Multi-criteria decision analysis for supporting the selection of car upholstery fabric under degradation due to UV exposure

Automotive textiles are one of the most important markets in the technical textile sector. Various types of requirements must be considered in the development of the interior fabrics to satisfy both esthetic and functional demands. Many factors are affecting the properties of the car upholstery fabrics, for instance textile material, yarn specifications, fabric construction, and finishing material as well as combined with UV and light resistance. The influence of UV radiation on the degradation rate involves several parameters such as fabric tenacity, elongation, abrasion resistance, and flammability, under exposure to sunlight for several exposure times. Consequently, it’s important to determine the degradation of the automotive textiles according to area where it will be served. Generally, several properties are prerequisites should be all together considered to selected car upholstery fabric, basis on overseeing several requirements and ranking the candidate fabric properties. In this paper, an approach to choose the optimal material for a given component is described, and fabric properties are classified given each a suitable weight. In a simulation of a car cabin in shape and conditions, a radiation chamber was constructed to expose different fabric specimens to sun light. Two evaluation methods were proposed for the ranking of the car upholstery material, made of different fabrics, according to its property loss due to UV exposure during severability. It was found that polyester and nylon are ranked to be the best materials for automobile upholstery.