Monitoring homogeneity of textile fiber orientation

Abstract

Replacement of human control by robotic control is one of the key issues in the textile industry, because it is generally believed that it can decrease the costs of producers on the one hand and increase the satisfaction of clients on the other side. Therefore, this paper deals with the proposal of monitoring homogeneity in fibrous systems when the attention is focused on keeping prescribed directional orientation of fibers. The first part concentrates on the estimation of the orientation of fibers in fibrous systems when the information comes from scanned images of the material. Emphasis is on the use of 2D Fourier transform and a local approach based on idea “conquer and rule”. Such a local approach appears crucial for a proposal how to detect eventual defects, random violation of structural regularity, and such like, when statistical testing of fit is used as a tool. To illustrate the method, it was necessary to prepare data with a prescribed form and orientation of fibers. To that purpose we developed algorithms enabling us to simulate images imitating typical textile fibrous systems with prescribed properties, both containing and not containing defects. Linear and highly nonlinear fibers can be generated. The paper is of a methodological nature, and most of conclusions are based on the analysis of simulated data. Experimental verification of the suggested method is in progress.