Upholstery Fabric Performance: Actual Wear Versus Laboratory Abrasion

Abstract

We have developed a laboratory method to simulate the effects of actual consumer wear on upholstery fabrics. We used three soiling conditions, i.e., no soil, Bandy Black research clay, and Bandy Black plus synthetic sebum, on four cotton print upholstery fabrics, and a Taber rotary platform double head abraser to abrade the fabrics after soil application. Least significant differences and Pearson's product moment correlations indicated that this laboratory test method produced breaking strength and elongation values similar to those found in the fabrics exposed to a two-year consumer wear study.Both laboratory tests and actual wear tests can be used to provide valuable information about the performance of consumer textile products, but the assumption inherent in using such tests is that there is some relationship between laboratory results and performance of the items in actual use. To determine the correlation of laboratory testing procedures with enduse performance, which is sometimes measured by well designed wear tests, the conditions of actual use must be carefully analyzed. One must determine the role that chemical, physical, and aesthetic characteristics of the product actually play in performance. The conditions experienced in actual use must then be simulated as closely as possible in a controlled setting. Since actual wear is such a complex phenomenon, however, laboratory tests are usually designed to evaluate only one or a limited number of variables at a time.Abrasion resistance is the fabric property often claimed to be associated with performance or serviceability of fabrics in actual use [ 2,4,8,10 ] . Backer [ 2 ] identified three mechanisms of abrasion, i.e., frictional wear, cutting, and plucking or snagging. Direct frictional wear is the dominant mechanism when the abrading surfaces are relatively smooth. Surface cutting happens when the abrading surface has sharp projections that are small relative to the surface of the fiber, while plucking or snagging occurs when abradant projections are large relative to the fiber diameter and the abradant pressure on the fabric surface is high. The American Society for Testing and Materials includes standard test methods using five different abrasion instruments [ 1 ] . In addition, other laboratory instruments have also been designed for determining abrasion resistance ( 4 ] , particularly for flat, flex, or edge abrasion. Unfortunately, there is usually little correlation between the results from different abrasion testers [ 1,5,13,17 ] and often little correlation between these laboratory results and results of fabrics evaluated after actual use [ 1,4,11 ] . This is a reflection of the complex nature of actual wear, which is so difficult to simulate in the laboratory.A fabric's resistance to abrasion depends on a number of factors specific to the fabric, including fiber content, fiber mechanical properties, fiber shape, yarn and fabric structure, yarn twist, yarn size, yarn ply, yarn crimp, fabric thickness, thread count, weave type, and finishes [4]. T...

Clothing Lifespans: What Should Be Measured and How

“…One challenge is to find a good balance between the laboratory's requirements for controllable and repeatable parameters, with the great diversity of daily life. Experiments are particularly suitable for "translating" between use and standardised measuring units-e.g., wear and tear [66].…”