Miscellaneous Definitions — accessories, trims, tools and general fashion terms from Apparel Search
Tensile strength is important to the textile and apparel industry because it is relevant to quality and performance for fiber, thread, yarn, fabric and trimming. Ultimate tensile strength, often shortened to tensile strength, is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to elongate: it resists tension, being pulled apart, and is measured by the maximum stress a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. For fabric, it is the maximum amount of tensile stress and tension the fabric can take before breaking or failure, defined as a stress measured as force per unit area.
Tensile strength is important to the textile & apparel industry. It is relevant to quality & performance.
Tensile strength is relevant to fiber, thread, yarn, fabric, trimming, etc.
Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or Ftu within equations, is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to elongate. Tensile strength resists tension (resists being pulled apart).
Ultimate tensile strength is measured by the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking.
The tensile strength is the measure of maximum force fabric can bear or support, elongate before it breaks, The tensile strength of the fabric is the maximum amount of tensile stress and tension that fabric can take before breaking or failure to resist anymore.
Tensile strength is defined as a stress on the fabric which is measured as force per unit area. A test piece of fabric is held in two or more places and extended until it breaks. Results depend on factors such as fiber type, fabric category, fabric structure, etc. Tensile strength tests are more generally used for woven fabric as opposed to knit fabrics. With woven fabric there are defined warp and weft directions in which strength can be measured. Certain knits, nonwovens, and lace do not have such directions where strength is at a maximum.
Learn about fabric testing methods in our apparel industry terminology section.
Here are are few examples of tensile strength testing for textiles from ASTM. Consult with them directly for proper testing methods, standards, etc.
Grab Test: The grab test procedure in this test method for the determination of breaking force and elongation is considered satisfactory for acceptance testing of commercial shipments of most woven or nonwoven textile fabrics, and the modified grab test procedure is considered satisfactory for acceptance testing of commercial shipments of most woven textile fabrics, since the procedures have been used extensively in the trade for acceptance testing. Standard Test Method for Breaking Strength and Elongation of Textile Fabrics (Grab Test)
Tensile strength answers a simple question with a measured number: how much pulling can this material take before it breaks? Ultimate tensile strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to elongate; in short, tensile strength resists tension, resisting being pulled apart. It is measured by the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. Expressed as force per unit area, the measure lets different materials be compared on the same terms, because a thick specimen and a thin one are judged by the stress at failure rather than by the raw load alone. Below that maximum a material may stretch and, depending on its nature, return or deform; at the maximum it fails, and the value records exactly where that point lies.
In textiles the same idea is applied at every level of construction. Tensile strength is relevant to fiber, thread, yarn, fabric and trimming, and it is relevant to quality and performance because each level inherits the behavior of the one below it. A fabric woven from weak yarn cannot test strong, however sound its structure, and a strong fabric can still fail in a garment at a weak trim or seam component. For fabric itself, tensile strength is the maximum amount of tensile stress and tension that the fabric can take before breaking or failure to resist anymore.
The test method follows the definition directly. A test piece of fabric is held in two or more places and extended until it breaks, and the force and elongation at breaking are recorded. Results depend on factors such as fiber type, fabric category and fabric structure, so a test value is meaningful only together with the material and construction it was measured on. Tensile strength tests are more generally used for woven fabric as opposed to knit fabrics, because with woven fabric there are defined warp and weft directions in which strength can be measured, while certain knits, nonwovens and lace do not have such directions where strength is at a maximum. A woven cloth is therefore tested in both directions, and the two results may differ considerably on the same piece.
Standard procedures make those results comparable between laboratories and acceptable in trade. The grab test procedure for the determination of breaking force and elongation is considered satisfactory for acceptance testing of commercial shipments of most woven or nonwoven textile fabrics, and the modified grab test procedure is considered satisfactory for most woven textile fabrics, since the procedures have been used extensively in the trade for acceptance testing. Related standard methods cover other failure modes and materials, including the tongue, or single rip, procedure for tearing strength of fabrics using a constant-rate-of-extension tensile testing machine, and a standard test method for tensile strength and breaking tenacity of wool fiber bundles at a 1 inch, or 25.4 millimeter, gage length. Used together, such tests tell a buyer not just whether a fabric is strong in the abstract, but how it breaks, how far it stretches first, and whether a shipment matches the standard its contract assumes.
Ultimate tensile strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to elongate. It is measured by the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking.
Tensile strength is defined as a stress on the fabric, measured as force per unit area. A test piece of fabric is held in two or more places and extended until it breaks, and results depend on fiber type, fabric category and fabric structure.
The grab test is a procedure for determining breaking force and elongation, considered satisfactory for acceptance testing of commercial shipments of most woven or nonwoven textile fabrics. A modified grab test procedure is used for most woven textile fabrics.