Sueding Mass Loss, Strength Penalty & Fibre Cost

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.