Definition of Textile Fabric | Different Types of Textile Fabrics

Fabric is a flexible planar substance constructed from solutions, fibers, yarns or fabrics in any combination. Textile fabrics can be produced directly from webs of fibers by bonding, fusing or interlocking to make non woven fabrics and felts but their physical properties tend to restrict their potential end usage. The mechanical manipulation of yarn into fabric is the most versatile method of manufacturing textile fabrics for a wide range of end uses.

 Type of Textile Fabric: 

There are three main methods of mechanically manipulating yarn into textile fabrics: interweaving ( interlacing or interlacement), interlooping and intertwining. All three methods have evolved from hand manipulated techniques through their application on primitive frames into sophisticated manufacturing operations on automated machinery.

Interweaving: It is the intersection or interlacement of two sets of straight yarns, warp (Ends) and weft (picks or filling), which cross and interweave at right angles to each other. Weaving is by far the oldest and most common method of producing continuous lengths of straight edge fabric.

Interlooping: It consists of forming yarns into looks, each of which is typically only released after a succeeding loop has been formed and intermeshed with it so that a secure ground loop structure is achieved. The loops are also held together by the yarn passing from one to the next. Knitting is the most common method of intelooping and is second only to weaving as a method of manufacturing textile products. 

It is estimated that over seven million tons of knitted goods are produced annually across the world. Although the unique capability of knitting to manufacture shaped and form fitting articles has been utilized for centuries, modern technology has enables knitted constructions in shaped and unshaped fabric form to expand into a wide range of apparel, domestic and industrial end uses.

Interwining and Twisting: It includes a number of technique, such as braiding and knotting, where threads are caused to interwine with each other at right angles or some other angles. These techniques tend to produce special constructions whose uses are limited to very specific purposes.

There is another method of manipulating directly fiber into textile fabrics is so called nonwoven process. This relatively young branch of the textile industry has expanded enormously after the second world war because of the high production rates and the resulting cost saving.

Non woven fabrics are flexible, porous products consisting of one or more fiber layers. The separate fibers may either be preferentially oriented in one direction or may be deposited in a random manner. They are bonded by chemical, thermal or mechanical processes into textile products, non wovens are mainly planar structures.