Objective Evaluation of Durable Press Treatments and Fabric Smoothness Ratings

Abstract

In this research, we validate an imaging system for automatic grading of fabric smoothness, developed at Texas Tech University. This system consists of a sheet-of-light, laser-line projector; a smart CMOS camera; a moving platform; and a PC. Its purpose is to provide the textile industry with a tool for rapid, objective evaluation of fabric smoothness after home laundering. The validation study involves two cotton fabrics treated with increasing amounts of a textile-finishing agent to impart durable press properties. The UATR-FTIR is used as a rapid and nondestructive technique to determine the amount of the crosslinking agent linked to the cellulose after the required laundering cycles. To demonstrate the potential of our newly developed imaging system, we extract five features from the acquired images and relate them to AATCC grading and to the amount of finish as evaluated by FTIR. Our results demonstrate that this new wrinkle measurement technology has the potential to discriminate between different levels of fabric treatments and different fabrics.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

AATCC Technical Manual of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists p. 288; 1991.

Dai, Y., Fabric Quality Measurement, Masters thesis, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, May 2001.

Fazekas, Z. , Kömüves, J. , Rényi, I. , and Surján, L. , Automatic Visual Assessment of Fabric Quality , in “Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. on Indust. Elec.,” Bled, Slovenia, July 1999.

Han, J. , Yang, M. , and Matsudaira, M. , Objective Evaluation for Wrinkle Appearance of Fabrics by Image Processing and Slit Beam Projecting Technique , J. Textile Eng. 49(1), 1-6 (2003).

Kang, T.J. , Cho, D.H. , and Kim, S.M. , New Objective Evaluation of Fabric Smoothness Appearance , Textile Res. J. 71(5), 446-453 (2001).

Kang, T.J. , Cho, D.H. , and Whang, H.S. , A New Objective Method of Measuring Fabric Wrinkles Using a 3D Projecting Grid Technique , Textile Res. J. 69(4), 261-268 (1999).

Mori, T. , and Komiyama, J. , Evaluating Wrinkled Fabrics with Image Analysis and Neural Networks , Textile Res. J. 72(5), 417-422 (2002).

Morris, N.M. , Faught, S. , Catalano, E.A. , Montalvo, J.G. , and Andrews, B.A.K. , Quantitative Determination of Polycarboxylic Acids on Cotton Fabrics by NIR , AATCC Rev. 26(11), 33-37 (1994).

Perkins, W.S. , “Textile Coloration and Finishing,” Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC , 1996.

10.

Su, J. , and Xu, B. , Fabric Wrinkle Evaluation Using Laser Triangulation and Neural Network Classifier , Optic. Eng. 38(10), 1688 (1999).

11.

Turner, C. , Sari-Sarraf, H. , Hequet, E. , Abidi, N. , and Lee, S. , Preliminary Validation of a Fabric Smoothness Assessment System , in “Proc. of 6th Quality Control by Artificial Vision,” Gatlinburg, TN, May 2003.

12.

Turner, C. , Sari-Sarraf, H. , Zhu, A. , Hequet, E. , and Lee, S. , Automatic Assessment of Fabric Smoothness , 45th IEEE Midwest Conf. on Circ. and Syst., Tulsa, OK, 2002.

13.

Wei, W. , and Yang, C.Q. , Predicting the Performance of Durable Press Finished Cotton Fabric with Infrared Spectroscopy , Textile Res. J. 69(2), 145-151 (1999).

14.

Xu, B. , Cuminato, D. F. , and Keyes, N. M. , Evaluation of Fabric Smoothness Appearance Using a Laser Profilometer , Textile Res. J. 68(12), 900-906 (1998).

15.

Xu, B. , and Reed, J.A. , Instrumental Evaluation of Fabric Wrinkle Recovery , J. Textile Inst. 86(1), 129-135 (1995).

16.

Yang, X. B. , and Huang, X. B. , Evaluating Fabric Wrinkle Degree with a Photometric Stereo Method , Textile Res. J. 73(5), 451-454 (2003).