FABRIC COMPOSITION

TESTING
(IDENTIFICATION OF FIBER IN FABRIC)

1
Tests for Fiber Identification
 There are two types of methods that are
used for identifying different fiber;
 The non technical tests
a. The feeling test
b. The burn test
 The technical tests
a. Microscope test
b. Chemical test
The non technical test
 Feeling Test

Feeling test involves touching a fabric and

feeling the fabric to know its component fibers.
Example
For wool For Cellulose
 Wool fabrics will feel  The fabrics made up
warm when touched of plant fibers such as
because the heat cotton fabrics, linen
generated by wool,
which is a fabrics and even the
nonconductor of rayon fabrics, that are
heat, will remain in made from the
the touched area cellulose of wood pulp
itself. or cotton fiber feel
cool to touch.
Limitations of feeling test
 It requires a long experience of handling
different fabrics over a period of time for
such skillful perception.
 Also, it is difficult to examine and compare
the fabrics made of different fiber contents
with the feeling test.
Burn test
 The burn test- involves burning a sample
of fabric and observing the various
characteristics shown by it after burning in
order to determine its fiber content.
 The burning test is more efficient than the
feeling test
The Method
To identify the fibers in an unknown piece of
fabric, a snippet should be cut off from it.
This specimen should be about 1" long and a
triangle at most 1/4" wide.
The snippet of fabric should be held in a pair of
tweezers over the dish (which has already been
made fireproof).
With either a match or cigarette lighter, the
snippet should be put directly into the flame long
enough for it to catch on fire.
 The fiber burn chart helps in identifying the
nature of the fibers on the basis of their
burning characteristics and the smell and
other properties of the remains such as
smoke, ash etc.
 Burning Behavior
Natural Fiber
Cotton
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Cotton Scorches; Burns Continues Burning Light,
Ignites readily quickly to burn paper feathery,
rapidly; has grayish;
afterglow black ash
denotes
mercerize
d cotton
 Linen
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Linen Scorches; Yellow Continues Burning Feathery
Ignites readily flame, to burn paper gray ash
burns
slower
than
cotton if
yarns are
heavier.
 Wool
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Wool Fuses and Burns Burns very Burning Irregular
curls away slowly slowly, self hair blistered
from flame. with extinguishi ash brittle,
some ng breaks
melting. easily.
 Silk (Pure)
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Silk Fuses and Burns Burns very Like Round
(pure) curls away slowly slowly, burning black
from flame with sometimes hair, but bead,
some self less brittle,
melting. extinguishi pronounce pulverizes
ng d than easily
wool
 Silk (weighted))
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Silk Fuses and Burns Burned part Like Screen
(weight curls away with a becomes burning like
ed) from flame. glow briefly hair, skeleton
incandesce of original
nt; then sample.
chars
 Manmade Fiber
Viscose Rayon
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Rayon Scorches; Burns Continues Burning Light,
Ignites quickly quickly; to burn ; no paper gray,
yellow afterglow feathery
flame
 Acetate
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Acetate Fuses away Flames Continues Like acetic Brittle,
from flame; quickly; to burn and acid or hard,
turns black fabric melt vinegar irregular
puckers, black ash,
sputters, difficult to
melts, crush.
drips like
burning
tar
 Triacetate
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Triacet Fuses away Flames Continues Like acetic Brittle,
ate from flame; quickly; to burn and acid or hard,
turns black fabric melt vinegar irregular
puckers, black ash,
sputters, difficult to
melts, crush.
drips like
burning
tar
 Nylon
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Nylon Fuses and Burns Flame Somewhat Hard,
shrinks away slowly diminishes pungent round,
from flame with and tends tough,
melting to die out gray, bead
 Polyester
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Polyest Fuses and Burns Burns with Slightly Hard,
er shrinks away slowly difficulty sweetish round,
from flame with tough,
melting gray, bead
 Acrylic
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Acrylic Fuses and Flames Continues Faintly like Brittle,
shrinks away rapidly, to burn and burning hard,
from flame fabric melt meat irregular,
puckers, black
sputters, bead.
melts
 Modacrylic
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Modacr Fuses and Burns Self Sharp, Brittle,
ylic shrinks away very extinguishin similar to hard,
from flame slowly g burning irregular,
with gunpowder black bead
melting,
shrinks,
melts,
smolders
 Spandex
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Spande Fuses but Burns Continues Acrid Soft, fluffy,
x does not with to burn with black.
shrink away melting melting
from flame
 Glass
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Glass No reaction Will not Hardens None Hardens to
burn, glass
melts at
over
15000F
 Polypropylene
Fiber Approaching In Flame Removed Odor Ash
Flame From
Flame
Polypro Fuses, shrinks Melts, Burns Faintly like Hard,
pylene and curls away burns slowly with burning round,
from flame slowly difficulty asphalt light tan
bead.
 Precautions

 The burn test has to be carried out with great

precaution.
Arrangement of water near the site of test
should be made.
The test should be done in a metal bucket.
Plastic containers should always be avoided.
The Technical Tests
The technical tests for fiber identification done
with the help of laboratory equipment are far
more reliable than the nontechnical tests.
However, technical knowledge and skill,
particularly while handling chemicals, are the
basic requirements for conducting these tests.
Microscope Test
Microscopes having magnification of at least 100
powers can be successfully employed for testing
and identifying the fiber contents of a fabric.
Microscope test is very effective for testing the
natural fabrics.
Difficulties can be faced while testing synthetic
fabrics as many of them have similar
appearance.
Microscopic appearance of different fibers
 Cotton
Fig: Convoluted dimensional structure

The cotton fiber is a

single elongated
cell. Under a
microscope, it looks
like flat, spirally
twisted ribbon like
tube with rough
granular surface.
Fig: Cross-sections of cotton fibers showing their
variable but generally kidney-bean shapes and
lumens.
 Wool
 Wool fiber has irregular, roughly cylindrical, multi
cellular structure with tapered ends.
 Under a microscope, three basic layers are
shown- epidermis (outer layer), cortex (middle
layer) and medulla (inner layer).
 Medulla is seen only in coarse and medium wool
fibers and that too under a highly powerful
microscope.
Fig: Surfaces of wool fiber
Silk
 Raw silk fiber,
composed of two
filaments, has elliptical
shape under the
microscope. The two
fine and lustrous
filaments are shown
clearly looking like
transparent rods with
triangular shape.
Linen: Linen fiber, under microscope, looks like
having multiple sided cylindrical filaments with fine
pointed edges. The filaments show nodes at
intervals. It, in fact, looks like a bamboo stick
having joints that result into a little unevenness.

Fig: Cross section Longitudinal view

 However, one must know what the fibers look
like under a microscope as many finishing
processes like mercerizing and delustering,
change the appearance of fibers under
microscope.
Apart from it, dark colored fabrics also cannot be
tested with microscope as light cannot pass
through dark substances.
 For such fabrics, either the textile dyes have to
be removed by stripping, bleaching etc. or they
have to be chemically tested.
Chemical Test
Chemical tests for fiber identification can
only be conducted in well equipped
laboratories. There are two primary
methods to conduct chemical testing-
 Stain method and
 Solvent method
 Stain Method
Stain technique uses acid and alkali on different
fabrics to identify their fiber contents.
Most of the fibers have two color reactions when
treated with stain.
A fiber stained with dilute acetic acid turns to a
specific color. The same fiber when stained with
mild alkali like soda carbonate turns to a different
color again specific to that fiber only.
Acetate changes to light green color when acetic
acid is used and turns orange when dilute
carbonate of soda is used.
Likewise, nylon turns beige in one and bright red
in other.
As double testing is done in this method, it is
sometimes referred to as double-barreled stain
identification.
 Solvent Method
Various solvents are used in this method to
distinguish one kind of fiber from another.
 There is no single solvent or chemical that can be
used on all fibers.
It becomes very difficult to use solvent methods in
view of fibers that have similar chemical
characteristics.
When more fibers are mixed to produce blended
fabric, then it becomes tough to identify the fibers
with the help of solvent method.
However, it is a very effective method for cross
checking but in order to have accurate reports,
the fabric has to be cleaned thoroughly and the
finishing chemicals should also be removed
completely.
The fabric has to be unraveled, yarns have to be
untwisted and the fibers have to be put in the
solutions in as loose a condition as is possible.
  Distinguishing Vegetable from Animal
Fibers with an Acid
 As dilute acids destroy vegetable fibers, a 2
percent solution of sulfuric acid may be used to
distinguish vegetable from animal fibers.
A drop of the solution is placed on the sample of
the fabric, which is then placed between two
blotters and pressed with a hot iron. The spotted
area will become charred if the fabric is cotton,
rayon or linen.
  Distinguishing Linen from Cotton
Cotton fibers are weakened more than linen fibers if
samples are immersed in concentrated sulfuric acid
for two minutes. After the samples are rinsed and
immersed in weak ammonia, the cotton fibers
dissolve, leaving the linen fibers unaffected.
When cotton and linen samples are immersed in a
solution of iodine and zinc chloride cotton is stained
reddish purple and linen is stained blue to purple.
When samples are immersed in a caustic soda
solution, cotton remains white and linen turns
yellowish.
  Distinguishing Animal from Vegetable
Fibers with an Alkali:
As strong alkalis destroy animal substances, a 5
percent solution of lye in water (1/2 tea spoon of
lye in a glass of water or 5 milliliters [ml] in 100
ml) can be used to eliminate wool and silk fibers
from a sample that contains a mixture of fibers.
The wool and silk fibers will be completely
dissolved. The vegetable fibers will not be
affected.
  Distinguishing Silk from Wool:

If the fibres in a sample are known to consist of

silk and wool, and identification of each is desire,
the use of concentrated cold hydrochloric acid
will dissolved the silk and causes the wool fiber
to swell.
  Distinguishing Rayons from Acetate:

A solution containing equal parts of

concentrated sulfuric acid and iodine
(crystals) may be used to distinguish each
of the different fibers. When samples are
immersed in this solution, a dark-blue
coloration indicates viscose; a yellow
coloration indicates acetate.
 Distinguishing Acetate from Triacetate:

If a sample of acetate is immersed in an 80

percent solution of acetone (a chemical used in
nail polish removers), the acetate fibers will
dissolve but triacetate will swell.