Original article Effect of weave structure on the slicing cut resistance of woven fabrics Magdi El Messiry and Shaimaa El-Tarfawy Abstract Cutting processes using blades have found applications in many industries; for example, in garments, fiber–polymer com- posites, and high-performance fabric forming. In recent decades, the process of cutting the material using a robotic- controlled blade has raised concern about the value of the pressure and the cut force required for a certain type of woven fabric and the estimation of its value before the pressing and cutting process. A simple theoretical relation was established based on the fabric structure and yarn shear stress. The model formulation and experimental results to describe the basic theory of blade cutting fracture for woven fabric of different designs was derived. In this work, the experimental investigation of the effect of the fabric specifications, normal load, and the cutting speed on the cutting force was carried out, which indicates that the value of the specific cutting resistance of the fabric was found to be highly correlated with the fabric structure, warp and weft yarn count, Young’s modulus of the fabric, and fractional cover factors ratio . Keywords slicing force, fabric design, blade sharpness, slicing angle The applications of robotics have become more and more common in traditional and non-traditional indus- tries, as well as the automotive and aviation industries. The cutting of the fabric material has grown into an essential part of such industrial applications. Through modeling the cutting force, an optimal slicing angle can be formulated to maximize the feed rate while minimiz- ing the cutting forces. 1 Several investigations that dealt with the theory of cutting of the materials 2–4 mention that the cutting process starts with the deformation of the cut body, which may be viewed as an interchange between three forms of energy: the elastic energy stored in the deformed body, the work done by a sharp tool as it moves against it, and the irreversible work spent in creating a fracture. Other dissipative phenomena, such as friction, can optionally also be considered. Sharp interactions depend strongly on the microscopic geom- etry of the blade edge and on proper support of the sample. The cutting takes place when the normal force exerted by the blade exceeds its shear strength. 5 The shape of the blade cutting edge determines the dis- tribution of the cutting force on the contact sur- face between the blade and the cutting material. It was revealed that the cutting force distribution pro- file is determined by the sharpness of the blade. 6 Some of the mentioned energies are reversible, such as the elastic energy, but the irreversible energy is required to create a crack and overcome friction, resisting the movement of the blade through the cut sample. 7 Fracture toughness is a property that describes the ability of a material to resist the formation of frac- ture and it is considered as one of the most important properties of any material for many design applica- tions. 2 A simple theoretical relation was established based on the principle of energy conversion. Due to the difference between the solid material and textile material in its different forms, fiber, yarn, or fabric, the mechanism of cutting may be different. Cutting is simply defined as ‘‘mechanically dividing a solid body along a predetermined line using a cutting tool’’. For normal cutting, external forces involve the Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt Corresponding author: Magdi El Messiry, Textile Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Lotfy El-Sied st. off, Gamal Abd El-Nasir, Alexandria 11432, Egypt. Email: mmessiry@yahoo.com Textile Research Journal 0(00) 1–18 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0040517519894393 journals.sagepub.com/home/trj