Methods to identify a textile material.

Among the varieties of models, patterns and colors of fabrics on the market, it is difficult to immediately know what material it is. Find out how to identify them.

What are the main types of tissue?

There are several ranges of fabrics. These are the most popular.

The cotton

It is a vegetable fiber.

Flax

It is also a plant fiber, but it differs from cotton in that the individual plant fibers that make up the yarn are long, while the cotton fibers are short.

Silk

Silk is a protein fiber.

The money

Also a protein fiber, wool is made up of individual fibers that are shorter than silk.

Nylon

It is a petroleum based polyamide.

Polyester

Polyester is a polymer produced from coal, air, water, and petroleum products.

How to recognize a fabric?

This combustion test must only be carried out by qualified personnel! Make sure there is a bucket of water nearby and proceed to a metal bucket or non-plastic sink. The test determines whether the fabric is a natural fiber ((wool, linen, cotton, silk), a synthetic fiber (nylon, polyester), or a mixture of both.

Test steps

The burn test turns out to be the correct solution and should be done with caution. Use only a small piece of cloth. Hold the fabric with tweezers, not your fingers. Burn it in a metal skillet with soda or even water in the bottom of the pan. Some fabrics will ignite and melt. This results in droplets that can stick to the skin and cause severe burns, so be careful!

Recognize cotton

When lit, it burns with a constant flame and smells like burned leaves. The ash that remains crumbles easily. Small samples of warm cotton can be put out like a candle.

Recognize flax

Linen takes longer to turn on, but goes out easily.

Recognize silk

It burns easily, not necessarily from a constant flame, and it smells like hot hair. Ash is easily dispersed. Silk samples are not as easy to quench as cotton or linen.

Recognize wool

Wool is more difficult to ignite than silk because the individual fibers are shorter and the weave of fabrics is generally softer than silk. The smell of burnt wool is similar to that of burned hair.

Recognize nylon

Nylon melts and then burns quickly if the flame remains on the molten fiber. If you can keep the flame on the molten nylon, it will smell like burnt plastic.

Recognize polyester

Polyester melts and burns at the same time, hot and melted ash can quickly adhere to any surface, including skin. Polyester smoke is black with a sweetish odor. Extinguished ash is hard.

Recognize composite materials

These are made up of two or more fibers and are ideally supposed to take on the characteristics of each fiber in the mix. The burn test can be used, but the content of the tissue will only be a guess for identification.