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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Structure and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #203527

Title: NIR Characterization and Measurement of the Cotton Content of Dyed Blend Fabrics

Author
item Rodgers Iii, James
item BECK, KEITH - NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/17/2008
Publication Date: 5/1/2009
Citation: Rodgers III, J.E., Beck, K. 2009. NIR Characterization and Measurement of the Cotton Content of Dyed Blend Fabrics. Textile Research Journal. 79(8):675-686.

Interpretive Summary: Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been used extensively for several years in the fiber, textiles, and textile auxiliaries industries. NIR techniques for the measurement of cotton-polyester (PET) blend content have concentrated on yarn slivers and greige fabrics rather than the more much difficult application to dyed or printed fabrics. Arobust and rapid measurement of the fiber content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics is needed for both quality assurance and Product Validation/Certification. A program was begun to develop NIR techniques to measure the cotton content of dyed blend fabrics. NIR measurements were made on dyed or pigmented cotton-PET fabrics with a wide range of cotton content, fabric parameters, and patterns/colors. The samples were analyzed on two NIR instruments at two locations with various sampling systems. Spectral differences were observed for 100% cotton and 100% PET samples, and these spectral differences carried over to the dyed cotton-PET samples with changing cotton content. Significant differences in "baseline" were observed for some samples, but the impact of these baseline shifts on NIR results were minimized with the use of advanced mathematical techniques. Rapid (less than 5 minutes) and accurate NIR measurements of the blend content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics were developed.

Technical Abstract: Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been used extensively for several years in the fiber, textiles, and textile auxiliaries industries. NIR techniques for the measurement of cotton-polyester (PET) blend content have concentrated on yarn slivers and greige fabrics rather than the more much difficult application to dyed or printed fabrics. The need for a robust and rapid measurement of the fiber content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics, for both quality assurance and Product Validation/Certification, has been expressed by several organizations. Investigations were initiated to develop NIR techniques to measure and quantify the cotton content of dyed blend fabrics. NIR measurements were made on dyed or pigmented cotton-PET fabrics that comprised a wide range of cotton content, fabric parameters, and patterns/colors. The samples were analyzed on two NIR instruments at two locations with various reflectance NIR sampling systems. Significant spectral differences were observed for 100% cotton and 100% PET samples, and these spectral differences carried over to the dyed cotton-PET samples with changing cotton content. Significant differences in "baseline" were observed for some samples; the impact of these baseline shifts on NIR results were minimized with the use of advanced chemometric normalization techniques. Rapid (less than 5 minutes) and accurate NIR measurements of the blend content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics were developed, with a NIR-laboratory method agreement within ± 5.0% cotton for over 95% of the validation samples and a method agreement within ± 3.0% cotton for near 90% or higher of the validation samples normally.