Mechanical Properties of Woven Fabrics Containing Elastane Fibers

Woven fabrics generally have high strength but only limited stretch. This lack of stretch can be overcome by incorporating elastane fibers into the fabric structure. These stretch woven fabrics offer an interesting potential for tight-fitting garments. However, the presence of the elastane fibers may lower the strength of the fabrics. To expand the knowledge on the mechanical behavior of stretch woven fabrics, this study investigated eight commercial fabrics with elastane fiber content between 5 and 51%. Four fabrics were polyester-based and the other four were polyamide-based. The effect of the fabric weight and elastane fiber content on the grab strength, tear strength, and unrecovered stretch was analyzed. It was observed that, at very high elastane fiber content, the load-extension curve was typical to that of an elastane fiber, while the traditional load-extension behavior of woven fabrics with low to average stretch was obtained at lower elastane fiber contents. For the polyester-based fabrics, the grab strength and tear strength generally increased with fabric weight and decreased with elastane fiber content. For the polyamide-based fabrics, a higher elastane fiber content led to a decrease in grab strength, tear strength, and unrecovered stretch. A reduction in tear strength was observed at higher fabric weight.