Investigation on polyester woven fabric damage by tumble drying

Abstract The main goal of this study is to examine drying practices in order to make an objective evaluation of polyester woven fabric properties after several cycles of tumble-drying. Abrasion damage to polyester woven fabric during drying in a household tumble dryer are evaluated by SEM (scanning electron microscopy), smoothness appearance, dimensional stability and strain tests. Results showed that the surface of polyester fiber presented various damages after suffering from abrasion for a series of drying cycles, including peeling off, fragments flaking, spots and wrinkles, but no obvious fiber fracture or crack was found. And found that drying had little effect on smoothness appearance, dimensional stability and tensile strength. This indicated that drying had no overall effect on fabric physical and mechanical properties. Moreover, moisture loss patterns during drying as a function of time or temperature indicate possible ways to minimize dryer abrasion damage by reducing unnecessary tumble-drying time. This founding is helpful to understand of damage mechanism of polyester woven fabrics drying in dryer and proves that using tumble dryer to dry polyester woven fabrics is possible and effective.