Evaluating Fabric Smoothness Appearance with a Laser Profilometer

Automated, objective, and reliable fabric evaluation methods are needed as alter natives to existing visual inspection methods. A new profilometer has been developed for assessing fabric smoothness appearance by using laser triangulation and image processing techniques. The profilometer consists of a laser line projector, CCD camera, rotating stage, computer, and special software. This paper reports the basic principle of laser triangulation, image processing techniques for extracting surface profiles, wrin kle characterization methods, and the results of a trial test. The profilometer can gen erate results that are consistent with human observers, and the patterns and colors of the fabric do not affect the measurements. In addition, the profilometer is essentially insensitive to patterns of wrinkle orientations. This new evaluation method also solves a problem encountered in research on other instrumental evaluation techniques—the ability to discriminate differences in fabrics whose smoothness appearance falls be tween AATCC Test Method 124 replicas SA-3 and SA-3.5.