Quality control in textiles plays a vital role in the textile manufacturing process which ensures that the final textile material or product will meet the required quality and other related specifications. In this article, you will learn about quality control test at different stages of textile processing such as quality control after weaving or knitting, quality control after wet processing and quality control of the final product.
Quality Control in Textile After Weaving And Knitting
After the completion of weaving or knitting of the textile material, quality control plays an important role in resolving the issues before the wet process to save time and cost. Different parameters of quality controls, such as visual inspection, and physical and chemical lab testing, are performed.
Final Inspection Of Finish Products
In physical inspection, it is assuring that there is no hole, no weaving or knitting faults are there is weaved or knitted fabric. Identifying faults in greigh stage of the weaved knitted fabric, so will save time and cost because the quality controllers will not send the fabric for further processes such as bleaching or dyeing.
Benefits of Quality Control After Weaving Or Knitting
- Quality control ensures that the fabric is weaved or knitted and is free from all types of faults, which results in higher quality products and saves time and cost because you will have to control the fabric which is free from faults.
- After identifying defects in the fabric in the first stage, it will increase your work efficiency.
- Providing the best quality products to the customer will enhance the reputation of the industry in the market.
Quality Control After Dyeing
Quality control after wet processing is the most important step in the textile industry. There are three types of products which become ready to cut and pack after wet processing Dyed fabric, printed fabric and white bleached fabric. There is different methods are applied after wet processing to check the quality of the fabric and assure that the finished article will meet the customer’s expectations, and required testing parameters which will maintain the reputation of the manufacturer.
Visual Inspection
Visual inspection is the most common and primary method after dyeing or printing. Quality inspectors who are highly skilled and trained examine the dyed or printed fabric for different defects such as dye spots, uneven dyeing, and colour variations. This is a very effective method for identifying the issues that occur on the surface of textile material and affecting the overall appearance of the textile material.
Chemical Testing Of The Finished Product
Colour fastness testing: Colorfastness is the resistance of the printed or dyed textile material to fading or bleeding when exposed to different conditions such as washing, water, saliva, perspiration, pool water, seawater, light & rubbing etc.
Colour fastness to washing, the fabric is washed by a domestic or home laundering machine several times and the colour fading, shade change or staining of the adjusted testing multifibre. This test assures that the colour of the final product will not fade nor bleed after the required washing cycles as per instructed customer’s testing protocol.
Colour fastness to water is to wet the fabric and keep it per spirometer for a specific time under controlled environment such as force, temperature and humidity. This test assures that the fabric will not change its original shade after exposing to water nor will bleed.
Colour fastness to saliva is to evaluate whether, after exposure to saliva, the colour will change or fade or not. For this purpose, a synthetic saliva solution is made in the laboratory having all the qualities which saliva has and tested under controlled conditions.
Colourfastness to perspiration is usually applied on the fabric which will be converted into shirt or sportswear. In this testing method, a fabric is exposed to a perspiration solution made in a lab and evaluates whether its shade will be changed or not after exposure to perspiration.
Colour fastness to pool water is usually applied on that article which is used for swimming purposes. In this test, the fabric is exposed to a specific PPM of chlorine solution and evaluate the shade change of the fabric.
Colour fastness to seawater is applied on articles which will have to be exposed to seawater. A solution of NaCl and KCL is made as per testing instructions exposing the fabric to the solution and evaluating the shade change of the testing specimen.
Colour fastness to light is applied on outdoor articles. In this method, a Xenon lamp is used for required testing hours under a controlled environment and evaluating the result with the help of a blue wool rating scale.
Colour fastness to rubbing is applied to almost every textile material. A fabric is rubbed with the help of a crockmeter wet and dry and then the results are with the help of a gray scale.
Another chemical test is pH testing, by which we change the pH of the textile material and bring the pH into neutral or required pH to get rid of the negative impact of the chemical used in the wet process and ensure the good effect of the chemical on human skin. These chemical tests ensure the quality and the dyed or printed fabric and its quality.
Shade Matching
Shade matching is the most important aspect of quality control after finishing the textile material. This is a matching of the dyes and finished shade with the standard shade/sample swatch which is provided by the customer. Shade matching helps to ensure the shade as per requirement under the instructed light source in the light box which should be kept in a dark room where is just required light source in the surroundings. Shade is usually a visual match or matches with the help of a device called a spectrophotometer. This spectrometer plays a key role in shade matching because it provides colour recipes and precise color measurement which is always near to the required color standard.
Physical Testing
There are different methods applied to finished textile material and physical testing labs to ensure the performance and durability of the textile material. Tensile & tear strength evaluates the strength of the textile material. Abrasion and pilling testing give us a hint of how many cycles the fabric will bear and will resist pilling which destroys the overall appearance of the textile material. The shrinkage test evaluates how many per cent, of the fabric will shrink when exposed to commercial or domestic laundering. All these tests help us to ensure that the fabric meets the required testing parameters and can withstand different uses.
Final Inspection After Cutting And Stitching
This is the last step of the quality control before shipped to the customer. In this step, a team of highly skilled inspectors examine the product to ensure it meets the required specifications. There are different steps in this process.
Skilled inspectors check the visible faults such as stains, holes, uneven dyeing, missweaves or knits and other faults which decrease the overall appearance of the textile material.
The measurement of the article such as length, width and final product are measured to ensure that the product meets the requirement. Defected articles are removed and ensure product quality enhances the reputation of the industry and satisfies the customer.
In the final inspection, the inspector maintains details records which assures traceability and accountability.
Uneven dyeing
Dye patches
Hole
Shade variation
StainsConclusion
Quality control is very important in the textile manufacturing process. Quality control involves a stepwise procedure, physical and chemical testing and shade-matching testing designed to evaluate and maintain the quality of the ready article as per customer protocols or internal requirements. These steps aim to ensure that the product is free from every type of defect and meets all the required expectations. Different types of quality control tests such as Raw material inspection, In-process inspection, finished product inspection and different physical and chemical tests are performed to ensure the quality of the textile product. Implementing effective quality control minimizes waste and rework, and also satisfy the customer and delivers high-quality products.
FAQs
What is quality control in the textile industry?
Different types of inspection in the textile industry to ensure the quality of the textile product is called quality control. There are many steps in quality control which start from greige fabric to finish product.
What are the objectives of quality control in the textile industry?
The main objective of quality control is to make a product which meets all the required physical and chemical specifications instructed by the customer.
What are the fundamental steps in textile inspection?
Dimension measurement, accessories testing, label verification, packaging verification, and workmanship are the fundamental steps in textile inspection.