Development of Pills (small fuzz balls) collected on the fabric
surface not only gives an ugly appearance but also causes
premature ware of the fabric. Moreover, some of the properties
of synthetic fiber results in greater pilling propensity Fabric
resistance to pilling is generally tested using specific machines.
A sample of the original fabric is fixed in them and wear
is simulated by the action of abrasive materials. The abraded
sample is then compared with photographs provided in standards
like ASTM, BIS, JIS, AATCC, etc. to determine the degree of
pilling. This method has various drawbacks like non-availability
of standard photographs for all the fabrics, inaccuracy due
to subjective measurement, non availability of seasoned experts,
non compatibility of woven and knitted fabric, etc. in order
to overcome these drawbacks, an Image Processing based pilling
testing system has been developed. This system processes and
analyses the image of pilled fabric to determine various pilling
parameters as per standards like ASTM, BIS, JIS, etc.
Description:
The procedure for determining pilling parameters
is schematically explained in the enclosed Figure In step
2.1 Image of the sample fabric is grabbed using a camera and
freezed in RGB image containing all data including the colour
information. The RGB image is subsequently converted to Gray
Image by removing the colour information. Fast Fourier Transformation
(step 2.2) further converts the gray image to a frequency
spectrum. Corresponding power spectrum is generated for this
frequency spectrum domain (step 2.3) for showing the contributions
of each frequency to the frequency spectrum function. Such
contributions in the form of peaks related to the fabric design.
These peaks are identified (step 2.4) and filtered by replacing
them with zeros if found to be greater than a specified threshold
(step 2.5) . Replacing the peaks by zeros removes all image
information, which belong to weave pattern and designs formed
due to colours of warp and weft. The image of the filtered
spectrum is then reconstructed using Inverse Fourier transformation
(step 2.6) This image is converted to a binary format for
further processing using the thresholding technique (step
2.7) Using this binary image, various pilling parameters of
the fabric sample such as number of pills, total and mean
area of pills and pills per unit area are determined (step
2.8).
Special Features:
Can be used for all types of fabric and
weave patterns,Eliminates subjective assessments, More accurate,
User friendly, Adopted universal standard testing procedure
Prospective Users:
Fabric manufacturers, testing agencies and
exporters
Keywords:
Pilling, Fibre, Fabric Image
Type of Technology:
Testing Device with Software
Status of IPR Protection:
Indian Patent Application No 65/DEL/2003
dated 24.1.2003 entitled "Objective Measurement of Pilling
using Image Processing.
Status of Development:
Technology licensed for commercialization
Glossary:
ASTM: American Society of Testing Materials;
BIS: Bureau of Indian Standards; JIS: Japanese Industrial
Standards; AATCC: Association of American Textile Chemists
and Colorists; RGB: Red,Green,Blue
Services offered by Technology Transfer:
Know how manual including quality control
procedures
Detailed design
Manufacturing drawings
Consultancy services
Source:Managing Director
Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT)
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, INDIA
Tel : 91-011-26597167, 26857762, 26581013, 26597153
Fax : 91-011-26851169
E-mail : drkdpn@gmail.com
