Measurement uncertainty in colour characterization of printed textile materials

Abstract

The subject of uncertainty of spectrophotometric measurement of printed textile materials is one of the majorunsolved technical problems in textile colourimetry today. Textile manufacturers are often trying to maintain colourdifference tolerances which are within the range or even less than the uncertainty of the measurement systemcontrolling them. In this paper, two commercial spectrophotometers with different measuring geometries (GretagMacbethEye-One Pro with 450/0° geometry and ChinSpec HP200 with d/8° geometry) were comparativelyinvestigated in terms of measurement uncertainty in colour characterization of textile products. Results of the studyindicate that, the despite of different measuring geometry, instruments had the similar measurement repeatabilitybehaviour (repeatability of readings from different parts of the same sample) in the case of used digitally printedpolyester materials. The important influence on measurement variability had the material preparation method (werethe materials triple folded, placed on a black backing or a white backing). On the other hand, instruments showeddifference concerning the inter-model agreement. Although this difference was not confirmed as significant withvisual assessment, observers evaluated the measurement readings from the Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer as moreaccurate colour appearance characterization of textile materials.

Keywords

• measurement uncertainty
• measurement geometry
• textile printing