Whether you are making new cloth with a CO2 laser cutter or considering investing in a fabric laser cutter, understanding the fabric is crucial first. This is especially true if you have a nice piece or roll of fabric and want to properly cut it, you don’t waste any fabric or precious time. Different types of fabrics have different properties that can strongly influence how to choose the correct fabric laser machine configuration and set up the laser cutting machine accurately. For example, Cordua is one of the toughest fabrics in the world with high resistance, the ordinary CO2 laser engraver cannot handle such material.
To have a better understanding of laser cutting textiles, let’s take a look at the 12 most popular types of fabric that involve laser cutting and engraving. Please keep in mind that there are hundreds of different types of fabric that are extremely suitable for CO2 laser processing.
The different types of fabric
Fabric is cloth produced by weaving or knitting textile fibers. Broken down as a whole, the fabric can be distinguished by the material itself (natural vs. synthetic) and the method of production (woven vs. knitted)
Woven vs Knitted
The main difference between woven and knit fabrics is in the yarn or thread that composes them. A knit fabric is made up of a single yarn, looped continuously to produce a braided look. Multiple yarns comprise a woven fabric, crossing each other at right angles to form the grain.
Examples of knit fabrics: lace, lycra, and mesh
Examples of woven fabrics: denim, linen, satin, silk, chiffon, and crepe,
Natural vs Synthetic
Fiber can be simply categorized into natural fiber and synthetic fibers.
Natural fibers are obtained from plants and animals. For example, wool comes from sheep, cotton comes from plants and silk comes from silkworms.
Synthetic fibers are created by men, such as Cordura, Kevlar, and other technical textiles.
Now, let’s take a close look at the 12 different types of fabric
1. Cotton
Cotton is probably the most versatile and popular fabric in the world. Breathability, softness, durability, easy wash, and care are the most common words that are used to describe cotton fabric. Due to all these unique properties, cotton is widely used in clothing, home decoration, and daily necessities. Many customized products that are made from cotton fabric are the most efficient and cost-effective using laser cutting.
2. Denim
Denim is known for its vivid texture, sturdiness, and durability and is often used to make jeans, jackets, and shirts. You can easily use galvo laser marking machine to create a crisp, white engraving on denim and add extra design to the fabric.
3. Leather
Natural leather and synthetic leather play a specific role for designers in making shoes, clothing, furniture, and interior fittings for vehicles. Suede is a type of leather that has the flesh side turned outward and brushed to create a soft, velvety surface. Leather or any synthetic leather can be very precisely cut and engraved with a CO2 laser machine.
4. Silk
Silk, the strongest natural textile in the world, is a shimmering textile known for its satin texture and famous for being a luxurious fabric. Being a breathable material, air can pass through it and leads to feeling cooler and perfect for summer garments.
5. Lace
Lace is a decorative fabric that has a variety of uses, such as lace collars and shawls, curtains and drapes, bridal wear, and lingerie. MimoWork Vision Laser Machine can recognize the lace pattern automatically and cut the lace pattern precisely and continuously.
6. Linen
Linen is probably one of the oldest materials created by humans. It’s a natural fiber, like cotton, but it takes longer to harvest and make into the fabric, as flax fibers are normally difficult to weave. Linen is almost always found and used as a fabric for bedding because it’s soft and comfortable, and it dries much faster than cotton. Although CO2 laser is extremely suitable for cutting linen, only a few manufacturers will use the fabric laser cutter to produce beddings.
7. Velvet
The word “velvet” comes from the Italian word velluto, meaning “shaggy.” The nap of the fabric is relatively flat and smooth, which is a good material for clothing, curtains sofa covers, etc. Velvet used to only refer to the material made of pure silk, but nowadays many other synthetic fibers join the production which greatly reduces the cost.
8. Polyester
As a generic term for artificial polymer, polyester(PET) now often is regarded as a functional synthetic material, occurring in the industry and commodity items. Made of polyester yarns and fibers, woven and knitted polyester is characterized by inherent properties of resistance to shrinking and stretching, wrinkle resistance, durability, easy cleaning, and dying. Combined by blending technology with various natural and synthetic fabrics, polyester is given more traits to enhance customers’ wearing experience, and expand industrial textiles’ functions.
9. Chiffon
Chiffon is light and semi-transparent with a simple weave. With elegant design, chiffon fabric is often used to make nightgowns, evening wear, or blouses that are meant for special occasions. Because of the light nature of the material, physical cutting methods such as CNC Routers will damage the edge of the cloth. Fabric laser cutter, on the other hand, is very suitable for cutting this kind of material.
10. Crepe
As a lightweight, twisted plain-woven fabric with a rough, bumpy surface that doesn’t wrinkle, the Crepe fabrics always have a beautiful drape and are popular for making clothes like blouses and dresses, and also popular in home décor for items like curtains.
11. Satin
Satin is a type of weave featuring a remarkably smooth and glossy face side and silk satin fabric is renowned as the first choice for evening dresses. This weaving method has fewer interlaces and creates a smooth and lustrous surface. CO2 laser fabric cutter can deliver a smooth and clean cutting edge on satin fabric, and high accuracy also improves the quality of the finished clothing.
12. Synthetics
As opposed to natural fiber, synthetic fiber is man-made by a mass of researchers in extruding into practical synthetic and composite material. Composite materials and synthetic textiles have been put a lot of energy into researching and applied in industrial production and daily life, developed into varieties of excellent and useful functions. Nylon, spandex, coated fabric, non-woven, acrylic, foam, felt, and polyolefin are mainly popular synthetical fabrics, especially polyester and nylon, which are made into a wide range of industrial fabrics, clothing, home textiles, etc.
Video Display - Denim Fabric Laser Cut
Why laser cut fabric?
▶ No crushing and dragging of material due to contactless processing
▶ Laser thermal treatments guarantee no fraying and sealed edges
▶ Continuous high speed and high precision ensure productivity
▶ Varieties of composite fabrics can be laser cut
▶ Engraving, marking, and cutting can be realized in a single processing
▶ No materials fixation thanks to MimoWork vacuum working table
Comparison | Laser Cutter, Knife, and Die Cutter
Recommended Fabric Laser Cutter
We sincerely recommend that you look for more professional advice about cutting and engraving textiles from MimoWork Laser before investing in a CO2 laser machine and our special options for textile processing.
Learn more about fabric laser cutter and the operation guide
Post time: Sep-09-2022