Determination of reinforcing fiber fineness – comparison of measurement methods, their accuracy, advantages and limitations
Topic(s) : Material science
Co-authors :
Blanka TOMKOVA (CZECH REPUBLIC)Abstract :
Fiber fineness is one of the basic characteristics of fiber material known to all textile engineers. However, its measurement is not simple and people outside the textile fields, in an attempt to determine this parameter, often use the methods that are not entirely suitable for the type of the fibers they work with. For this reason we present the current overview of the standardized measurement methods used to determine the fineness of individual fibers to show their suitability or unsuitability for a given type of fiber raw material and to compare the accuracy of the obtained results.
As there is no fundamental difference between textile fibers and reinforcing fibers in determination of their properties, we hope this overview will help non-textile engineers deepen their understanding of fiber specific properties often manifested by a large variability of the measured parameters. This variability can be significantly distorted by choosing an inappropriate measurement method, which can have a negative impact on the further use of the fibers regardless they are used in standard yarns and textiles or as composite reinforcements.
In this overview we use glass and carbon multifilaments as typical reinforcing fibers and polyamide and rayon as a representative of standard textile multifilaments. Glass wool, produced by centrifugal spinning for thermal insulation materials, and wool and cotton fibers are used as a representatives of short fibers. Fineness of selected fibers was measured by the modern imaging methods using light, LCM and SEM microscopes, further we used the gravimetric and vibroscope methods, and the airflow method. Fineness values obtained from different methods were evaluated by ANOVA statistics. All selected methods are further evaluated in terms of their suitability for the given material, time-consuming and demanding equipment, and their advantages and limitations are discussed.
As there is no fundamental difference between textile fibers and reinforcing fibers in determination of their properties, we hope this overview will help non-textile engineers deepen their understanding of fiber specific properties often manifested by a large variability of the measured parameters. This variability can be significantly distorted by choosing an inappropriate measurement method, which can have a negative impact on the further use of the fibers regardless they are used in standard yarns and textiles or as composite reinforcements.
In this overview we use glass and carbon multifilaments as typical reinforcing fibers and polyamide and rayon as a representative of standard textile multifilaments. Glass wool, produced by centrifugal spinning for thermal insulation materials, and wool and cotton fibers are used as a representatives of short fibers. Fineness of selected fibers was measured by the modern imaging methods using light, LCM and SEM microscopes, further we used the gravimetric and vibroscope methods, and the airflow method. Fineness values obtained from different methods were evaluated by ANOVA statistics. All selected methods are further evaluated in terms of their suitability for the given material, time-consuming and demanding equipment, and their advantages and limitations are discussed.