Testing Facilities
Wool Research Association, Thane (WRA) is a Textile Research Association established in 1963 by the Woollen & Worsted industry, is sanctioned with COE in Sportech promoted by Ministry of Textiles under Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT) scheme with Rs.24.5 crores. This facility is stetted up in two building renovated inside the WRA campus i.e., a PILOT PLANT and SPORTECH LABORATORY buildings.
SPORTECH LABOROTORY
The testing lab facility under COE-Sportech is set up in separate building in WRA Thane Campus. The lab consists of various equipments related to testing of sports tech products and the testing facility is available to manufacturers and users of sports textile products. This helps the users and manufacturers to ascertain the product quality and specifications required to compete the global demands.
Testing Facilities
| Name of the Instrument | Make | Purpose | Standards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic Force Microscopy | M/s Nanonics Imaging, Jerusalem, Israel | For surface image analysis | IN HOUSE |
| Universal Wear Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS | To determine flex abrasion, flat abrasion and depth abrasion of textile materials | ASTMD3514 ASTM D3885 |
| Taber Abrasion Tester | M/s. Taber Industries, U.S.A. | To determine the abrasion resistance of coated & laminated textiles. | ASTM D 3884 |
| Multi-Finger Scratch/Mar Tester | M/s. TABER Industries, U.S.A. | To measure relative resistance or susceptibility of a material surface to scratching, marring, scraping and other similar physical damage. | IN HOUSE |
| Hydrostatic Head Tester | SDL ATLAS (Capacity-3000Mbar) | To determine the resistance of fabrics to penetration by water. | ISO 811 AATCC 127 BS 3321 |
| Sweating Guarded Hot Plate Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong | To measure thermal and water vapour resistance of the textile fabrics under steady state conditions. | ISO 11092 ASTM D 1518 |
| Air Permeability Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong | To determine the air permeability under designated pressure of sailcloth, parachutes materials, air bags fabrics etc. | ASTM D-737 IS:11056 |
| Thermo Labo Tester (Dry Guarded Hotplate Tester) | M/s. Kato Tech Co. Ltd. Japan | To measure the hot or cool feeling (qmax), thermal conductivity and thermal retention | IN HOUSE |
| Digital Thickness Gauge | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong. | To measure thickness recovery, compression recovery characteristics of floor coverings. | ISO 1765 |
| Digital Bursting Strength Tester | M/s. PMI Pvt Ltd, U.S.A. | To determine the bursting strength of textile material. | IN HOUSE |
| Flex Tester | M/s. MESDAN S.P.A., ITALIA. | To determine the resistance to cracking or de-lamination of the finish on substrate material when subjected to repeated flexing or crumbling. | ISO 7854 |
| UV Transmittance Analyser (UV-Spectrofluorophotometer) | M/s. LABSPHERE, U.S.A. | To measure the UV Protection properties of fabrics/textiles. | AATCC TM-183 |
| Digital Softness Tester | M/s. MSA Engineering System Ltd. | To measure the softness of different types of leathers (e.g. shoe uppers, upholstery leather, gloving and light clothing leather). | IN HOUSE |
| Digital Elmendorf Tearing Testere | M/s. SDL ATLAS. (Capacity-Max load -12800 CN) | To determine the resistance of material (i.e. textiles) to tearing. | ASTM D 1424 |
| Drying Rate Tester | M/s. METTLER TOLEDO/SDL ATLAS. | This test method is used for evaluating the drying time of knit, woven or non-woven fabrics | IN HOUSE |
| Universal Tensile Strength Tester | M/s. Testometric (capacity- Min load -5.0N Max load- 30K.N) | This test method covers the measurement of tensile properties of textile fiber, yarns and fabrics | ASTM D 3882 ASTM D 1294 EN ISO 2062 ASTM D 2256 IS 1969 ASTM D 5034 ASTM D 1335 IS 5884 |
| Moisture Management Tester | SDL ATLAS | To measure the dynamic liquid transport properties of textile fabric in three directions i.e. spreading outward on the upper surface of the fabric, transferring through the fabric from the upper surface to the bottom surface and spreading outward on the lower surface of the fabric. | AATCC 195 |
| Evenness Tester (UT5) | M/s. Uster Technology, Switzerland. | To determine the evenness properties of yarns, roving and sliver. | ASTM D-1425 ISO 16549 |
| Friction Tester | M/s. OTHSCHILD ZURICH Switzerland (capacity friction- Max 300m/min) | To determine the co-efficient of friction between yarn to metal and yarn to yarn. | ASTM D3108 ASTM D3412 |
| QUV-Condensation Tester | M/s. Q-Lab Corporation, U.S.A. | To measure the weather resistance of textiles in UV Light and moisture exposure. | AATCC 186 ASTM G 154 |
| Universal Weathering Tester | M/s. Q-Lab Corporation, U.S.A. | To measure the weather resistance of textiles in artificial day Light. | ISO 105-B02 ISO105B04,B10, AATCC16 |
| Water Vapour Transmission Rate Tester | M/s. Mocon | To analyse and measure the water vapor transmission rate of high transmitter barrier materials ( non- wovens, surgical, dressings, polyester films & packaging materials) | EDANA/INDA |
| Limiting Oxygen Index Tester | M/s. Fire Testing Tech. Ltd. U.K. | To determine the limiting oxygen index value (LOI) [minimum concentration of oxygen, expressed as percentage that will support combustion of materials]. | ISO 4589-2 |
| 45? Automatic Flammability Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong. | To determine the burning characteristics of textiles materials under controlled condition | ASTM D 1230 |
| Autoflamm Flammability Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong. | To determine the flame resistance of vertically oriented fabrics. | EN ISO 6940 EN ISO 6941 |
| Rain Tester | M/s. SDL ATLAS, Hong Kong. | To determine penetration resistance of fabrics or composites at different intensities of water impact | AATCC 35 ISO 22958 |
| Toxicity Tester | M/s. Asian Test Equipments, Ghaziabad, India. | To measure the toxicity index of different gases produced by textile, composite materials during combustion | IN HOUSE, NCD 1409 |
| Electro spinning Equipment | M/s. Physic equipment company | It is the method for producing polymer fibers with diameter in submicron to nanometer ranges by application of high electrostatic field. | IN HOUSE |
| Digital Thickness Gauge | M/s. SDL ATLAS (AMES, U.S.A) | To measure thickness of fabrics | ISO 1765 |
| Name of the machinery / equipment | Specific purpose |
|---|---|
| AFC 45° Automatic Flammability Tester | To determine the burning characteristics of textiles materials under controlled conditions. |
| Air Permeability Tester | To determine the resistance of fabrics (woven, knitted and non woven textile materials) to the passage of air. |
| AutoFlamm Flammability Tester | To determine the flammability resistance of vertically oriented fabrics. |
| Autoburst | To determine the bursting strength and distension at burst of woven, knitted and non woven fabrics, papers. |
| Hydrostatic Head Tester | To determine the resistance of fabrics (coated, uncoated & non wovens) to water penetration. To determine pore size of textiles |
| RAIN TESTER WITH 2400MM COLUMN | To determine the penetration resistance of fabrics or composites at different intensities of water impact. |
| Digital Elmendorf Tearing Tester | A microprocessor controlled falling-pendulum instrument to determine the ballistic tearing strength of textiles, plastics, paper or board. |
| Digital Thickness Gauge | For thickness & Compressibility Testing |
| Universal strength tester | For the measurement of strength and elongation of the textiles. |
| Thermal Testers | To characterize polymer behavior at high temperatures, measuring the heat deflection |
| Universal weathering testing instrument | Universal weathering instrument for testing the light fastness and weather ability of materials. |
| Oxygen Index Test Apparatus | Digital readout of oxygen concentration to ± 0.1%. |
| Dry Guarded Hotplate | The Dry Guarded Hotplate system was designed to measure the thermal resistance (R-value) of fabrics |
| Universal wear tester | To determine the wear and abrasion resistance of the industrial fabrics |
| Pneumatic sample cutter | For sample preparation |
| Toxicity Index | To measure toxicity Index of coated textiles |
| Ultra Violet Condensation Test Apparatus | To determine the UV resistance of coated fabric |
| Evenness Tester | Measurement of mass variations in yarns |
| Sweating Guarded Hotplate | Measurement of thermal properties and water vapour resistance under steady state conditions |
| Atlas Moisture Measurement Tester | Measurement of the dynamic liquid transport properties of knitted and woven fabrics. |
| KAWABATA Evolution system | Measures the mechanical properties of fabrics like Tensile, Shear, Pure Bending, Compression, Surface friction & Roughness. |
| ST300 Softness Tester | Measures the softness of coated and soft fabrics |
| Demattia Flex Tester DFT 2100 | Flex Fatigue |
| Abrasion Tester – 5135 | To measure the abrasion resistance |
| Oxygen and Water Vapour Transmission Rate Tester | To measure the Oxygen and Water Vapour Transmission Rate in Plastic Films or Packaging Material |
| Coefficient of Friction Tester | Study Coefficient of Friction properties on Plastic Film And Packaging Material |
| Spectroflurophotometer | To measure fluorescence properties |
| Scratch Tester- 551 | To measure the Scratch resistance of the fabric |
| AFM | High Resolution Surface Imaging |
| Physical Vapour Deposition | To deposit thin films for coating polymer or fabric substrate with metal particles |
| Thermal and electrical conductivity measurement machine | To measure thermal & electrical conductivity |
| Electrospinning system | To make nano fibres |