Changes in Tensile Strength and Stiffness of Selected Durable Nonwoven Fabrics due to Abrasion and Laundering*

내구성 부직포의 마찰 및 세탁에 의한 인장강도 및 강연도 변화

This research explored the effects of abrasion, laundering, and abrasion/laundering interaction upon wear of 15 durable nonwoven fabrics. Wear was measured in terms of changes in tensile strength and stiffness. The test materials consisted of nine different dry-laid commercial interfacing fabrics of various fiber contents and six spunbonded poyester and polypropylene fabrics. Three fixed levels of abrasion and four fixed levels of laundering made up the 3$\times$4 factorial analysis used for the experiment and the analysis of variance. Findings revealed that abrasion had a greater effect than laundering on strength and stiffness of the tested fabrics. Laundering seemed related to the particular fibers used and to the fixation quality of fiber bonds. Spunbonded webs performed better than dry-laid webs in retaining tensile strength Stiffness change occurred more readily than strength change. Lighter, flexible, stretchable fabrics seemed less easily abraded than heavier, stiff, less stretchable fabrics. The interfacing fabrics of 70/20/$10\%$ nylon/polyester/rayon blends with high crosswise stretchability effectively resisted wear caused by abrasion and laundering. Further research is recommended to study the effects of longer abrasion periods and additional laundering cycles o,1 wear qualities of nonwoven fabrics. Additional factors such as amount and fixation methods of bonding agents, the effect of shear distortion, seam construction, and drycleaning solvents could also be studied.