Fabric defect · Woven fabric - Broken ends and ends out

ConductVision Textile is designed to flag each defect with its place on the roll, its size, its points and a still image. Your inspector names the defect and confirms or dismisses it.

On the defect map in the roll report, an end out is a line along the length of the roll.

A U.S. federal glossary of fabric imperfections defines a broken or missing end, or end out, as "a warp yarn missing for a portion or the entire length of the cloth." It files the fault under thin places, "imperfections which cause places in the cloth to be thinner than normal," and gives the same definition for woven cotton and woven synthetic fabric ¹.

In a denim sample, Cotton Incorporated describes an end out as "a thin dark line on the face of the fabric with short filling floats on the back," and the ladder of floats on the back is the quick way to identify it. In a plain weave, the ends on either side of the gap can come together and weave as one, so the fault shows as a thin place and a double end ².

A break that is mended leaves marks of its own. Goldberg notes that broken ends lower weaving efficiency and leave excessive knots ³. Cotton Incorporated shows a broken end whose spare yarn was woven in across the fabric, which the weaver should have cleaned up when the end was repaired ².

An end out runs in the warp direction, along the length of the cloth, and can be missing for part of the length or all of it ¹. Cotton Incorporated files its end outs under warp lines, or vertical lines, and puts them in its first category, narrow or fine-lined warpwise defects "of a continuous or lengthy nature" ^{2, 6}.

A mended break shows differently. Goldberg ties broken ends to excessive knots ³, and Cotton Incorporated files a broken end with its spare yarn woven across the fabric under weft lines, or horizontal lines ².

An end out that runs along the roll is a running defect. One buyer manual, which follows the 4-point system of ASTM D5430, gives a maximum of 4 points to each linear yard or metre that a running defect longer than 9 inches covers, and no linear yard gets more than 4 points ⁷. An end out through a whole roll can cost 4 points in every yard. A short one is scored by its length: 1 point up to 3 inches, 2 points over 3 up to 6 inches, 3 points over 6 up to 9 inches and 4 points over 9 inches ⁸.

Cotton Incorporated rates its end out and broken end examples as major ². Its grading guide calls a defect major when, if exposed, it is severe enough to make the end item a second ⁶.

A 2022 trial in a weaving mill sized a 100 percent cotton warp at three levels of size add-on, sizing speed and squeeze roller pressure, then counted warp breaks on an air-jet loom over three days. Breaks were fewest at the middle add-on, and they rose as the sizing machine ran faster and as squeeze roller pressure went up ⁴.

The authors note that their add-on result follows the sizing-weaving curve ⁴. IIT Delhi's course notes describe that curve: breaks fall as add-on rises to its best level, then climb again as the yarn loses stretch and stiffens ⁵.