Study on fiber openness using image processing technique

Abstract

It has long been recognized that the quality of yarn depends on the performance of the processes during spinning. This work relates to evaluating the opening action of blow room and aims to develop the openness tester for measuring the openness of fibrous assembly based on the image processing technique. A sequence of shapes taken using black background for high image clarity as radial projections at a fixed angular interval was recorded for image processing for each object. Each shape was treated as a slice of the cross-section of the object taken at a specific angular position. Fast 8-point connectivity, clockwise contour-tracing algorithm was implemented in MATLAB to extract the boundary points on the shape of each slice. With known angular position and the coordinates of boundary points, a three-dimensional wire-frame model has been created for three-dimensional visualization and volumetric measurements. The relation between the apparent volume and the weight of fibrous assembly has been studied. Finally, an apparent specific volume of fibrous assembly has been calculated as a measure of openness of fibrous assembly. The conventional test method (i.e. beaker method) and its openness index were compared with the apparent specific volume of fibrous assembly. Both the methods have shown a similar trend of openness of material. This work has further been extended in comparison of different types of modern blow room lines.