Abstract:

In this paper, a system of fabric wrinkle measurement was developed which consisted of a fabric wrinkle simulator, scanner and computer. The simulator generated “diamond” wrinkles just like those of the elbow and knee in actual wear. The images of wrinkled fabrics acquired by the scanner were processed with software developed in MATLAB and new characteristics of wrinkle severity (WS) and fabric unevenness (FU) in the warp and weft direction were proposed for the wrinkle characterisation. 15 different fabrics were used to compare the measurement results of the system with those of the AATCC 66-2008 test method. The results showed good agreement of the two methods and at a 45° wrinkle recovery angle, the correlation between the wrinkle recovery angle and WS or FU increased. Therefore it was advised that the wrinkle recovery angle of 45° be measured rather than averaging warp and weft wrinkle recovery angles only when using the AATCC 66-2008 test method. Compared with the AATCC 66-2008 test method, that in this paper can produce more “realistic” wrinkles and measure the wrinkling properties of fabrics in actual wear.