Recent Developments in the Evaluation Technology of Fiber

and Textiles: Toward the Engineered Design of Textile

Performance

SUEO KAWABATA,1 MASAKO NIWA,2 YOSHIHIRO YAMASHITA3

1
Kyoto University, 2039 Furuichi-cho, Kasugaen 2, Nara 630-8424, Japan

2
Nara Women’s University, Nara, 630-8506 Japan

3
The University of Shiga Prefecture, 2500 Hassaka, Hikone, 522-8533 Japan

Received 8 November 2000; accepted 18 November 2000

Published online 15 November 2001; DOI 10.1002/app. 2264

ABSTRACT: The engineered design and manufacturing of high-quality fabrics have

been targets of textile technology in this century; however, this has not yet been
achieved. There are two reasons for this. One is that a method for the objective
evaluation of the primary performance of fabric as clothing material was not estab-
lished until recently; second, the complex mechanical behavior of the textile fabrics
consisting of a fiber assembly has not yet been solved theoretically. The primary
performance has been evaluated subjectively by fabric hand judgment. Recent achieve-
ment in the objective evaluation technology for fabric hand and other performances of
fabric has enabled us to move toward the engineered design of fabric quality. After a
brief introduction of the objective method, the “ideal fabric” project, which we are now
conducting, is introduced. This project aims at the development of an engineered design
of high-quality suiting with applying the objective evaluation technology. For future
development in engineered design technology, we need basic research on the mechanics
of textile structures, and on fiber itself. Fibers are the basic material of textiles.
The details of fiber property are required for the advanced research of textile mechan-
ics. Recent progress in the single-fiber measurement technology, we call it “micro-
measurement,” is introduced. Finally, the textile technology in the 21st century is
forecasted. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 687–702, 2002

Key words: evaluation technology; fiber micromeasurement; fabric hand, ideal fab-
rics; engineered design of textile

TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY: ITS PRESENT structure has been used as clothing material.
STATUS This woven structure is still one of the basic struc-
tures used for clothing material today. Although
A woven structure is a simple structure. Two sets the structure of the weave is simple, the design of
of threads, the warp and the weft, are interlaced the fabric’s primary performance as a clothing
and form a cloth. For many years, this simple material is not so simple. There are two reasons
for this. One is that a method for the objective
evaluation of the primary performance of fabric
Correspondence to: S. Kawabata.
was not established until recently; second, the
Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 83, 687–702 (2002)
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. complex mechanical behavior of the textile fabrics
687
688 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

consisting of a fiber assembly has not yet been

solved theoretically. In addition, the property of
fiber itself is still not explained sufficiently for
textile design. The engineered design of the pri-
mary performance of clothing material is still a
target of textile technology.

Figure 1 A history chart of the textile technology in

THE PRIMARY PERFORMANCE OF this century.
CLOTHING MATERIAL
Figure 1 shows a map of the progress made in
The basic function of clothing is the protection of textile technology in this century and the direc-
the human body from the environment. However, tion in the near future.3 After the industrial rev-
consumers seek a higher quality, that is, comfort olution, the textile industry began large-scale pro-
clothing, after the protective function is satisfied duction of textiles. In the beginning of this cen-
to some extent. This quality of clothing is the tury, the textile industry was already aware of
primary concern of the consumer, and the me- the lack of engineered design methods for their
chanical properties of fabric are closely related to products. In 1930, in his article in the Journal of
this quality. Clothing materials such as apparel the Textile Institute, Peirce4 (UK) clearly directed
fabrics are typical “human interactive materi- the engineered manufacturing of high-quality
als”1,2 that are used near the body and there is a textiles and pointed out the importance of inves-
strong interaction between material properties tigation of the first two items listed above for
and human preference. Such materials must con- engineered design. Since then, textile mechanics
form to human preferences, and this fabric per- gradually became one of the main research fields
formance is the first thing evaluated by consum- in textile technology along with the research of
ers. The evaluation of the primary quality, how- textile processing and machinery (see Fig. 1).
ever, is not easy, and has been evaluated by The research on fabric objective evaluation,
means of a subjective method, called hand evalu- however, was delayed, although many textile re-
ation. This method has been used even in modern searchers have taken an interest in it. A main
textile factories. This is the reason that the textile target of this research was to explain fabric hand
industry has depended on the experience of property. The research on fabric hand, however,
skilled hands for the quality design of their final could not become a main research field in the
products. The engineered design and manufactur- textile technology because of the complex struc-
ing of high-quality fabrics have been targets of ture of hand judgment, and was misunderstood
textile technology for many years; however, this that it was not scientific research. As such, it took
has not yet been achieved. time to evaluate an approach to fabric hand. In
the initial stage of hand research, the main inves-
tigation focused on explaining what the fabric
THE ENGINEERED DESIGN OF FABRIC hand is. There were several pioneering works in
QUALITY IS A GOAL FOR TEXTILE this research. Lundgren5 accumulated many ex-
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT pressions which were used in the hand judgment
of apparel fabrics; Go6 discussed an approach to
fabric hand. On the basis of this research and
For the engineered design of fabric quality, we
other pioneering work on fabric hand, we gradu-
need the three fundamentals of technology:
ally directed our research target to the objective
evaluation of fabric hand.
1. Theories for designing fabric mechanical
properties
2. Objective evaluation technology of fabric THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OBJECTIVE
hand and other fabric properties relating to METHOD FOR EVALUATING FABRIC
the fabric primary quality HAND
3. Explanation of the finer details of fiber
properties for the advanced design of fabric In 1970, Kawabata and Niwa organized a re-
performance. search committee, the Hand Evaluation and
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 689

Table II Grading of the Feeling Intensity for

Primary Hand

HV Feeling Intensity

10 Very strong
9
...
5 Average
...
Figure 2 Hand evaluation by the experts in worsted 1 Very weak
textile mills. 0 No feeling

Standardization Committee (HESC), in Japan.7

The committee worked toward the standardiza- intensities are graded by number 1 (feel very
tion of subjective hand evaluation methods which weak) to 10 (feel very strong), as shown in Table
were used by the experts in textile mills, and also II. These hand properties were termed primary
toward the development of an objective evalua- hand, and the grading number was HV.
tion system. About 10 hand evaluation experts
were invited to join the committee. These experts Total Hand Value (THV)
belonged to worsted textile and finishing mills.
The details of the committee’s development have The total hand is also a hand expression of fabric
already been published in some journals,1,2,7,8 which expresses quality of fabric; that is, it is an
and presented herein is a summary of how to overall hand expressing good hand or poor hand,
objectively evaluate fabric hand and other impor- and judged based on the primary hand of fabric.
tant performance factors of fabric. This total hand was also standardized following
the standardization of the primary hand by the
grading numbers 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), as
The Primary Hand and Hand Value (HV) shown in Table III.
Figure 2 shows how the experts in worsted mills We can now express fabric hand with the nu-
evaluate fabric hand and the fabric quality with a merical expressions, as shown in Table IV. This
subjective method.8 First, the experts catch the system is a semiobjective evaluation system. The
fabric characteristics that are closely related with hand values of a fabric are evaluated by compar-
fabric performance of suiting, such as stiffness ing the fabric with the standard samples. Al-
and smoothness. Three hand expressions for win- though the evaluation is still a subjective method,
ter/autumn suiting, and four for midsummer suit- the evaluation is made on the basis of the stan-
ing (for tropical climate suit) were selected, as dard. This reduced individual differences of eval-
shown in Table I, as the important hand expres- uation even among experts. In addition, fabric
sions for fabric property that are commonly used hand is expressed by a set of HVs and the THV
among the experts. numerically; this enabled us to step to the next
For each of these important hand expressions, stage, that is, the construction of the objective
the exact meaning was standardized, and their evaluation system.

Table I The Primary Hands-Expressing Fabric Table III The Total Hand Value as Fabric
Characteristics Quality Number

For Winter and For Midsummer THV Grading

Autumn Suiting Suiting
5 Excellent
Stiffness (Koshi) Stiffness (Koshi) 4 Good
Smoothness (Numeri) Crispness (Shari) 3 Average
Fullness (Fukurami) Fullness (Fukurami) 2 Fair
Anti-drape (Hari) 1 Poor
690 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

Table IV An Example of the Hand Property of

a Fabric

THV 4.2
HV
Stiffness 5.2
Smoothness 6.8
Fullness 6.5

Fabric sample: #112 worsted suiting for winter use.

The Objective Evaluation of Fabric Hand

The Objective Evaluation System
To connect these hand properties with fabric de-
sign, an objective evaluation system of hand prop- Figure 4 The Configuration of the KESF-B-AUTO
erties is needed instead of the subjective method. model.
The objective system shown in Figure 3 was
planned in 1970 and realized around 1973. Apply-
ing this system, the HVs and THVs can be derived
appearance prediction value, total appearance
from the mechanical properties of fabric. Measur-
value (TAV), which is shown in the next section.
ing instruments for the fabric mechanical and
surface properties were also developed in parallel
The Parameters Representing the Mechanical and
to the survey of the subjective evaluation and was
Surface Properties of Fabric
applied to the development of the objective eval-
uation system. This instrument was later called For details of the mechanical and surface proper-
the KESF system and commercialized. Now the ties, refer to previous articles.1,2,7,8 In Table V,
second generation of this instrument is appearing the meaning of the parameters are outlined. The
(Fig. 4), in which the operation of the instrument tensile, bending, and surface properties are mea-
is fully automated. This measuring system pro- sured in both warp and weft directions and these
vides not only HV and THV, but also the suit parameters in the two directions are identified by
1 and 2, respectively; for example, EM1, EM2. For
the HV evaluation, the mean value of these two
directional values are applied for each parameter.
These parameters are also applied to other fab-
ric performance predictions and, in these cases,
the two directional values are applied separately
in general. The parameters are defined so that
these parameters represent the mechanical prop-
erties relating to fabric hand as precisely as pos-
sible. All mechanical properties are measured
with the basic deformation modes of fabric, not
with complex deformations. This enables us to
proceed to the next important stage of research,
that is, the fabric quality design with controlled
fabric mechanical properties.

TOTAL APPEARANCE VALUE (TAV)

THV and HV are based on the traditional evalu-

ations of fabric hand, which have been used by
many experts in textile mills. Suit manufactur-
Figure 3 The objective system for hand evaluation. ing, however, had been a private business of tai-
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 691

Table V The Mechanical and Surface Parameters Applied to the Objective Evaluation of Fabric
Hand Values and the Prediction of Other Fabric Performance

Property Parameters Relation with the Wearing Performance of Fabric

Tensile LT Linearity in extension. A higher value causes a stiff feeling.

WT Tensile energy. A lower value causes hard extension.
RT Resilience. A lower value causes inelastic behavior.
EM Tensile strain, and gives extensibility. The desired value in the warp
direction is 4–5%, in the weft direction, greater than 10%.

Bending B Bending stiffness. A larger value makes fabric stiff.

2HB Bending hysteresis. A larger value causes inelastic behavior in bending.

Shearing G Shear rigidity. A larger value makes fabric stiff and paper-like.
2HG Shear hysteresis. A larger value causes inelastic behavior in shearing.
2HG5 Shear hysteresis at 5° shear angle. A larger value causes inelastic
property in shearing and wrinkle problems.

Compression LC Linearity in compression. A higher value causes a hard feeling in

compression.
WC Compression energy. A lower value causes a hard feeling in
compression.
RC Resilience. A lower value causes inelastic compression property.

Surface MIU Mean frictional coefficient. Too high and too low values yield unusual
surface feeling.
MMD Surface frictional roughness. A higher value causes roughness.
SMD Surface geometrical roughness. Too high and too low values make
unusual feeling of surface.

T Fabric thickness.
W Fabric weight per unit area.

loring craftsmen for many years. Tailoring be- Table VII. The formability component is the com-
came an industry around 1970 and line produc- ponent related to the curved line of suit, including
tion of suits began. New tailoring engineers the formability performance of fabric. The elastic
emerged at that time; however, they had no tra- component is also related to the beautiful silhou-
ditional evaluation method of fabric properties ette of suit which results from the fabric elastic
relating to prediction of suits. The engineers met properties, mainly the bending property. The
with many difficult problems on the production drape component is also related to suit in regard
line. With the cooperation of apparel engineers, to the drape of the fabric. The TAV is derived from
first, we tried to apply the mechanical parameters these three component values using equations.
as shown in Table V to tailoring process control9
and also attempted to connect these parameters
with suit appearance, that is, making-up of suit. Table VI TAV, the Prediction Value for
The prediction value is the TAV and the equa- Making-Up Performance of Suiting
tions for deriving the TAV have been investigated
with the cooperation of apparel engineers and TAV Grading
university researchers.8 The TAV is graded as
shown in Table VI. 5 Excellent
The TAV predicts the quality of appearance of 4 Good
the suit made from a fabric before tailoring based 3 Average
2 Fair
on fabric mechanical parameter measurements,
1 Poor
and consists of three components, as shown in
692 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

Table VII The Three Components of TAV

Components Grading

Formability Same grading as that

for TAV in Table VI
for each component.
Elastic potential
Drape

Figure 5 shows the derivation process of the three

components and TAV.

THE CRITERIA FOR PREDICTING

MECHANICAL COMFORT

Fabric mechanical properties are closely related

to elements of the tailoring operation, such as
creating smooth three-dimensional curve of suit
using overfeed technique. In parallel to the devel-
opment of the objective evaluation system of fab-
ric hand, apparel engineers in the HESC were
also interested in the application of the mechan-
ical parameters to tailoring process control to
eliminate the problems caused by the difficult
mechanical properties of fabric.9 They clearly in- Figure 6 The mechanical comfort zone is indicated
dicated a range of the mechanical parameters for by the shaded zone. The central zone is the noncontrol
the noncontrolled tailoring (noncontrol zone), as zone and the comfort zone does not coincide with the
shown in Figure 6. When the parameters are noncontrol zone. This suggests that good fabric is not
necessarily easy for tailoring.

within this zone, the tailoring processing does not

require any special control. If some of the me-
chanical parameters fall outside of this zone, a
necessary control in tailoring operation must be
taken.
We termed this chart “control chart.” During
the application of this control chart to tailoring
process control, the tailoring engineers again
found that there is a zone in which the parame-
ters of good suiting fall. “Good” means that the
suit made from these good fabrics make a suit
mechanically comfortable for wearing and also
make a beautiful silhouette. The shaded zone in
Figure 6 shows the mechanical comfort zone,
where tensile, shearing properties are applied. As
seen in Figure 6, this good zone is not necessarily
Figure 5 Derivation of the TAV. There are no subjec- coincident with the noncontrol zone. This means
tive methods for predicting the TAV; only this objective that the tailoring of good suiting is difficult and a
method is available for obtaining the TAV. As shown suitable control is needed on the production line
below, TAV ⬎ 4 is the condition for ideal fabrics. of tailoring. This finding of the good zone supple-
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 693

hand; 3. suit appearance prediction; and 4. me-

chanical comfort.
The KESF AUTO system outputs this chart
after the measurement of a fabric and provides all
information about the performance of fabric. This
is the result of the development of the objective
evaluation system which we have conducted since
1965. We are now moving the investigation to-
ward the engineered design of fabric design to
realize ideal fabrics for suits. Similar technology
is, of course, applicable to other categories of
fabrics.

TOWARD THE ENGINEERED DESIGN OF

FABRIC QUALITY10,11

The properties of good fabrics for suits have been

clarified by the objective method. These proper-
ties are clearly shown based on the mechanical
data of fabric. The target for the fabric design and
manufacturing is now becoming clear. We are
now proceeding with trials to create a guideline
for manufacturing ideal fabrics for suit. Ideal fab-
Figure 7 (a) The hand chart for winter/autumn men’s rics are fabrics that satisfy the following three
suiting. The high-quality zone is shown by a snake conditions: 1. good hand (high THV); 2. good ap-
zone. (b) The hand chart for midsummer men’s suiting. pearance of suit (high TAV); and 3. satisfy the
The high-quality zone is shown by the shaded zone.

ments the evaluation of fabric quality from tailor-

ing engineers’ experience.

THE HAND CHART AND THE

APPEARANCE CHART

To overlook the fabric hand property and suit

appearance prediction, the hand charts shown in
Figures 7 and 8, respectively, are convenient. The
shaded zone is the good zone in which high-qual-
ity fabrics usually fall in. These charts are fre-
quently used in both research and process control.

THE CHART OVERLOOKING THE TOTAL

PERFORMANCE OF A SUITING
Figure 8 The suit appearance prediction chart. The
For evaluating the performance of a suiting, the top chart shows the derived mechanical parameters2
overlooking chart is convenient, as shown in Fig- and the bottom shows the three components of TAV
ure 9. This chart aggregates the following fabric and the TAV. This chart is applied regardless of fabric
properties: 1. mechanical parameters; 2. fabric season.
694 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

Figure 9 The chart overlooking the total performance of a suiting. An example of a

suiting (100% worsted) is shown. This fabric has been developed applying the objective
evaluation technology as one of “ideal fabric.”

mechanical comfort conditions (shaded zone on IDEAL FABRIC MANUFACTURING TRIAL11

control chart).
Table VIII(a) shows the criteria for ideal fabric, To make a guideline for manufacturing ideal fab-
which we have proposed on the basis of data anal- rics, I have organized the Ideal Fabric Project for
ysis. When the fabric properties satisfy these con- manufacturing ideal fabrics in 1996 in collabora-
ditions, we call the fabric “perfect,” or “ideal.” The tion with universities and industries in our coun-
conditions for mechanical comfort are shown in try. This project has been supported by the Jap-
Figure 6 by a shaded zone. As a reference, the anese scientific fund. The system of development
ranges for the high-quality fabrics are shown in is shown in Figure 10. A fabric is selected for the
Table VIII(b) and also by shaded zones in Figures base fabric. This fabric is not yet ideal fabric;
7 and 8. however, it has a good property that can be im-
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 695

Table VIII(a) The Criteria for the Ideal Fabric

Type of Suiting

Winter–Autumn Midsummer Remarks

1. THV THV ⭌ 4.0 THV ⭌ 3.5 THV: 1 (poor)–5 (excellent)

2. TAV TAV ⭌ 4.0 TAV ⭌ 4.0 TAV: 1 (poor)–5 (excellent)
3. Mechanical comfort 0.58 ⭌ LT ⭌ 0.50 0.60 ⭌ LT ⭌ 0.50 LT: average of LT1 and LT2
(inside the snake 78 ⭌ RT ⭌ 73 78 ⭌ RT ⭌ 73 RT: average of RT1 and RT2
zone) 5.1 ⭌ EM1 ⭌ 4.3 5.1 ⭌ EM1 ⭌ 4.3
18 ⭌ EM2 ⭌ 7.5 18 ⭌ EM2 ⭌ 7.5
3.0 ⭌ EM2/EM1 ⭌ 1.3 3.0 ⭌ EM2/EM1 ⭌ 1.3
0.65 ⭌ G ⭌ 0.50 0.65 ⭌ G ⭌ 0.50
1.5 ⭌ 2HG5 ⭌ 0.8 1.5 ⭌ 2HG5 ⭌ 0.8

Suffix 1, warp direction; 2, weft direction

proved by a weave-design change in the trimming ation. The design is repeated until the
level to bring the fabric to ideal. The process of the ideal fabric property is predicted.
improvement is as follows: 4. Then weaving and finishing begin. It is
important to measure and inspect the fab-
1. Find a base fabric of which property may ric property in the finishing process at least
be improved by a weave-design change in once.
the trimming level to bring the fabric to
ideal. This procedure is not for all fabrics. The pur-
2. Weave design is made for the improvement pose of this trial is to obtain a guideline for man-
on the basis of the analysis of objective ufacturing ideal fabrics. When we have the guide-
measurement of the fabric. In many cases, lines for several types of fabrics, then we may
we have to seek yarns suitable for the weft modify the weave design within a narrow range
or warp, and then, in some cases, seek fi- near the guideline.
bers to get the suitable yarns. We need Tables IX–XI show an example of the develop-
cooperation with fiber producers. ment of the ideal fabric. The base fabric W5 was
3. Based on the design of weave, the THV, first chosen. This fabric is a good hand fabric and
TAV, and other performances of the fabric we considered that the W5 could be improved by a
are predicted based on the objective evalu- weave-design change of trimming level to bring

Table VIII(b) The Range of Properties of High-Quality Suiting (for Reference)

Range

Property Parameter Winter–Autumn Midsummer

1. Primary HV Stiffness (Koshi) 4.5 ⬉ HV ⬉ 6.5 4.5 ⬉ HV ⬉ 6.5

Smoothness (Numeri) 6 ⬉ HV ⬉ 8 —
Fullness (Fukurami) 5 ⬉ HV ⬉ 8 4.5 ⬉ HV ⬉ 6.5
Crispness (Shari) — 4 ⬉ HV ⬉ 7
Anti-drape (Hari) — 4 ⬉ HV ⭌ 6
2. Primary appearance Formability component ⭌3.3 ⭌3.3
value (components Elastic potential component ⭌3.3 ⭌3.3
of TAV) Drape component ⭌3.5 ⭌3.3
3. Air permeability Air resistance R KPa 䡠 s/m ⭌1 ⬉1 (0.02–0.2:
very permeable)
696 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

design (identified by sample 10), prediction of the

properties of sample 10, and the result of the
experimental trial (10N). Sample 10NR is a refin-
ished sample of 10N.
As seen in Table X, the ideal fabrics were ob-
tained from the second trial fabrics. Only the
mechanical comfort (MC) condition was not satis-
fied for the minor reason that the extensibility of
warp direction was a little larger than the range
of ideal value. 10NR is perfectly the ideal fabric.
This is indicated in Table X by the PF mark.
The third trial was conducted following the
results of the second trial. One purpose of this
trial was to confirm the reproducibility of the 10N
fabric, and another was to mend the extensibility
in warp direction with finishing. As seen in Table
XI, the perfect fabric was obtained. This property
is also shown in Figure 8.
Figure 10 Development of the ideal fabrics under the Figure 11 shows the properties of those W5-
cooperation of university and industry. original, W5-mild changes (the first trial); 10N
(the second trial) and 10NAK (the third trial) are
plotted. It is clearly shown that the ideal fabric
the fabric to the ideal fabric. A main problem in was realized. The 10NAK falls perfectly in the
the property of this original fabric W5 is its very good zones.
low TAV, as seen in Table IX. The reason for this We are planning that a fair organization certi-
low TAV was investigated on the basis of the data fies “ideal fabric” and stamps the certification as
analysis of this fabric, with careful inspection of shown in Figure 12 on the fabric for customers
the properties shown in the appearance predic- such as tailoring companies and consumers.
tion chart. We decided to increase the bending
stiffness of the fabric by increasing fiber diame-
ter. An anxious problem in this design change
was the drop of fabric THV caused by the use of TOWARD ENGINEERING DESIGN AND
coarser fiber diameter. MANUFACTURING OF FABRICS
The first trial was an inspection of this prob-
lem. The design change was made carefully and it We are just in the beginning stage of the engi-
was confirmed that good finishing could cover the neered design of fabric quality. As shown from our
drop of THV. The second trial was directed to experience of the ideal fabric trials, which was
realizing the ideal fabric. Table X shows the new introduced herein, the future of the engineered

Table IX Properties of the Base Fabric W5

No. Trial Warp Weft n1 n2 W

2/91S (17.3 2/91S (17.3

0-0 W5-original ␮m 100%) ␮m 100%) 92 86 18.0

Koshi Numeri Fukurami

EM-1 EM-2 B-1 B-2 2HB-1 2HB-2 (Stiffness) (Smoothness) (Fullness)

5.38 10.5 0.0798 0.0553 0.0243 0.0150 3.64 6.54 5.30

THV TAV MC PF

3.68 1.76
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 697

Table X The Second Trial

No. Trial Warp Weft n1 n2 W

10 W5-10 design and 2/60S (20.3 ␮m 100%) 2/56S (20.3 ␮m 50%, 74 71.5 22.9
prediction 21.5 ␮m 50%)
10N Experimental result 2/60S (20.3 ␮m 100%) 2/56S (20.3 ␮m 50%, 74 71.5 21.5
21.5 ␮m 50%)*
10N-R Experimental result 2/60S (20.3 ␮m 100%) 2/56S (20.3 ␮m 50%, 74 71.5 22.7
(refinished) 21.5 ␮m 50%)*

Koshi Numeri Fukurami

EM-1 EM-2 B-1 B-2 2HB-1 2HB-2 (Stiffness) (Smoothness) (Fullness)

5.38 12.00 0.128 0.119 0.0342 0.0284 5.67 7.06 4.79

5.85 8.21 0.116 0.121 0.0338 0.0349 5.32 6.70 5.00
4.78 8.79 0.135 0.111 0.0396 0.0326 5.20 6.90 5.80

THV TAV MC PF

4.30 4.21 PF-a PF

4.07 4.03 PF-a PF
4.24 4.03 PF PF

A new design for W5 (sample no. 10) and the prediction of property, and experimental results (no. 10N and 10N-R, where -R is
the sample that was refinished).
MC, mechanical comfort; PF, perfect, ideal fabric.

design and manufacturing of apparel fabrics is the subjective method. We are continuing the
promising. survey of the quality evaluation for women’s
The same “ideal” technology is applicable to fabrics. Although the examples of the applica-
the design of other fabrics such as women’s tion introduced was only worsted fabrics, the
garment fabrics. One problem in this applica- criteria are applicable to all men’s suiting re-
tion is, however, a lack of reliable evaluations of gardless of fiber kind, that is, wool, synthetic
the fabric quality for the women’s fabric even by fiber, or their blends. Recent investigations also

Table XI The Third Trial for Reproducibility and Some Trimming for Improvement, Design 10NA
(PF-Mark, Perfect)

No. Trial Warp Weft n1 n2 W

10NA W5-10 design and 2/60S (20.3 ␮m 100%) 2/56S (20.3 ␮m 50%, 74 72 22.8
prediction 21.5 ␮m 50%)
10NA W5-10NA 2/60S (20.3 ␮m 100%) 2/56S (20.3 ␮m 50%, 74 72 22.8
KA experimental result 21.5 ␮m 50%)

Koshi Numeri Fukurami

EM-1 EM-2 B-1 B-2 2HB-1 2HB-2 (Stiffness) (Smoothness) (Fullness)

4.5 10.0 0.135 0.112 0.0396 0.0329 5.22 6.90 5.80

4.79 10.1 0.143 0.116 0.0460 0.0350 5.19 7.08 6.34

THV TAV MC PF

4.24 4.14 PF PF
4.36 4.30 PF PF
698 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

Figure 11 The improvement of original W5 by the first, second, and third trials are
shown. The property is gradually improved. The final fabric is the Perfect Fabric (Ideal
fabric).

show that the evaluation criteria which we used tion. This is a clear direction for the textile indus-
here can be applicable to women’s suiting with try in the 21st century.
high accuracy.
The engineered design and manufacturing
technology will provide high-quality fabrics with
reasonable price for consumers. Fibers are valu- ADVANCED STUDY OF FIBER PROPERTIES
able resources, not only natural fibers but also
synthetic fibers. We need to produce apparel fab- Fibers are the basic material of textiles. The de-
rics carefully so that only high-quality fabrics are tails of fiber property are required for the ad-
manufactured. This also saves energy for produc- vanced research of textile mechanics. Because of
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 699

the strong orientation of chain molecules and mi-

crostructure of fibers along the longitudinal direc-
tion, fibers have strong anisotropy in their me-
chanical property. Figure 13 explains the me-
chanical parameters of fiber. The five parameters
shown in the figure are the mechanical parame-
ters describing the fiber property. Even if we as-
sume that the fiber is a linear elastic body, we
need to use these five constant parameters as the
material properties of the fiber. We have had little
data on these parameters for commercial fibers
with the exception of longitudinal extension mod-
ulus.
When the fibers are applied to technical tex-
tiles, especially to composite reinforcement, we
need full data of the anisotropy in mechanical
property of the fiber. For apparel textiles, the
design of textiles will become more precise. Fol-

Figure 13 Mechanical parameters of fiber property.

lowing this, we have to know details of fiber prop-

erties. We have already met with insufficient in-
formation about fiber properties. For example:

1. Details about the contact problem of two

fibers (related to frictional properties such
as behavior of hysteresis of fabric tensile
force): E T is necessary
2. The tensile property of yarn and fabric in
the low-load region: G T is important.
3. The effect of moisture on textiles: the infor-
mation about the effect of moisture on G L ,
E T has not yet been explained, but is prob-
ably different from that of E L .
4. Are there any particular differences be-
tween commercial fibers in these proper-
ties, 1–3?

We now need such details of fiber properties for

the advanced design and engineered design of
textiles.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE “MICRO-

MEASUREMENT” SYSTEM

For the investigation of details of fiber properties,

a single fiber measurement is necessary. The sin-
Figure 12 “Perfect” mark example, which guarantees gle fiber measurement is, however, attended with
the fabric quality and shows basic characteristics of the practical difficulties because of the micrometer
fabric. order of fiber size. Because of the importance of
700 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

fiber property, some researchers have been inter-

ested in the difficult measurement. Pinnok et al.12
measured E T in 1966, not for fine diameter fiber,
but for filament-like fibers. Later, in 1974, Phoe-
nix and Skelton13 measured E T of some commer-
cial fibers. The measurement of G L has been tried
by other researchers, and an instrument for mea-
suring G L has been commercialized, although
this instrument did not become popular because
of complicated operation and accuracy problems.
Anandjiwala and Goswami14 reported fiber/yarn Figure 15 One cycle of the torque–torsion angle
fatigue interaction, and measured the torsion fa- curve of Kevlar 49威 fiber. The arrows indicate the
tigue property of single fiber by using his own strain amplitude of the repeated cycle testing.20
instrument. His report pointed out the impor-
tance of fiber property for solving textile process-
ing problems. Poisson’s ratios, ␯ LT and ␯ TT are
tensile modulus and other tensile properties of
not yet clearly understood. In the past 100, only
fiber have been explained. The data of other prop-
erties of fibers are, however, not sufficient for the
advanced research of textiles that will be impor-
tant in the next century. We have many commer-
cial fibers now. We need the database of mechan-
ical property details of these fibers. Also, the da-
tabase should explain the relation between the
mechanical parameters and the micro-structures
of fiber.
Kawabata also initiated his new research
project on the measurement of fine mechanical
properties of fiber using a single-fiber measure-
ment technique,15–20 which we call “micro-mea-
surement.” This system consists of five testers:

1. Precise extension tester of single fiber with

very small mechanical noise
2. Transverse compression tester for single
fiber

Figure 16 Reduction of G L with increasing numbers

Figure 14 (a) Principle of the torsion tester.15,16,20 (b) of repeated torsion for different strain amplitudes.
Appearance of the torsion tester.15,16,20 Sample is Kevlar 49 fiber.20
 EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY OF TEXTILE PERFORMANCE 701

Table XII All Parameters of Kevlar 29 and

Anisotropy in Strength (or Yielding Stress)

Mechanical Parameters of Kevlar 29 Under 25°C

and 45% RH

Figure 17 The fiber appearance after repeated tor-

sion cycles. E L (GPa)
Tensile 79.8 (initial strain zone, strain
⬍ 0.005)
3. Torsion tester of single fiber with ultrahigh 69.5 (at strain 0.02%)
sensitivity torque detector 98.4 (near breaking strain zone,
strain ⯝ 0.038)
4. Poisson’s ratio tester for ␯ LT
Compression 60.0 (at strain ⫺0.001)
5. Axial compression tester of single fiber or a
45.0 (at strain ⫺0.002)
micro-composite specimen consisting of a 12.0 (at strain ⫺0.004)
fiber bundle. E T (GPa) 2.59
G LT (GPa) 2.17
␯ TT is measured using the micro-composite ␯ LT 0.63
specimen. This system was completed around ␯ TT 0.43
1990 and we are expanding our database. Figure
14 shows the torsion tester for single-fiber mea- Strength of Kevlar 29 Under 25°C, 45% RH
surement.15,16,20 The highest sensitivity range of
torque is now 0 – 0.05 ␮N 䡠 m. This tester has a Stress (GPa) Strain
function of applying repeated torsion, and tor-
Longitudinal Tensile (GPa) 2.55 0.037
sion-fatigue testing has been done for many kinds
Compression 0.31 0.007
of fibers. Figure 15 is the one-cycle torque-torsion (GPa) (yielding)a
curve of Kevlar威 49 single fiber. Repeated cycle Transverse Compression 0.056 0.091
torsion was applied at several torsion angles, (GPa) (yielding)b
shown by the arrow on the curve. Figure 16 is the Longitudinal 0.101 0.047
reduction of G L with increasing numbers of tor- shear (yielding)c
sion cycles.20 It is clearly shown that G L is de- a
creased with increasing numbers of cycles and Maximum stress.
b
See Figure.
there is a rule of strain amplitude–number of c
⌬D/initial D; D, fiber diameter.
cycle equivalent principle, similar to the tempera-
ture–time equivalent principle observed in the
viscoelasticity of polymer solids. Figure 17 shows
the fiber appearance after repeated torsion.

Figure 18 shows a complete longitudinal

stress–strain relation of Kevlar49威 fiber over the
axial extension– compression range. As seen from
this figure, the axial compression yielding stress
is much weaker than the extension strength. Ta-
ble XII shows all parameters of Kevlar 49 and
anisotropy in strength (or yielding stress).19
The advanced design of textiles is becoming
important not only for apparel but also industrial
Figure 18 A complete longitudinal stress–strain re- textiles. There is a rapid expansion in the appli-
lation of Kevlar 49 fiber over the longitudinal exten- cation of textiles for industrial use. The precise
sion– compression range.19 properties of fibers are also needed for the ad-
702 KAWABATA, NIWA, AND YAMASHITA

REFERENCES
1. Kawabata, S.; Niwa, M. in Modern Textile Charac-
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