Burn Test

Burn Test 

Burn test is useful to determine that the fabric is a natural fabric, a man-made fabic or a blend of both natural and a man-made fabric. The test is successfully used by many fabric stores and designers. A person should be very careful while performing this test. Remember to keep a bucket full of water nearby for safety reasons. The test should always be performed in a metal bucket or a non plastic sink.

Aim :- To determine that the fabric is a natural fabric, a man-made fabic or a blend of two or more fabrics through a flame test.

Material required :-

 swatches of all kinds of fabric, tweezers , a metal dish with water in the bottom,  burner.

Method:-

Hold the fabric with tweezers. Burn over a metal dish with water in the bottom of the dish. Some fabrics will ignite and melt. The result is burning drips which can adhere to fabric or skin and cause a serious burn so be careful.

Observations:-

Natural fibres

Linen is a natural plant fiber.  The swatch of fiber will take longer to ignite if it’s LINEN. The burning linen fibre can be easily extinguished by blowing. The fabric closest to the ash is very brittle.

Cotton is a also a natural plant fiber. When swatch of cotton  is burnt it burns with a steady flame and smell like  burning leaves. The ash left is easily crumbled. The burning cotton fiber can be easily extinguished by blowing.

Silk fibre burns readily and are not extinguished very easily. Silk is a protein fibre and while burning smells like a burning hair. The ash is easily crumbled.

Wool has a loose weave  and the indivisual fibres are shorter than wool. Therefore wool fibres are harder to ignite. Wool is a protein fibre and while burning smells like a burning hair The flame is steady but more difficult to keep burning.

Man Made Fibers

Acetate is man made fibre made from  cellulose,  technically cellulose acetate. Acetate burns readily with a flickering flame that cannot be easily extinguished. The burning cellulose drips and leaves a hard ash. The burning of cellulose fibre produces smell like burning of wood chips.

Acrylic is man made fibre made from natural gas and petroleum. It is also called as acrylonitrile. The smell of burning acrylic fibre is acrid or harsh. Due to the fiber content and the lofty, air filled pockets Acrylics burn very readily. It can catch fire even by a small spark of fire.  The ash is hard.

Nylon is a polyamide made from petroleum. Nylon first melts and then burns rapidly if the flame remains on the melted fiber. If you can keep the flame on the melting nylon, it smells like burning plastic.

Polyester is a polymer produced from coal, air, water, and petroleum products. As the melting and burning points of polyester are same it  melts and burns at the same time, the melting, burning ash can bond quickly to any surface. The burning polyster gives out black smoke and sweetish smell. The ash is hard.

Rayon is a regenerated cellulose fiber which is almost pure cellulose. Rayon burns very rapidly with a odour of burning leaves. Very little ash is left.

If carecteristics of two or  more than two fibres are found in a single flame test the fibre is a blend of those two fibres.

Conclusion :- This shows properties of different fibres when subjected to a burn test.