Automatic Measurement of Fabric Crease Recovery by Image Sequence Analysis

Abstract

Abstract Crease recovery is one of the most important performance properties of fabric that needs to be evaluated frequently for quality improvement and product development. It is often measured by tracking changes in crease angle of a folded specimen in a certain period of time. This paper presents a new automated crease recovery testing system and the trial tests on fabrics with different fiber materials, different weave structures, and different folding methods. The system was designed to record and measure changes of the crease angle in the entire recovery process by using image sequence analysis techniques. Thus, both instantaneous and stable recoveries of the crease angle can be quantified. The system also fully automates the folding, pressing, reading, and other operations on the specimen so that human interferences can be avoided. It was found that the fiber content of a fabric is a determinant factor for crease recovery performance and the weave structure can affect this performance to some extent. Crease recovery also varies with the way of folding the specimen. The recoveries of fabrics with different fiber materials tend to stabilize in different durations, proving the universal testing time set in the current standard test methods is unsuitable for some fabrics.