Abrasion is the surface wear caused by rubbing with another material. The consumer would expect textiles and other products to withstand a certain amount of deterioration. Textiles may exhibit 'pilling' under abrasive conditions, where small balls of entangled fibres are formed on the surface of the fabric. This level of deterioration is generally unacceptable to the consumer, rated visually on a scale from 1-5, mild to severe.
Standards
Unacceptable abrasion damage in fabrics that do not exhibit pilling takes the form of broken threads. Visual checks for textile abrasion focus on examination for thread breakage.
Equipment
Instruments used for abration testing apply controlled and consistent levels of abrasion in order to quantify the performance of the test sample. James Heal Martindale Abrasion and Pilling tester performs cyclic Lissajour figure 'rubs' on the sample with industry-approved and recommended abrasive materials. Interchangeable 'stations' on the instrument cater for a variety of applications; textiles and non-textiles such as socks, leather, carpets, coated upholstery and edges, plus wood.
