Novel measurement of fabric bending anisotropy

Purpose Under the widely used testing methods for fabric bending behavior, only one result for one direction can be obtained by using one fabric which is low efficient. To obtain fabric bending anisotropy, it is necessary to conduct a great many testing experiments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a novel, efficient and visual method that can measure fabric bending anisotropy. Design/methodology/approach Fabrics are first cut into special shapes with eight strips including four directions, 0°(warp direction), 90°(weft direction), 45 and 135°(true bias), then are put onto the self-designed instrument. After that a camera is used to take picture from the right above the prism. New parameters, projection area, projection length, projection length, falling height and falling index (S, L, H and I in short) are obtained. Furthermore, standard deviation of them (SDS, SDL, SDH and SDI in short) are extracted for the characterization of bending anisotropy. Findings Results show that the new method has good feasibility and S, L and I can be used to express fabric bending property well. Of all the four new parameters, SDL has the highest correlation with SD of bending length, SDS the second and SDH the third. That is, SDL can characterize bending anisotropy best. Taken convenience of data acquisition and correlation into consideration, bending length L is the best parameter. Average L and SDL in four directions can be combined to express the comprehensive bending behavior of fabrics. Originality/value The new method can measure and characterize both the fabric bending property and bending anisotropy. Besides its high efficiency, it can display fabric bending or bending anisotropy visually and directly.