Quality markers such as the smoothness and softness of nonwoven products — including wet wipes, diapers, and face masks — can have a large influence on consumer buying behavior. Specialized testing equipment for the objective measurement of haptics, as well as deformation, compressibility, and recovery characteristics of nonwoven materials, will be on display at the IDEA22 from March 28-31, 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Manufacturers of nonwovens take into account several factors when it comes to assessing the comfort level, or hand-feel, of base materials and finished goods such as feminine care products, baby diapers, and hygienic wipes. The most important parameters are the softness, smoothness, and stiffness, which combine to make up the haptic of the material, as well as the material’s behavior when pressed, crumpled, or stretched. Taken together, these individual characteristics make up the product’s comfortability, or how aesthetically pleasing the material is to touch and feel.
These parameters are traditionally measured using panels of touch experts from the industry, who rank the products based on a subjective evaluation of hand-feel. The process can be time-consuming, however, since many samples and many rankings are needed to come up with a reliable and reproducible value for a product’s hand-feel. Modern devices such as the TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer from emtec Electronic GmbH rely instead on special algorithms to arrive at a number value for a product’s tactile feel that has a high correlation with hand-panel results. Unlike the hand-panel tests, the entire process can be completed within 90 seconds.
Leipzig-based device manufacturer emtec Electronic GmbH will present the Tactile Sensation Analyzer at Booth #5016 of the IDEA22 trade fair. The 25-year-old company specializes in the manufacture of measuring and testing equipment for paper, board, textiles and nonwovens industries and serves customers in more than 80 countries around the world.
