A Measurement Apparatus and Evaluation for Surface Friction Properties of Fabrics

A measurement apparatus and a test method were proposed to evaluate the surface friction properties of fabrics. The apparatus was capable of measuring the dynamic friction performance of fabrics including the dynamic coefficient of friction and relative friction work during the dynamic friction contacts in one step of measurement based on the mechanical device, sensors and control system. Three indicators were defined to characterize the friction performance of the fabrics. Twelve types of fabrics made from different textile materials were objectively and subjectively measured and the experiments for the correlation with Kawabata KES-FB4 system were conducted. The test results show that there were significant differences in the friction performance of all fabrics. The denim had the maximum static friction coefficient and the mesh knitted fabric had the minimum static friction coefficient. The correlation analysis reveals that objective measuring results of friction work were consistent with the subjective evaluations, and the test results of the dynamic friction coefficient were also consistent with the mean friction coefficient results of the KES-FB4 measurements.