Sueding Mass Loss, Strength Penalty & Fibre Cost

The formula

This is the expression the tool evaluates. Every term is named underneath, with the unit it must be supplied in.

How the result is derived

Step by step, from the values you type to the figure on screen.

1. The 10 inputs are read from the form on every keystroke: Greige GSM, Fabric Width, Line Speed, Fabric Cost, Grit Number, Reference Grit, Reference Removal, Contact Intensity, Passes and Strength Loss Factor.
2. Each value is checked against the accepted range in the input table below. A value outside its range stops the calculation rather than producing a misleading figure — the results blank out and a message appears.
3. The validated values are substituted into the expression above, which resolves Finished GSM together with every supporting figure in one pass — no value is carried over from a previous entry.
4. The supporting outputs — Removal per Pass, GSM After One Pass, Total Removal, Mass Loss, Estimated Strength Loss, Area Processed, Fibre Removed, Fibre Cost Removed and Fibre Cost per Metre — come from the same pass, so they always describe the same case as the headline figure.
5. Results are rounded for display only. The full-precision value is used throughout the chain, so reading a rounded intermediate figure back into the tool by hand can shift the last digit.

What each input means

Where to read each value on the floor, the unit it must be in, and the range the tool accepts.

What the tool returns

The headline figure and every supporting value it is built from.

Worked example

The tool loads with this case already solved — the Finished GSM shown above is its answer. Change one value and the difference from this baseline is the sensitivity of the result to that variable.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Fabric and Abrasive Setting. The defaults are a realistic case, so you can change one value at a time and watch what moves.
2. There is no calculate button. Every figure recalculates as you type or drag, which is what makes this usable for a what-if sweep rather than a single answer.
3. Read Finished GSM in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in g/m2.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Removal per Pass, GSM After One Pass, Total Removal, Mass Loss, Estimated Strength Loss, Area Processed, Fibre Removed, Fibre Cost Removed and Fibre Cost per Metre) before acting on the headline — they are where an implausible input usually shows itself first.
5. Reset to defaults returns every field to the reference case, which is the quickest way to check whether a surprising result came from the tool or from an input you had changed earlier.

Where this is used

• Process planning — establishing Finished GSM before a trial is booked, so machine time and material in Finishing, Coating, Lamination & Functional Performance are committed against a calculated figure rather than an estimate.
• Costing and quotation — Finished GSM is an input to the cost sheet, and quoting from a worked number rather than a remembered one is what keeps a margin intact.
• Troubleshooting — when the floor result drifts from plan, entering the measured values (starting with Greige GSM) shows how much of the gap in Finished GSM each variable explains.
• Teaching and study — the accepted ranges bracket normal Finishing, Coating, Lamination & Functional Performance practice, so moving one variable at a time shows the shape of the relationship rather than a single answer.

Assumptions and limits

• Removal is modelled as proportional to the reciprocal of grit number, which reproduces the direction and roughly the magnitude of a grit change but is not a substitute for a trial: paper backing, roller hardness, fabric construction and moisture all move the constant, and a fresh paper cuts far harder than one halfway through its life. Calibrate the reference removal on the machine that will run the order and re-check it when the paper is changed. The sequence is treated as passes of equal severity, which flatters the later ones - each pass presents an already-abraded surface with fewer proud fibres to catch, so real removal per pass falls as the sequence proceeds and the total here is an upper bound. The strength factor is a linear stand-in for a relationship that is not linear: at light removal it is close to one and rises sharply once the abrasive begins reaching the yarn body rather than the protruding fibre, so a factor calibrated at four percent loss will understate the damage at twelve. Weight loss is also not the specification: a buyer measures finished GSM after relaxation and conditioning, and shrinkage in the same finishing route can mask or magnify what the abrasive took off.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Greige GSM 30 to 900 g/m2, Fabric Width 0.3 to 5 m and Line Speed 1 to 120 m/min, and so on for the rest). Those bounds are guard rails against typing errors, not a claim that the formula fails one unit outside them.
• The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always give the same result. It carries no allowance for machine condition, operator skill, ambient conditions or lot-to-lot material variation unless an input above explicitly represents one.
• Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave the page.

Questions people ask