EN ISO 12945-1 Textiles, Determination of Pilling and Pilling Tendency on the Surface of Fabric, Part 1: Pilling Box Method

EUROLAB, with its state-of-the-art accredited laboratories and expert team, provides precise and fast testing services within the scope of EN ISO 12945-1 testing. This standard specifies a method for determining the resistance of textiles using a pill test box.

Piles are formed when fibers on a fabric surface become loose and tangled during wear. Such surface degradation is generally undesirable, but the degree of consumer tolerance for a given level of pilling will depend on the type of garment and the end use of the fabric.

The rates of these processes depend on the fiber, yarn and fabric properties. Examples of extreme cases are found in fabrics containing weak fibers versus fabrics containing strong fibers. A result of the strong fiber is a pill formation rate that exceeds the wear rate. This results in increased pilling with increased wear.

Generally, the level of pilling that develops is determined by the rates of the following parallel processes:

• Fiber entanglement leading to pill formation;
• Development of more surface fibers;
• Fiber and pill wear.

The ideal laboratory test would accelerate the wear processes of the above substances by exactly the same factor and would be universally applicable to all fiber, yarn and fabric types. Such a test has not been developed. However, a test procedure was established in which fabrics could be ranked in the same order for pilling and pilling propensity likely to occur in end-use wear.

EUROLAB assists manufacturers with EN ISO 12945-1 test compliance. Our test experts, with their professional working mission and principles, provide you, our manufacturers and suppliers, the best service and controlled testing process in our laboratories. Thanks to these services, businesses receive more effective, high-performance and quality testing services and provide safe, fast and uninterrupted service to their customers.