Fiber Longitudinal Measurements for Predicting White Speck Contents of Dyed Cotton Fabrics

Abstract

Fiber Image Analysis System (FIAS)² was developed to provide an automatic method for measuring cotton maturity from fiber snippets or cross-sections. An uncombed cotton bundle is chopped and sprayed on a microscopic slide. The snippets are imaged sequentially on a microscope and measured with customized image analysis software. Cotton maturity is assessed from fiber width variability (convolution) and intensity (translucency) of fiber ribbons. The highly translucent fibers are labeled by the system as ‘dead’ fiber. Dead fibers are the main source of nep formation, causing dye defects, known as white specks, in finished fabrics. This work compared the fiber longitudinal measurements with white speck data of 16 different cottons, and studied the possibility of establishing a predictive equation for white speck contents from bale fiber samples. The main advantages of using the longitudinal FIAS test are that it can more readily detect dead and immature fibers and takes much less time in preparing sample slides than the cross-sectional FIAS test.

Keywords

convolution cotton maturity cross-sections image analysis translucence white specks

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hebert, J.J. , Boylston, E.K. , and Thibodeaux , D.P. , Anatomy of a Nep , Textile Res. J. 58(7), 380-382 (1988).

Thibodeaux, D.P. , and Evans, J.P. , Cotton Fiber Maturity by Image Analysis , Textile Res. J. 56(2), 130-139 (1986).

Xu, B. , and Huang, Y. , Image Analysis for Cotton Part II: Cross-sectional Measurement, Textile Res. J. 74(5), 409-416 ( 2004).

Hequet, E. , and Wyatt, B. , Relationship Among Image Analysis on Cotton Fiber Cross Sections, AFIS Measurements and Yarn Quality, in "Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conference ," International Textile Center, Texas Tech University , Lubbock, TX, USA, Vol. 2, pp. 1294-1298 (2001), http://www.depts.ttu.edu/itc/acrobat%20files/n026.pdf .

Boylston, E.K. , Hinojosa, O. , and Herbert, J.J. , A Quick Embedding Method for Light and Electron Microscopy of Textile Fibers, Biotech. Histochem . 66(3), 122-124 (1991).

Boylston, E.K. , Thibodeaux, D.P. , and Evans, J.P. , Applying Microscopy to the Development of a Reference Method for Cotton Fiber Maturity, Textile Res. J. 60(5), 80-87 (1993).

Hequet, E. , Watt, B. , Abidi, N. , and Thibodeaux, D.P. , Creation of a Set of Reference Material for Cotton Fiber Maturity Measurements, Textile Res. J. 76(7), 576-586 (2006).

Huang, Y. , and Xu, B. , Image Analysis for Cotton Fibers: Part I: Longitudinal Measurements, Textile Res. J. 72(8), 713-720 ( 2002).

Xu, B. , Yao, X. , Bel, P. , Hequet, E. , and Wyatt, B. , High Volume Measurements of Cotton Maturity by a Customized Microscopic System , Textile Res. J. 79(10), 937-946 (2009).

10.

Bel, P.D. , and Xu, B. , Image Analysis Measurements of White Specks on U.S. Extreme Varieties of Cotton, Textile Res. J. 76(7), 525-533 (2006).

11.

Holden, J. , Keyes, N. , Winkle, K. , and Xu, B. , Verification Test on the "Autorate" System for Fabric Smoothness Appearance Evaluation, AATCC Rev 2(12), 27-30 (2002).