Protective clothing – test methods and criteria of tear resistance assessment

Purpose The state‐of‐the‐art of existing methods of tear resistance (static and dynamic) of clothing has been described, also presented are the parameters of static tear resistance for protective and work clothing depending on its application. Design/methodology/approach For chosen group of fabrics the introduction of a new parameter of dynamic tear resistance was proposed. For research, five static tear test methods and the dynamic one were chosen. In order to find the relationship between the results of mean tear forces for the six described methods Kendall's agreement coefficient was calculated. The comparative measurements for results of static tear resistance and dynamic tear resistance for protective and work clothing were carried out. On the basis of this, the value of tear dynamic force for these fabrics was established. Findings When establishing the criteria for the tear strength for protective and work clothing, the most significant was fabric end‐use and the minimal value of tear strength associated. Practical implications The value of dynamic tear resistance can be the criterion for assessment of fabrics with regard to textiles exposed to tearing during application. It was the first comparative analysis of the measurement of tear resistance methods. Originality/value Investigating test methods for the assessment of clear resistance.