FABRIC MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: PART 4: THE FITTING OF WOVEN FABRICS TO A THREE‐DIMENSIONAL SURFACE Available to Purchase

In the first three parts of this series of papers, methods were described by which the basic fabric mechanical properties important in clothing manufacturing operations may be measured and analysed. The fabric mechanical properties such as fabric tensile, shear, bending and longitudinal compression properties, have been related to fabric overfeeding during sewing and the natural curvature and curling couple of seamed fabric assemblies. The present paper describes work which was carried out with the aim of elucidating the relationships between the constitutive laws governing fabric extension, shear and bending, and the behaviour of the fabric in the three dimensionally deformed states in which the fabric is found during making‐up and end‐use. These deformed states involve strains in the plane of the fabric, and also bending out of the fabric plane. The fabric is approximated by a network of rod elements, aligned for convenience along the fabric constructional directions. The experimental results for a piece of woven fabric forced to conform to a spherical surface agree well with the theoretical calculations. The results also show that when a woven fabric is pulled onto a doubly curved surface by biaxial tensile stresses, equal in both directions, the fabric conforms to the surface mainly by shearing.