratio, thus ensuring the flexibility required for
manufacturing and end use

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 FIBRES
Fibres are grouped and twisted together to form a
continuous strand known as “yarn” and the process is
known as “spinning”

Yarns are interlaced and inter-looped to form woven

and knitted fabric respectively

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 FIBRES
The process of interlacing
yarns to form woven fabric
is known as “weaving”

The process of inter-

looping yarns to form
knitted fabric is known as
“knitting”

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Classification of
Textiles Fibres

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 Fibre

Natural Man-made

Synthetic Regenerated

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 Natural Fibre

Vegetable / Animal /
Mineral
Cellulosic Protein

Cotton Wool Asbestos

Jute Silk Glass

Linen Metal
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 Man-made Fibre

Regenerated Synthetic

Viscose Polyester

Acetate Nylon
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 Fibre

Staple fibre
Staple Filament

Cotton Silk

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Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,
 Properties and Performance of
Textile Materials

Aesthetic
Durability Comfort Safety
Properties

Flexibility
Hand
Abrasion
Lustre Absorbency
Resistance
Pilling Cover
Chemical Effects Flammability
Resiliency Environmental Elasticity
Specific Gravity Conditions Wicking
Static Electricity Strength
Thermoplasticity

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 Fibre Length
Fibre length varies from less than one inch to miles
of length
Fibres of short length are known as staple fibres
Fibres of longer length are known as filaments

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Fibre Length

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 Fibre Diameter
Fibre diameter refers to the thickness of the
fibre
Thicker fibres are stiff whereas thinner fibres are
flexible
Micronaire, denier, tex are units for measurement of
thickness of fibres

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 Fibre Diameter
Micron & micronaire are used for the fineness
measurement of natural staple fibres like
cotton, wool

Denier is used for the fineness measurement

of manmade and filaments like polyester,
nylon, silk

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Density & Specific Gravity

Density is the weight per unit volume

Specific gravity is the ration of density of

the fibre at 40C to the density of water at

40C

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SHAPE AND CONTOUR
Shape of the fibres can be
examined both in cross section
and its longitudinal form
Cross section can be circular,
oval, triangular, U-shaped,
trilobal, multilobal
Fibre contours can be smooth,
rough or uneven

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SHAPE AND CONTOUR

Difference in shape and contour contribute

to differences in fibre characteristics such
as lustre, covering power, appearance, hand
(or feel) and surface texture
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 SEM Images of cotton,

polyester and wool

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Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,
SHAPE AND CONTOUR

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 CRIMP
Crimp refers to bend and waviness along the length of
the fibre
Crimp affects various performance properties like
resiliency, bulk, warmth, elongation, skin comfort

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 CRIMP
Greater crimp increases
Resiliency
Bulk
Warmth
Elongation
Skin comfort
Greater crimp decreases
Lustre
Hand

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 CRIMP
Wool has natural 3-dimensional crimp
Crimp can be added to manufactured fibre by
a process called “texturising”

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 STRENGTH
Strength

Ability to withstand stress

Fabric performance is determined by tensile strength, bursting

strength and tearing strength

Tensile strength and tearing strength are measured generally for

woven fabric

Bursting strength is measured generally for knitted fabric and in

some special woven fabric depending upon its end use (parachute
cloth)
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 ELONGATION
Elongation
Elongation is the amount of stretching of a fibre along

its length under a tensile force

It is expressed as a percentage of its original length

“Elongation at break” of fibre is mainly measured which

denotes the amount of stretch a fibre can withstand

before it breaks
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 ELASTIC RECOVERY
Elastic recovery
Elastic recovery is the ability to come back to its original
length after removal of the tensile force
Elongation makes a garment more comfortable as it takes
the shape / contour of the body and recovery helps
prevent bagginess from occurring at elbows or
knees and prevents the garment being loose fitting

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 RESILIENCY
Resiliency
Resiliency is the ability of a material to spring back to

its original shape after being creased, twisted or

distorted / compressed

Nylon, polyester has a very good resiliency whereas

cotton has poor resiliency

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 ABSORBENCY
Absorbency
It is the ability of the fibre to absorb moisture

The absorbency of a fibre is denoted by “Moisture

Regain”

Moisture regain is the amount of water a bone-dry fibre

absorbs from air under standard conditions of 200C and

65% RH

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 ABSORBENCY
Fibres able to absorb water easily are called

“hydrophilic”

Fibres that have difficulty absorbing water are called

“hydrophobic”

The absorbency affects on skin comfort, static build-

up, dimensional stability in water, stain removal

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 WICKING
Wicking
Wicking is the ability of fibre to transfer moisture

along its surface

This property is especially desirable in sportswear

where the body perspiration is transported by wicking

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ABRASION RESISTANCE
Abrasion resistance
Abrasion resistance is the ability to resist wear from

rubbing that contributes the fabric durability

Garments made from fibres of high abrasion resistance

can used for a long period of time before sign of

physical wear appears

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 STATIC ELECTRICITY
Static electricity
Static electricity is the frictional electric charge

caused by rubbing of two similar or dissimilar materials

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 THERMOPLASTICITY
Thermoplastic and Thermo-set
Fibres that used to melt on exposure to heat are known as

thermoplastic

Fibres that decompose and turns into char on exposure to

heat are known as thermo-set

Polyester, nylon are thermoplastic whereas, cotton, wool, silk

are thermoset

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 THERMOPLASTICITY
Thermoplastic have a second transition temperature
at which the “glassy state” is converted into its
“rubbery state”

This secondary transition is known as “glass

transition” temperature and is very important in
context to dyeing. The temperature at which this
transition takes place is known as “glass transition
temperature”
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 PILLING
Pilling
Pilling is the formation of groups

of balls on the surface of the

fabric

Pilling makes a fabric undesirable

look

Hydrophobic fibres tends to pill

more than the hydrophilic fibres

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 FLAMMABILITY
Flammability
Flammability is the ability to ignite or burn
Fibres can be flammable, flame resistant or flameproof

Flammable: Relatively easy to ignite and sustain combustion

Flame resistant: Have slow rate of burning and may also be

self-extinguishing

Flameproof: Will not burn

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BURNING & CHEMICAL TEST

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It is not possible to identify fibres merely by

seeing or feeling

Burning and chemical tests need to be

performed to identify the fibres

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 Burning Test
Fibres Burns or Shrinks from Odour Residue
Melts Flame
Cellulosic Burns only No Burning paper Fine, feathery
(Cotton, Jute, gray ash
Flax, Rayon
etc.)

PROTEIN FIBRES
Wool Burns only Yes Very strong Black bead
odour of that crushes
burning hair easily to black
powder

Silk Burns only Yes Odour of Black bead

burning hair that crushes
but not so easily to black
strong. Smell powder
is more like
burning meat.
Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,
 Burning Test
Fibres Burns or Melts Shrinks Odour Residue
from Flame
Manufactured Fibres
Acrylic Burns and melts Yes Broiled fish Hard, irregular
shaped black
bead

Glass Melts only at Very slowly No odour Hard, whitish

very high temp. bead

Nylon Burns and melts Yes Hard, cream

coloured bead; if
fibres are
overheated, bead
becomes dark

Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,

 Burning Test
Fibres Burns or Shrinks Odour Residue
Melts from
Flame
Manufactured Fibres
Olefin Burns and Yes Chemical or Hard bead
melts paraffin – like
Polyester Burns and Yes Sweet Hard cream
melts chemical coloured bead;
if fibres are
overheated,
bead becomes
dark

Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,

Chemical Solubility Test
Solvents Fibre that will dissolve
Acetic acid, 100% conc., 200C, 5 Acetate
minutes
Hydrochloric acid; 20% conc, 200C, Nylon and vinal. Nylon dissolves in
10 minutes meta-cresol, 100% conc., at boil, 5
minutes, whereas vinal does not

Sodium hypochlorite or NaOH Silk & Wool. Differentiate visually

Meta-xylene, 100% conc. at boil for 5 Olefin
min.
DMF, 100% conc., boil, 10 minutes Acrylic and spandex and acetate.
Spandex is elastomeric and others are
not

Sulphuric acid, 70% conc., 400C, 20 Cotton, flax and rayon (also acetate,
minutes nylon and vinal)
Meta-cresol, 70% conc. At boil for 5 Polyester (also nylon)
minutes
Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,
What do you think????
State the fibre property that most affects the indicated
conditions
Pilling propensity
Producing permanent pleats
Improving insulation
Resistance to wear from rubbing
Static buildup
Determination of “hand”
Excessive wrinkling
Good drapability
Preventing clammy feeling on a hot day
Resisting pulling force
Degree of lustre
Dr. Prithwiraj Mal,