Causes and Remedies of Fabric Damage
Noor Ahmed Raaz
Specialized in Apparel Manufacturing
Owner and Editor in Chief Textile Merchandising
Asst. Prof., Department of Textile Engineering
Atish Dipankar University of Science & Technology
Email: textilemerchandising1@gmail.com
Fabric Damage:
A garment product can be rejected due to damage of fabrics or yarn of fabrics in the seam line. This is mainly happening due to wrong needle selection or needle damaging problem. The fabrics are damaged due to sew with defects needles. Fabric may be also damaged in case of new and fine needles due to wrong selection of needle size and needle point. This fault is also visible after washing during in usage. There are two types of fabric damage-
- Needle Heating damage.
- Mechanical Damage.
Needle Heating Damage:
The temperature in needle due to friction between needle and fabric is up to 300 ºC – 350 ºC. Needle and fabric both may be damaged in this temperature. The following are the steps to be taken to keep the fabrics free form needle heating damages.
Remedies of Needle Heating Damage:
1. Speed: By reducing sewing speed so that there is less generating of heat to the needle. But, for large production this is not granted.
2 . Special type of needle: Teflon coated needle which has extra smoothness than galvanized nickel coated needle may be used to reduce temperature.
Galvanized nickel coated needle
3. Needle Size and Shape: By changing needle size, shape and use finer needle so that there is less generation of heat to the needle.
4. Short Length of sewing: The temperature generation in needle can be reduced by sewing of short length instead of long length.
5. Cool Air: By flowing cool air on the needle during sewing so that the temperature can be controlled between 70ºC.
6. Lubrication: If lubrication is done along the seam line on fabric, or needle or both, then heat generation due to friction is reduced.
Mechanical Damage:
Mechanical damage is the common in apparel industry. This damaging of fibers or yarns in the fabrics by needle is the entire faults of mechanical damage. Mechanical problem is the main reason for producing defective fabric.
Remedies of Mechanical Damage:
- Application of lubricant along the stitch line before sewing.
Application of lubricant in sewing machine
- The speed of sewing machine should be reduced.
- Needle size and point should be properly selected and needle should be free from fault.
- To test the Sew ability before sewing of fabrics.
Mohammad Noor Nabi, known by his author name Noor Ahmed Raaz, is a PhD Fellow at Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX) and the Founder & Editor of Textile Merchandising. He is also an Assistant Professor and Chairman of the Textile Engineering Department at a renowned university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research focuses on textile innovation and sustainability. Awarded the Research & Development Fellowship twice from the Ministry of Science & Technology in Bangladesh, Noor Ahmed Raaz is dedicated to advancing textile engineering through education, research, and industry collaboration. For inquiries or collaborations, contact Noor Ahmed Raaz via email at textilemerchandising1@gmail.com or WhatsApp at +8801673758271.