Fabric Types and Structure
                                                                                                           ~Yong Kok Swee~

A fabric may be defined as a planar assembly of fibres, yarns or combination of these. There are many different methods of manufacturing, each capable of producing a great variety of structure dependent upon the raw materials used and the set up of control elements within the processes involved. The particular fabric selected for a given application depends on the performance requirements imposed by the end use and/or the desired aesthetic characteristics of the end user with consideration for cost and price. Fabrics are used for many applications such as apparel, home furnishings and industrial.

The most commonly used fabric forming methods are; interlacing（weaving and braiding）, inter-looping （weft and warp knitting）,Tufting and bonding. The fabric structure can be woven, non-woven, knit, braided, laminated, or stitched,（Figure 1.3）. There is many other non-traditional fabric manufacturing methods as well.

 Figure 1-3 Type of fabrics

         (d) warp knit                                 (e) tufted                             (f) non-woven

A fabric structure can consist of single layer or multi-layers. Each layer can be made of one or more types of fibres or yarns. There are endless numbers of fabric design patterns that provide different properties.

1.1.1        Interlacing --- Weaving and Braiding 

Thread interlacing is the arrangement of the warp and weft over and under one another. The normal method of denoting an interlacing is to show the movement of a warp thread over and under weft threads thus: _3   1___ 
                                                 2   2

which indicates warp passing over three, under two, over one, and under two weft threads. It is sometimes more convenient to describe a weave in terms of weft interlacing, in which case,
    2   2 
               3   1

indicates the weft passing under three, over two, under one and over two warp threads.

1.1.1.1                Weaving:

Weaving is interlacing, at right angle, two or more series of flexible materials, the lengthwise member being called warp, while the crosswise is called weft. Weaving is interlacing of warp and weft to construct woven fabric. The warp yarn is that yarn system in woven fabric lying parallel to the lengthwise direction of the cloth or parallel to the selvagesside edge. Warp yarns are often referred to simply as ends. The filling is the yarn system in a woven fabric lying across the width of the cloth perpendicular to the selvages. The filling is also referred as weft. Individual filling yarns are called picks because in early hand weaving a filling yarn was inserted by tying it to a pointed device which are used to pick the filling yarn through the warp yarns. The weaving machine （loom）provides mechanisms required to deliverer and manipulate warp yarns for interlacing with filling yarns which are inserted into the warp. Warp yarns are delivered to the loom in sheet form on a warp beam while filling yarns are delivered usually one pick at a time from small single-end packages. The basic weave（Figure 1.4 and 1.5）are:

Figure 1.4 Symbolic notation for plain, rib, and basket weave

For loom-state（unless otherwise stated）woven fabrics parameters are quated in the following order and in the units given:

      (1)    Numbers of ends per cm X Numbers of picks per cm;
(2)    Yarn linear density（tex）;
(3)    Twist level（turns per metre）and twist direction（S or Z）:
(4)    Yarn crimp;
(5)    Fabric thickness;
(6)    Area density（g/㎡）;
(7)    Cover factor （K ）,warp + weft;
(8)    Fabric width

In all weave diagrams, marked squares indicate where the warp is lifted over the weft.

A)       Plain weave; tabby: The simplest of all weave interlacing in which the odd warp threads operate over and under one weft thread throughout the fabric with the even warp threads reversing this order to under one, over one, throughout. A plain weave does not necessary result in a plain surface effect or design in the fabric, e.g. variation of the yarn linear densities warp to weft or throughout the warp and/or weft and variation of the thread spacing warp to weft can produce rib effects, such as taffeta, poult, faille, and grosgrain, while colour patterning of the warp and/or weft results in colour-and-weave effects.

1)        Cambric: a light weight, closely woven plain fabric usually given a slight stiffening. Constructions of typical fabrics were: ⑴ handkerchief cambric, loomstate; 35x35;10x7.4tex Egyptian cotton; 3x7.8%; 74g/㎡; K=10.0+9.5; 96cm; ⑵ linen cambric, bleach: 38x35;11x1tex linen; 4.1x3.1%; 83 g/㎡; K=12.6+11.6; 94㎝.

2)        Canvas: a fabric usually made from cotton, flax, hemp, or jute in weights traditionally range from 200 to 2000 g/㎡. The weave is plain or double-end plain. In cotton canvas, the yarns may be singles but frequently piled; in other canvases, the yarns are generally singles. The warp predominates, and a feature of the heavier canvases is very close packing of the warp, which is highly crimped over a straight weft. The term canvas covers cloths with a great variety of uses, but the salient of all are strength and firmness.

3)        Crępe de chine: A light weight crępe fabric of plain weave, made with two S and Z  highly twisted continuous filament warp.

4)        Duck: A closely woven, plain weave fabric similar to canvas usually made from cotton or linen yarns. The name canvas and duck have become almost generic and are usually qualified by terms that indicate the use of fabrics, e.g. Royal Navy canvas, artist’s canvas, duck suiting, belting duck.

5)        Georgette: A fine, light-weight, open-texture fabric, usually in a plain weave, made from crępe yarns, usually having two S-twisted and two Z-twisted yarns alternately in both warp and weft.

6)        Gingham: A plain weave, light-weight cotton fabric, approximately square in construction, in which dyed yarns, or white dyed yarns, from small checks or, less usually, narrow stripes. If fibres other than cotton are used the term should be suitably qualified, e.g. viscose gingham, polyester/cotton gingham.

7)        Lawn: A light thin cloth made of carded or combed yarns, the fabric is given a crease-resistant, crisp finish. Lawn is crisper than voile but not as organdy.

8)        Organdy: a very thin, transparent, stiff, wiry, muslin fabric used for dresses, neckwear, trimmings, and curtains. Swiss orandy is chemically treated and keeps its crisp, transparent finish through many launderings. Orandy without chemical treatment loses its crispness in launderings and has to be restarched. Organdy crushes or musses but is easily pressed. Shadow orandy has a faint printed design in self-colour.

9)        Oxford: A plain-weave shirting of good-quality yarns that has two warp ends weaving as one. Fancy-weave effects can be incorporated, and dyed yarns are used to form stripes. Typical cotton-type construction: 35x20; 20x30tex; K=15.6+10.9

10)     Pongee: originally and traditionally a light weight fabric hand-woven in China of wild silk in plain weave. The term is now also applied to fabrics having a similar weight and appearance, power-weave, and made with yarns other than silk. If made from cotton, these fabrics are usually mercerized and schreinered.

11)     Poplin: a Plain-weave cotton-type with weft-way ribs and high warp sett, typically: 48x24; 16x18tex; K=19.2+10.2

12)     Taffeta: A plain weave, closely, smooth and crisp fabric with a faint weft-way rib, produced from filament yarns. The rib effect is produced by making the warp end density that is greater than the pick density. The warp and weft yarns are of similar linear density. Taffeta belongs to a group of fabrics that have ribs in the weft direction. Example of this group, arranged in ascending order of prominence of the rib are: taffeta, poult, faile, and grosgrain. The term ‘wool taffeta’ is often applied to a plain weave, light weight fabric produced from worsted yarns. 

B)       Twill weave: A woven fabric in which the warp is raised one thread and depressed 2 or more threads for the passage of weft – thus effecting a curious appearance of diagonal lines. The succession of diagonal lines at the angle of 45°.  

Figure 1.5 Graphic and symbolic illustrations for twill and satin weave

   

A)       Drill: A woven twill fabrics which are made in both linen and cotton and usually bleach or piece-dyed and finished stuff. A stout twill linen or cotton cloth usually three threads. Drill is also named because weave originally used in construction was three-leaf.

Denim: Traditionally a 3/1 warp-face fabric made from yarn-dyed warp and undyed weft yarn. Typical cotton construction: 32x19; 45x54tex; 310 g∕㎡; K=21.5+14.0. More recently, other weaves have been used in lighter constructions.

Jean: A 2/1 warp-faced twill fabric used chiefly for overalls or casual wear. Typically: 35x34; 32x21tex cotton; K=19.8+11.0. The term ‘jeanette’ is sometimes used to discribe the lighter weights and these may used for linings.  

B)       Sateen weave；A weft-face weave in which the binding places are arranged with a view to producing a smooth fabric surface, free from twill. In North America, sateen fabric is a smooth, generally lustrous cotton fabric with a five-harness satin weave in either warp or filling-face effect.  

C)       Satin weave: A warp-faced weave in which the binding places are arranged with a view to producing a smooth fabric surface, free from twill. In North America, satin is a smooth, generally lustrous with a thick close texture made in silk, manufactured or other fibres in a satin weave for warp-face or sateen weave filling face effect. 

D)       Pile or piled fabrics: A woven fabric with a pile surface, which the portions of warp or weft assume a vertical position, besides the ordinary longitudinal and transverse parallel lines. In this case, here are two series of weft threads, one intersecting with warp threads to form the ground texture while the other although bound to the ground is picked up at regular intervals which effects a uniform brush-like surface, e.g. warp-piled-fabrics, velvet, velour, chenille, plushes, corduroy, etc. 

E)        Crępe weave: A weave having a random distribution of floats so as to produce an ‘all-over’ effect in the fabric to disguise the repeat. 

F)        Jacquard weave: A patterned design weave produced by a large number of warp threads, in excess of a dobby, weave differently and therefore require a jacquard mechanism. A shedding mechanism, attached to a loom, that gives individual control of up to several hundred warp threads and thus enables large figured designs to be produced. 

G)       Triaxial weave: A system of weaving that interlacing two warp ends and one set of picks in such a way that the three sets of threads form a multitude of equilateral triangles. The resulting fabric has excellent bursting, tearing, and abrasion-resistance. 

H)       Welt weave: A weave showing rounded cords in the weft direction, with pronounced sunken lines between them that are produced by the nature of the weave. The weave on the face of the cords is plain. They are warp floats the width of the cords on the back. Wadding picks are used to accentuate the prominence of the cords. For many years, the term pique has been applied to a much less expensive white fabric made in a light-weight Bedford –cord weave.

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