Čateks laboratory as a true confirmation of excellence and quality
At Čateks, we care deeply about quality assurance and control of textile production, which is why our internal laboratory is of great importance to us. It controls and tests all incoming raw materials, as well as the quality of textile samples before development.
TAKE A LOOK INTO THE LABORATORY WITH US AND DISCOVER HOW THE LABORATORY TESTS ARE PERFORMED ON THE FABRIC, WHICH CONTROLS ITS QUALITY UNIFORMITY AS WELL AS RESISTANCE TO CERTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES.
All dyed and printed fabrics produced in Čateks must have durability, and our modern laboratory with its expert team provides quick fabric tests.
The fabric can retain its original color, but also lose it under the influence of various external factors. In these tests, the color resistance of a dyed or printed textile product to fading under various influences of water, light, friction, washing and perspiration is measured.
The high standards for military use and technical fabrics already precisely define the desired values of color fastness in their regulations.
In terms of color stability, it is possible to test in our laboratory:
- color fastness to friction (EN ISO 105-X12)
- color fastness to ironing (EN ISO 105-X11)
- color fastness to sweat (EN ISO 105-E04)
- color fastness to washing (EN ISO-C06)
- color fastness to dry cleaning (EN ISO 105-D01)
- color fastness to water (EN ISO 105-E01)
- color fastness to sea water (EN ISO 105-E02)
All tests related to durability are tested according to precisely defined standards that define the test procedure itself. If it is a matter of testing a multi-component fabric, the accompanying fabrics used during the test must be of the raw material composition of the sample itself.
If the tested sample is a one-component fabric, then accompanying fabrics defined by the standard are used.
Some of the most requested color fastness tests are:
- Friction resistance (EN ISO 105-X12) - all dyed and printed fabrics produced in Čateks, due to their purpose, must have colors that are stable to satisfy our customers. Which is why we have two ratings here, one for wet and one for dry friction.
- Fastness to ironing (EN ISO 105-X11) - hows us how much the coloring on the fabric will change and/or be painted on another fabric. Therefore, the ironing of the pattern itself is examined here: dry ironing, wet ironing where the fabric is moistened and wet ironing where both the pattern and the fabric are moistened. At the defined temperature of the iron, the fabric itself or the fabric and the sample of the cotton fabric is pressed with an iron, and later we evaluate how much the color of the base fabric has changed or has been copied onto the cotton fabric.
Fabrics used for garments should also be tested for sweat resistance. As human sweat can be acidic or alkaline, the test is performed on both types of sweat. The procedure itself consists of soaking the tested fabric itself together with accompanying fabrics in a solution that simulates acidic or alkaline sweat, and then putting it under load at a defined temperature in a dryer for 4 hours. It is evaluated how much the tested fabric and each of the accompanying fabrics have changed.
As all fabrics must be washed in order to be reused, we test their fastness to washing with a standardized detergent according to ISO 105-C06, so we can see how the fabric will perform in household washing. The temperature at which it will be washed defines the number of steel balls, the volume of the liquid and the washing time itself. It is carried out in metal cuvettes in a device that is at a defined temperature and that rotates.
Some fabrics also need to be chemically cleaned. This procedure is also standardized and is carried out according to EN ISO 105-D01 with metal discs and tetrachlorethylene in a cotton twill bag, which are placed in metal cuvettes together with the samples to be tested, and treated at a defined temperature for 30 min. in a rotating device.
After the samples are dried, they must be evaluated. The evaluation itself is carried out in a light chamber under precisely defined light and a defined angle, and they are evaluated according to the gray scale.
The gray scale has ratings from 1 - 5, where 5 is the highest and 1 is the lowest rating according to ISO 105-A02.