A time-based inclined-plane device for measuring the bending stiffness of fusible interlining fabrics: model, response-surface analysis and industrial trial

Bending stiffness decides how a tailored jacket front holds its shape, yet the cantilever instruments still used in many garment laboratories rely on an operator who pushes the specimen by hand and judges by eye when its tip meets the 41.5° reference plane. This study describes a modified cantilever device in which a weighted ruler and the specimen are driven together at constant speed, so that the overhang length is obtained from the drive speed and the measured travel time. A force balance on the specimen gives the condition under which the fabric moves with the ruler without slipping, and the Peirce large-deflection solution links flexural rigidity to the cube of the speed–time product.