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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 #174213
Title: RAPID DETERMINATION BY NIR OF THE COTTON CONTENT OF BLEND FABRICS AFTER DYEING

Author
item Rodgers Iii, James
item BECK, KEITH - TEXTILE ENG,CHEM/SCIENCE

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2004
Publication Date: 6/1/2005
Citation: Rodgers Iii, J.E., Beck, K. Rapid determination by nir of the cotton content of blend fabrics after dyeing. CD-ROM. Memphis, TN. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 2005.

Interpretive Summary: The use of Near Infrared (NIR) technology for textile applications has increased dramatically over the years. NIR techniques have been developed to measure the cotton-polyester (PET) blend cotent in yarn silvers and greige fabrics, but few studies have been reported on the application of this technique to dyed or printed fabrics. Several organizations have expressed the need for a rapid and accurate measurement of the fiber content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics for both quality assurance and Product Validation/Certification. A joint program of two AATCC committees was initiated to evaluate the feasibility of accurately measuring by NIR the cotton content of dyed blend fabrics. A set of 300 dyed and printed cotton-PET samples-with a wide and diverse range of cotton content, fabric parameters, and patterns/colors were analyzed with various NIR sampling systems and instruments at two locations. Significant spectal differences wee observed for some samples, most likely due to differences in fabric parameters, delusterants, or coloration type between these "outlier fabrics and the other dyed blend fabrics. These spectral differences significantly complicated the development of acceptable NIR calfibrations for cotton content. Advanced chemometric normalization techniques minimized these baseline effects and improved NIR calibration robustness. The rapid and accurate measurement by NIR of cotton content in cotton-PET blend fabrics after dyeing was shown to be feasible, with the NIR-reference laboratory method agreement within 5.0% cotton for over 90% of the validation samples. The anaylsis time per sample for the blend analysis was successfully reduced from over 2 hours for the current solvent-based gravimetric technique to less than 5 minutes by NIR.

Technical Abstract: The use of Near Infrared (NIR) technology for textile applications has increased dramatically over the years. NIR techniques have been developed to measure the cotton-polyester (PET) blend content in yarn slivers and greige fabrics, but few studies have been reported on the application of this technique to dyed or printed fabrics. Several organizations have expressed the need for a rapid and accurate measurement of the fiber content in dyed cotton-PET fabrics for both quality assurance and Product Validation/Certification. A joint program of two AATCC committees was initiated to evaluate the feasibility of accurately measuring and identifying by NIR the cotton content of dyed blend fabrics. A set of 300 dyed and printed cotton-PET samples'with a wide and diverse range of cotton content, fabric parameters, and patterns/colors'were analyzed with various NIR sampling systems (fiber-optic probe, "static") and instruments at two locations. Significant spectral differences were observed with increasing cotton content in the 1400-1600nm spectral region. However, severe "baseline shifts" were observed for some samples, most likely due to differences in fabric parameters, delusterants, or coloration type between these "outlier" fabrics and the other dyed blend fabrics. These spectral differences significantly complicated the development of acceptable NIR calibrations for cotton content. Advanced chemometric normalization techniques minimized these baseline deviations and improved NIR calibration robustness. At both locations, the rapid and accurate measurement by NIR of cotton content in cotton-PET blend fabrics after dyeing was shown to be feasible for both static and fiber-optic probe analyses, with the NIR-gravimetric method agreement within ± 3.0% cotton for over 90% of the validation samples. The analysis time per sample for the blend analysis was successfully reduced from over 2 hours for the current solvent-based gravimetric technique to less than 5 minutes by NIR.