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.Durable press-referred to as smoothness-is a term used for apparel that requires little or no ironing after home laundering and has wrinkle resistance properties during daily wear. Such garments have become prominent consumer items. The protocol for ascertaining the smoothness grade of a fabric is outlined in the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) test method (TM) 124 [1]. This standard test is designed to evaluate the smoothness of fabric specimens after five cycles of home laundering. Once three specimens per fabric have been through five standard washing-drying cycles, three technicians visually evaluate their appearance. For these evaluations, each specimen is laid on a solid surface that stands at an incline of 5 degrees from the vertical under specified lighting conditions. The specimen is then compared to six standard replicas, which are 3D plastic models, showing varying degrees of smoothness and having grades 1 (very wrinkly), 2, 3, 3.5, 4, and 5 (very smooth). The specimen is assigned the grade of the replica it most closely resembles (Figure 1).Cotton is made up of cellulose with repeating anhydroglucose units, and on each unit are three available hydroxyl groups. The basic idea behind the resistance of cotton to wrinkles is to restrict the slippage of cellulose chains [9]. Chain slippage can be restricted by an appropriate chemical treatment, which establishes covalent links between the cellulosic chains in the amorphous regions of the cellulosic fibers. For many years, the textile industry has been using N-methylol based products with very low formaldehyde release as the crosslinking agent. The most common method for finishing the cotton fabric is the pad-dry-cure process, which consists of impregnating the sample in an aqueous solution containing the crosslinking agent and the appropriate catalyst, padding the impregnated fabric to 90 -100% wet pick-up, drying, and then curing.Infrared spectroscopy has been used to confirm ...

Two cotton fabrics were treated with increasing amounts of a textile-finishing agent (1,3-dimethyl-4,5-dihydroxy-2-imidazolidinone) to impart durable press properties. The Universal Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (UATR-FTIR) with a ZnSe-Diamond composite crystal was used to determine the amount of the crosslinking agent effectively linked to the cellulose after the required laundering cycles. Textile performance testing conducted on treated and untreated fabrics demonstrated the effectiveness of the treatment applied. The results obtained showed very good correlation between AATCC grading, automatic image analysis of fabric smoothness, textile performance testing, and the amount of finish as evaluated by the UATR-FTIR. The ZnSe-Diamond composite FTIR accessory was proven to be a fast and precise nondestructive technique to evaluate the amount of the crosslinking agent linked to the cellulose macromolecules.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract