Abstract
Abstract
Lace is a high-value decorative fabric manufactured with the aid of computer aided design (CAD) and computer numerically controlled (CNC) looms. It typically has very complex patterns and is flexible and easy to distort, which makes the task of lace cutting and lace edge quality assessment difficult. Lace is normally cut by a mechanical system, which is slow and therefore expensive. Research work in the area of lace cutting with lasers is in rapid progress and some cutting systems have been successfully developed. Lace edge quality assessment research, however, has largely been overlooked. The lack of edge quality assessment methods makes it impossible to compare and contrast the edge quality of the lace samples cut with different methods and consequently to improve the edge quality. In this paper, three lace edge quality assessment methods and their implementations will be described.