A Study on Frictional Characteristics of Woven Fabrics

We have examined the fabric-to-metal surface and fabric-to-fabric frictional characteristics (in both warp and weft directions) of a series of fabrics containing 100% polyester, 100% viscose, and P/C & P/V blends with different blend proportions. It has been observed that the normal load and the frictional force follow a logarithmic relationship for all the fabrics. The nature of fabric friction is characterised by different parameters such as the F/N ratio, and the values of n, k and k/n. Fabric-to-metal friction is found to be less sensitive to fabric morphology and rubbing direction, whereas fabric-to-fabric friction is highly sensitive to these factors. Fabric friction has been affected by many factors such as the type of fibre, type of blend, blend proportion, yarn structure, fabric structure, crimp and crimp height, compressibility, etc. In P/C and P/V blended fabrics, the frictional force increases as the cellulose fibre component increases.