Haptic quality – a fabric`s feel and its wearing comfort – is a crucial factor for consumers when making buying decisions. However, getting objective haptic measurements has long been a challenge for textile producers. Traditional hand testing is known for its subjectivity, which leads to unreliable and inaccurate results. Extensive testing and comparing results are usually necessary to reduce variability. This makes new product creation, quality control, complaint management, and market adaptation difficult, since the subjective haptic specifications prove difficult to reproduce. The newly redesigned emtec TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer addresses this by objectively measuring parameters such as softness, smoothness, stretch, recovery, crumple-ability, friction, and thermal handshake. Using mathematical models based on these values, the TSA calculates “hand-feel” or “wearing comfort values” which usually correlate completely (up to 100%) with the results from extensive hand testing. Originating in the tissue paper industry under the name Tissue Softness Analyzer, it has become a global standard for haptic measurement in this sector. In 2015, emtec Electronic successfully started adapting the TSA to measure textiles. Its major benefits include the availability of objective and reliable test data for haptics, the possibility to measure each of the basic parameters individually and independent from each other, and being able to automatically digitize TSA test data and share these data with partners along the supply chain. In addition, emtec`s Virtual Haptic Library, developed together with Black Swan Textiles, is a key advancement in automation and digitization. This cloud-based solution digitizes, processes, and categorizes sample data based on haptic traits, serving as both a real-time global quality assurance tool and an online marketplace. It streamlines communication, eliminates misunderstandings, and facilitates instant global comparisons of haptic values. When combined, the TSA and the Virtual Haptic Library create a streamlined process: the TSA captures haptic parameters, and the Library stores them in a digital fabric database. Users can upload data, search for existing fabric matches, and compare samples to digital standards, ensuring quality control without shipping physical samples globally. This eliminates confusion, reduces courier costs, and contributes to environmental sustainability by minimizing the industry`s environmental footprint. In summary, the emtec TSA and Virtual Haptic Library represent a transformative solution for the textile industry, offering objective measurements, efficient communication, and a sustainable approach to fabric development and quality control.

About emtec Electronic

Emtec Electronic GmbH develops, produces and distributes worldwide testing and measuring devices for the detection of relevant processing properties of paper, board, nonwoven and textile materials. The portable measuring devices enable manufacturers and converters of paper, nonwoven and textile products for example, to control and optimize the manufacturing and converting processes during ongoing production. From the wet end to the final product, the application of the devices enables an efficient process to achieve and ensure the best possible quality with the least possible effort.