A Method of Expressing Fabric Hand

This is a report of the results of an attempt of the author to express fabric hand in numerical values as close to the feel to the hand as is possible. By such values he has been able to express the feel of blended and resin-finished fabrics. By comparing such values with the numerical values for standard fabrics, he has obtained some data helpful to the improvement of fabrics in general. By folding and pressing fabrics, changes in their thickness were expressed in numerical values equal to the amounts of work. Such numerical values agreed with the feel to the hand. They also clarified some property indiscernible by hand. The following points have been made clear through this experiment: (1) The difference in feel due to the difference in the blending ratio of spun fabrics and to the difference in the fineness of the component fibers. (2) Quantitative standard of the feel of underwear, outer garments end other clothing. (3) Some properties due to weaving structure are shown by a graph. (4) A load-thickness curve may be transferred to three straight lines in a logarithmic graph, and each of the lines may be represented by the following formula: y=25Be11.515×(Alx) y:load (g), x:thickness of fabrics (mm), A, B:constants