Industry has standards that promote safety and quality. Businesses that meet these standards help build consumer confidence in their products and services. Therefore, the fabric industry and packaging label manufacturers routinely conduct rub tests on their products.
Printed labels and rub tests
For printed labels, rub testing measures the amount of wear or abrasion that may occur during shipping, handling or storage. For example, the test can be used on labels for pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, as well as characters on keypads. These labels need to be legible and durable.
Rub Testers are one of the standard equipment for ink testing on labels and printed materials. For label testing, equipment places the label into the machine and uses the same equipment to apply a similar label to the weight. By rubbing two labels together at a specified speed for a specified period of time, the inspector can see how well the labels resist damage.
Fabric and crock fastness
In the textile industry, rubbing tests determine the fastness of colors or dyes in fabrics. This is the required test. Rubbing resistance also determines how well a fabric resists stains. The rub resistance test can be performed on dry or wet fabric.
Testers need a small piece of fabric and a white test cloth. Place the test cloth over the grating and bucks with stainless steel wire. Rub the cloth swatches together to see how much color rubs off on the test cloth. The inspector then uses grayscale to access the degree of variation in color.
The meaning of color fastness
If the fabric has good colorfastness, it will most likely resist fading when washed. A good mark on the rub test also indicates that the fabric is durable. The grade scale is from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates a high degree of color transfer and 5 indicates no color transfer. Factors that affect the results of this test include the quality of the fabric's manufacture, color, shade, and how it was used.
