Reißfest

Reißfest describes the property of a material to resist tearing under load. It is used mainly for textiles, films and other flexible materials to indicate that a fabric or sheet will not easily tear when subjected to pulling, snagging, or stresses that promote propagation of a tear. In practice, reißfest is both a qualitative label and a measurable property defined by standardized tear tests.

In textiles, tear strength is commonly determined with a tearing test such as the Elmendorf method, and results are typically given in newtons (N). Higher values indicate greater resistance to tear propagation. Standards specify test conditions, such as specimen size, notch, direction (warp vs. weft), and conditioning.

Tear resistance depends on several factors, including fiber type (natural versus synthetic), fabric structure (woven, knitted), yarn twist, fabric weight and thickness, finishing treatments, coatings or laminates, and moisture or temperature. Aging and repeated flexing can reduce reißfest.

Applications include outdoor fabrics, luggage, tents, upholstery, and packaging films where tearing is a critical failure mode. Reißfest is one aspect of performance and is commonly reported alongside tensile strength, abrasion resistance, and puncture resistance. It does not guarantee tear-proof behavior in all conditions and should be interpreted in context.

In technical contexts, reißfestigkeit (tear strength) is the measured property; the term reißfest on product labels may lack numeric values. For proper assessment, refer to the specified standard test method and the reported tear strength values.