HOME LIVING

By Jane Kallesøe & Helle Knudsen

In order for a fabric to be used for home furniture, or furniture at offices etc., it is important that it have a high wear resistance. Of course this is depending on the use of the product, as there is a different whether the purpose with the fabric is to use it for pillows, chairs, couches etc.

THE FABRIC CONSTRUCION

Through fiber identification and burn test we found out that the fabric is made of cotton, polyester and polyamide.

Because of the construction of the fabric we came to an approximately result of the division of the fibers – 50% cotton, 40% polyester 10% polyamide.

The fabric is constructed as 1/1 plain weave, and the warp treads are 100% cotton, and the weft treads are a mix of polyester and polyamide.

The square meter weight is 358,8 g/m².

Mix of polyester and polyamide - used only in the weft direction

The small yarn wrapped around (the picture in the middle) is made of polyamide, and the other yarns (picture to the right) is made of polyester. 

 
      Chenille yarn - used only in the warp direction

TESTING

Tear properties

This was the testing we found most interesting of the test we did. Normally it is the warp that has the highest numbers, which means that these are the strongest, but in this case it is the weft that has the highest number, which means that more force is need in order to break the treads.

·      Warp: 24,09N

·      Weft: 24,39N

The result can be connected to the way the fabric is constructed.

The warp treads are pure cotton, and the weft treads are polyester and polyamide.

Because of the knowledge we have gain through TEKO and the subject product knowledge, we know that one of the pros for polyester is that it is a strong fiber, and cotton not that strong, and this might be the reason for why the weft is strongest.

PROS & CONS

Cotton

Pros	Cons
·      High wear resistance ·      Good resistance to light ·      High strength when wet ·      Good absorbency ·      Washable at high temperature ·      Easy to color and postproces-sing	·      Poor insulation properties ·      Tendency to curl ·      Not elastic ·      Shrinks (in raw mode) ·      Takes long time to dry

Polyester

Pros	Cons
·      High abrasion resistance ·      Workable/formable ·      High elasticity ·      Dries quickly ·      High strength when wet ·      Don’t shrink	·      Poor absorption ability ·      Poor heating capacity ·      Static ·      High use of energy during coloring

Polyamide

Pros	Cons
·      Good wear resistance ·      Elastic ·      Thermoplastic ·      High curl resistance ·      Easy to mix with other fibers	·      Get static ·      Bad isolation ability ·      Receives dirt easily

CARELABEL

CHILDREN CLOTHES

By Jane Kallesøe & Helle Knudsen

When it comes to children wear there are some very important rules that need to be met. It is important to be aware of cords and other small parts, as children can choke, if they swallow small parts, or if the cord or drawstrings in caps get stuck in the equipment at the playground – swings or slides.

Older children can get long belts, drawstrings or loose hanging cords tangled in bicycle wheels etc.

 6 recommendations on drawstrings in children’s clothes.

1. Clothes for children up to 7 years (height 134cm) must not have cords or drawstrings in the hood or neck area.

2. Clothes for children between 7 years and 14 years shouldn’t have cords in the hood or neck area longer than 75mm or cords with free hanging ends. Cords in the head- and neck area shouldn’t be elastic – except shoulder straps and neck straps (“halter neck”).

3. Clothing for children shouldn’t have cords or strings with free hanging ends that is longer than 140 mm in chest- and waist area.

4. Neck straps (“halter neck”) in children’s clothes shall not have free hanging ends in the hood and neck area.

5. Children’s clothing with belts or cords, which are intended to be tied at the front, must not have loose ends that are longer than 360mm, measured when they aren’t bound and from the point at which they are to be bonded.

6. Other cords or drawstrings in children’s clothes shouldn’t hang down below the sleeve or hem of the garment. Drawstrings, functional cords and decorative cords at the lower edge of the pants must be completely on the inside of the pants.

Our chosen fabric for children wear

THE CONSTRUCTION

We have chosen this fabric for our children wear project, which can be used for t-shirts, pants & body stock.

The material of the fabric is 98% cotton and 2% elasthane % and its square meter weight is 219,2 g/m².

The fabric is constructed as a single jersey that is produced with a circular knitted machine (see picture below), and has been printed with a direct print.

Single jersey consists of plain meshes on one side (right side of the product), and purl stitches on the other side (wrong side).

When the product is finish being knitted at the circular knitted machine, it will come out as a tube and the width of the fabric can vary from a few millimeters to 500 cm.

The chosen fabric has been cut in the side, and then added to the roll.

PROS & CONS

Cotton

Pros	Cons
·      High wear resistance ·      Good resistance to light ·      High strength when wet ·      Good absorbency ·      Washable at high temperature ·      Easy to color and postproces-sing	·      Poor insulation properties ·      Tendency to curl ·      Not elastic ·      Shrinks (in raw mode) ·      Takes long time to dry

Elasthane

Pros	Cons
·      High elasticity ·      Washable in high temp. ·      Can be produced in fine fibers ·      Strong in wet and dry condition ·      Dry fast	·      Poor insolation properties ·      Don’t tolerate chlorine bleaching ·      Almost doesn’t curl

TESTING

Washing

We did the washing test at 40°C for 45 min (DS/EN ISO 105-C06-2010, test no. C1M), in order to test the material for color staining and shrinkage.

The result of the washing test showed;

·      No shrinking

·      No staining to the fiber pad

Burst strength

We wanted to find out how big a force that is needed for the fabric to burst.

3 test were carried out, and the average of these gave us the final result – 236,1 kPa. In average it took 27,3 sec.

Peeling

The big difference in this test was the color fastness.

As seen on the below picture the color has faded after 18.000 turns in the peeling machine/box.

Also peeling has occurred and we have estimated this to be 3-4 on the scale. 

CARELABEL