FOUR POINT FABRIC INSPECTION SYSTEM Ajay Sardana (Head TRADC), Sanjay Vishwakarma (Head QA, TRADC) The

he authors are M.Tech in Textile Engineering from IIT Delhi and have valuable experience in textile industry. They are presently working at Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) which is a state of the art research & application centre of pulp & fibre business, Aditya Birla Group catering to requirements of entire value chain since its inception in year 2004 Fabric inspection is a tool for satisfying internal as well as external customer. External customer can benefit by getting the products as per the specification provided while internal customer benefit by knowing the reason for any downgradation and can thus correct the same. Fabric inspection also mirrors the packing percentage and associated value losses due to downgradation. There are many inspection systems and of them four point inspection system has got wide acceptance and is followed globally by fabric and garment manufactures. This article is an attempt to highlight the advantages, procedure of four point inspection system and using the generated data for grading of the fabric.

INTRODUCTION Fabrics have certain desirable characteristics depending on end use. Various defects in the fabric either mar the appearance or adversely affect some of these desired characteristics. Thus fabric produced must be inspected before releasing it for dispatch so that the proper quality goods reach the customers. Fabric Inspection helps to achieve following objectives: o Ensures complete piece of mind for customer as well as supplier because the fabric dispatched is as per mutually agreed grading criteria

o Qualitative analysis helps in discovering the root cause of the defect o Quantitative analysis helps in identifying the defect or department generating seconds o Periodic fresh packing analysis highlight the improvement or deterioration in fabric quality/ value loss Various factors such as type of weave, yarn used, finishing treatment, mechanical condition of the machines, weavers practice, etc, influence the fabric quality. This article is an attempt to look into the 1

Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) Birla Cellulose, Kharach, Kosamba (Gujarat)

four point inspection system introduced by American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM). FOUR POINT SYSTEM INSPECTION

o Assign defect points based on the length of the defect as mentioned in the following table: Defect length (inches) Up to 3 3 to 6 6 to 9 Over 9 Points to be assigned 1 2 3 4

The four point inspection system is widely accepted method of fabric inspection globally. Fabric inspection is carried out as per ASTM D 543004 method. The inspection system has been approved by The American Society for Quality Control, Textile and Needle Trades Division, The American Apparel Manufactures Association and is used by the United States Government for all of their piece goods purchase. The procedure for four point inspection system is as under: o Pass the fabric longitudinally through the inspection area at a speed agreed between supplier and customer o The light source is in a plane perpendicular to the surface of the fabric and the fabric runs at an angle of 45o to the vertical o The inspection area surface illumination level shall be a minimum 1075 lux. The lighting source should be cool white fluorescent lamps having a correlated colour temperature of 4100 to 4500K with white reflectors or as per agreement between supplier and customer o Inspect the fabric at a distance of one metre, while the fabric is in motion

o Assign four points to each metre of fabric where usable width is less than the minimum specified. o No running meterage of the fabric shall be penalised more than four points o Defects not visible on the face of the fabric shall not be counted unless agreed between supplier and customer DESCRIPTION OF DEFECTS: o Defects which should be cut out of goods includes: Holes with inches or more Thin place or if pick is noticeably less than normal Harness Breakdown. o Defects which scored includes: must be

Bar Filling wise thick place, thin place, coarse yarn or fine yarn. 2

Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) Birla Cellulose, Kharach, Kosamba (Gujarat)

Bad Selvedge Loose, tight, beaded, raged etc. Broken End A warp yarn missing for a portion of its length Chafe An area where the fabric has been damaged by abrasion or friction. Coarse End Or Pick A warp or weft yarn having larger diameter or more plies than normally used in the fabric. End Out A warp end missing from the entire length of the cloth. Fine End A warp yarn having smaller diameter or less plies than normally used in the fabric. Flat Two or more threads weaved as one and not meant to be a feature of the weave. Float A thread that extend unwoven over the threads of the opposite set with which it should normally be interlaced. Fly loose fibers not originating from the fabric or foreign mater that have been woven into the fabric. Fuzz Balls Loose fibers originated from within the fabric that
Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) Birla Cellulose, Kharach, Kosamba (Gujarat)

have formed balls and is woven into the fabric. Hard Size An excessive quantity of size material. Double Pick An extra pick dragged into shed with the correct pick for a portion of the width of the fabric Kink (Snarl) A short length of yarn spontaneously doubled on itself. Misspick A pick woven in the wrong order with respect to the weave or colour pattern. Missing End A warp wise streak causing the improper spacing of the warp across the fabric. Mixed Yarn Yarn that differs from that used in normal. Reed Mark -- A warp wise streak caused by damage reed. Smash An area where the fabric been ruptured by breakage of large number of ends. Temple Mark Disturbance of appearance at temple region. Tight end or pick Torn Selvedge 3 the the

Uneven warp or weft. Oil or Grease Marks. Wrong Drawing A break at the continuity of the weave due to wrongly drawing of end/ ends. Slub An abruptly thickened portion of yarn woven into fabric. There are many other defects which differ by a slight degree in meaning. GRADING SYSTEMS Contrary to inspection systems which are universally accepted and followed exactly anywhere around the globe, grading system varies from one customer to another depending the quality consciousness of the buyer. As higher quality comes with a cost

due to increase in the fabric downgradation and value loss, the customer customizes his grading criteria accordingly. An example of grading criteria is as under: Points/ 4 100 sq points/ Mt 100 lm <= 20 <=4 <=30 <=6 >=30 >=6 Remarks Nil Nil Continuous damages

CALCULATIONS Points/ 100sq m 4 Points/ 100lm = Total Points X 100 -----------------------------Total Meter x Width (m)

Total no. of 4 Points X 100 ---------------------------------Total Meter)

Reference 1. Fabric Defects by Textile Committee, Government of India 2. ASTM D 543004 method

Textile Research & Application Development Centre (TRADC) Birla Cellulose, Kharach, Kosamba (Gujarat)