Introduction

• The tensile properties of woven fabrics, together with other

mechanical properties such as bending, shear and compression,
are of considerable importance in determining how the fabric will
perform in use.
• tensile strength of a fabric should be much higher than the
maximum stress likely to be encountered in actual use because
the fabric is subjected to repeated stresses which degrade the
material during its lifetime and result in deterioration of strength.
• Analysis of tensile behavior of the woven fabric is also necessary
to understand the relation between fabric parameters during
deformation.
• Tensile properties of a woven fabric involves a number of
problems mainly because the fabric is anisotropic and has a
modulus which varies considerably with strain.
• Fabrics in most cases are not symmetrical, and therefore the
moduli in the warp and weft direction are different.
 Fundamentals of axial deformation
• When a specimen is subjected to an external force in its axial
direction, a tension develops in the specimen.
• As a result, the material is deformed and sets up a resistance to
deformation. The resistance to deformation set up in the
specimen is called tensile stress and the deformation produced
is called strain.
• Tensile properties indicate how the material will react to forces
being applied in tension.
• most important output of a tensile test is a load–elongation
curve which can be converted into a stress–strain curve.
• The stress–strain curve relates the application of stress to the
resulting strain.
• Each material has its own unique stress–strain curve.
 Tensile strength

• Tensile strength is a measure of the force required to pull

something such as rope, wire or a structural beam to the point
where it breaks. There are three different versions of tensile
strength:
• Yield strength: the stress beyond which the strain in the
material changes from elastic deformation to plastic
deformation which is a permanent deformation.
• Ultimate strength: the maximum stress a material can
withstand.
• Breaking strength: the stress coordinates on the stress–strain
curve at the point of rupture is called breaking strength.
 Stress
• Stress is the internal resistance or the counter-force of a
material to the distorting effects of an external force.
• The total resistance developed is equal to the external load.
• It is difficult to measure the intensity of stress generated in the
material.
• Stress (s) can be equated to the force (F) applied per unit cross-
sectional area (A) perpendicular to the force as given below:
• Stress = σ = F/A
• The plane of a tensile or compressive stress lies perpendicular
to the axis of operation of the force from which it originates.
• The plane of a shear stress lies in the plane of the force system
from which it originates
• Tensile stress is the stress in which the two sections of
material on either side of a stress plane tend to pull apart or
elongate as shown in Fig. 7.1(a).
• Compressive stress is subject to axial push acting normally
across the section; the resistance set-up is called compressive
stress. Compressive stress is the reverse of tensile stress as
shown in Fig. 7.1(b).
• Shear stress on a material is the result of by two equal and
opposite forces acting tangentially across the resisting section
as shown in Fig. 7.1(c) the resistance set up is called shear
stress.
 Strain
• Normal strain is a ratio of change in dimension to the original
dimension. It is denoted by e:
• E = change in dimension/ original dimension
• Normal strain is also called linear strain; the tensile strain is
considered positive and compressive strain is considered negative.
• Shear strain is the angular deformation due to shear stress.
Consider a rectangular block held at the bottom subjected to
tangential force P as shown in Fig. 7.2. If the face ABCD is distorted
to A’B’CD through an angle ϕ, the angular deformation produced is
called shear strain:
• Shear strain= AA’ or BB’/AD
• Volumetric strain is the ratio of change in volume to original
volume. Thus volumetric strain can be shown as:
• εy = δV/V, where δV = change in volume and V = original volume
 Hooke’s law and modulus
• For deformation within elastic limit, normal stress is directly
proportional to normal strain. Mathematically
• Σ ≈ε or σ = Eσ
• where E is constant of proportionality known as modulus of elasticity
or Young’s modulus. Similarly, shear stress (t) within elastic limit is
directly proportional to shear strain. Mathematically.
• Ε α φ, or τ = G*φ, where G is the constant of proportionality known
as shear modulus.
 Poisson ratio
• Tensile or compressive axial strain is accompanied by lateral
strain.
• The lateral strain is a fraction of the linear strain and within the
elastic limit bears a constant ratio to the linear strain and is
called the Poisson ratio.
• σn represents the Poisson ratio for the lateral direction as it
gives the contraction due to longitudinal extension.
 Stress–strain diagram
• The stress and corresponding strain when plotted on a graph
constitute a stress–strain diagram. The diagram differs for
different materials. A brittle material is one which gives very
small deformation before fracture as shown in Fig. 7.3.
• The yield point is defined as the stress beyond which a material
deforms by a relatively large amount for a small increase in the
stretching force. Beyond this stress, the material no longer
obeys Hooke’s law
 Tensile properties of woven fabrics
• Tensile properties of woven fabrics produce several problems
and complexities, mainly because fabric is anisotropic and has a
modulus which varies considerably with strain.
• Variation in initial modulus is very large and the modulus in warp
and weft directions differs because cloth is not symmetrical.
• Extension which takes place at an angle to warp or weft is usually
much higher & also involves a different mechanism of
deformation .
• Modulus at an angle of 45° is mainly determined by the shear
behavior.
• A woven fabric structure consists of fibers and yarns and its
deformation results in a series of complex movement of fibers
and yarns. The deformation behavior becomes more complex as
both fiber and yarn behave in a non-Hookean manner.
 Load–elongation behavior of woven fabric
• The curve consists of three distinct regions; initial (OA)
dominated by frictional restraint, followed by AB (decrimping
region) and, finally, BC leading to yarn extension.
• Initial high modulus of fabric is mainly due to the frictional
resistance to bending of the thread which includes inter-fiber
friction.
• Once the frictional restraint is overcome, the modulus decreases
gradually because the force needed to unbend the thread in the
direction of force decreases.
• After de-crimping, the force rises sharply as fibers are extended.
In the final region the load–extension property of fabric is
entirely governed by the load–elongation properties of the yarn.
• However, in a jammed fabric, de-crimping and yarn extension
are likely to merge.
 Geometrical changes during extension
• To understand the behavior of cloth during extension, it is necessary to
know the geometrical changes during extension.
• These changes should allow extension of yarn and compression at the
intersection region.
• When such geometrical changes are greatest, the forces are relatively low
and therefore extension and compression of yarn is considered negligible.
• The Poisson ratio of cloth can be calculated using cloth geometry and the
basic equations are:
• l = p(1+c) & h = 4/3p√c
• Assuming the yarn is inextensible and incompressible, these
equations enable the modulus of several possible variations in
loading of cloth to be estimated .
• Biaxial loading under large forces
• In the fabric shown in Fig. 7.5, n1, n2 are the numbers of warp and
weft threads, p1, p2 are the warp and weft spacing’s, and F1, F2 are
the forces per thread in the warp and weft direction. The fabric
width is n1p1 and the fabric length is n2 p2. Now, the forces acting
in the warp and weft direction are n1 F1 and n2 F2. During
deformation, suppose:
• p1 →p1 +dp1
• p2→p2 +dp2
• In this system, total internal energy will be the work done by the
two forces, so, the internal energy = work done by F1 and F2.
• However, when F1 and F2 are sufficiently large, the internal
energy can be ignored. For small deformations, the extension in
the warp direction is n2dp2 and in the weft direction it is n1dp1.
Thus:
• (n1F1)(n2dp2) + (n2F2)(n1dp1) =0
• (n1F1)(n2dp2) + (n2F2)(n1dp1) =0
• F1 dp2 + F2dp1 = 0 →dp1F2 = –F1dp2 →dp1/dp2 = – F1/F2
• dp2 (1 + c1) + p2 dc1
• dc1 = – (1 + c1) (dp2/p2) (A)
• Similarly for the weft yarn we get by interchanging suffix 1
with 2 and vice versa:
• dc2 = –(1 + c2) (dp1/p1) (B)
• Also we know: p2√c1 + p1√c2 = D3/4
• → dp2√c1 + 1/(2√c1) dc1p2 + dp1√c2 + 1/(2√c2) dc2 p1 = 0
• Substituting for dc1 and dc2 from A and B above, we get:
• This equation shows an increase in the thread spacing in one
direction of the fabric and gives decrease in thread spacing in
the cross-direction due to change in crimp. This equation is
analogous to the crimp interchange equation discussed in
Chapter 4. The ratio lateral contraction to longitudinal
extension, dp1/dp2 is called the Poisson ratio for extension in the
warp direction of fabric.
• From equations 7.1 and 7.2 we get:

• The values of c1, c2 in relation to 1 being small, (1 – c1)/(1 – c2)

can be taken as 1
• In this analysis, yarn extension, yarn compression and the
change in the internal energy are neglected. The applied forces
will cause change in the thread spacing due to change in crimp.
The change in crimp height with change in pick spacing, (dh/dp)
can be obtained using the relation: h1 =4/3p2√c1

• Substituting the value of dc1, we get

 Tensile modulus
• The modulus of a cloth can be defined as the change in the
force per unit width per fractional increase in length

• Case 1
• When stresses are sufficiently large, the internal energy
changes in the cloth can be neglected. We have seen, in
equation 7.3:

• From this relationship, the fabric modulus for increase in F1

when F2 is constant can be obtained for a small change in the
extension. Hence, differentiating the above equation, we get:
• The modulus of fabric, as per definition, is given by,
• Substituting the value of dF1 from above, we have: fabric modulus for warp
• Substituting for dc1 and dc2, we get:

• It has been found that at low loads there is a rough agreement between
experimental and calculated modulus. The actual modulus (experimental) is
greater than the calculated modulus due to the neglect of internal bending
energy changes.