Carding is a mechanical process in textile manufacturing that disentangles, cleans, and intermixes fibers to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing.
The orientation of fibers in the web after carding depends on the arrangement of the carding machines:
- If carding machines are placed in parallel to each other, the fibers are laid down in a random or irregular fashion in the web. This happens because the fibers from each machine overlap in a random manner without any systematic orientation.
- If carding machines are arranged in a cross-lapped fashion (one card at right angles to the other), the web produced will have cross-laid orientation, meaning fibers are more oriented in two directions, enhancing strength and uniformity.
- Longitudinal orientation occurs when fibers are mostly aligned along the length of the fabric or sliver, typical of certain other processes but not when machines are parallel.
Thus, the web doffed from the final card with machines placed parallel to each other gives a random orientation of fibers.