Extruded film is slit into narrow tapes, drawn and woven into a tight plain-weave fabric with high tensile strength and low elongation. The flat tapes leave few, irregular openings, so permittivity is low and clogging risk is high in filtration jobs. Slit film is the go-to fabric for subgrade separation and stabilization under roads, pads and laydown yards.
Roll out the slit film under the haul road, this one is separation only, no drainage needed.
Slit film looks like a strong all-purpose fabric, but keep it out of drains and from under riprap on fine soils, where it blinds.
Also heard as
- slit-film woven
- woven slit film
- tape woven
Do not mix it up with
- Monofilament woven: Monofilament wovens use round strands that leave open, regular pores, so they filter far better than slit film.
Related terms
Geotextile
Permeable fabric used with soil to separate, filter, drain, reinforce or protect, made woven, nonwoven or knitted.
Monofilament woven
Woven geotextile of round single-strand yarns that leaves regular open pores for high flow and good filtration.
Separation
Keeping two different soil layers, such as an aggregate base and a soft subgrade, from mixing under load.
Stabilization
Improving how soft ground or an aggregate base carries traffic by adding geogrids or geotextiles.