A novel technique to measure stick‐slip in fabric

Stick‐slip is characterised by an intermittent movement when two materials are sliding across each other at very low speeds. This paper describes a new method of measuring stick‐slip on knitted and woven fabrics when sliding over non‐fibrous materials. The technique uses emitter‐receiver pairs arranged at regular intervals along the full length of the fabric panel, which each visualise the irregular movement of sticking and sliding. It is found that an extensible knitted fabric exhibits either shear or micro‐slip during the stick phase, before the actual gross slip movement.