Page 12 - New Cloth Market November 2022 Digital Edition

The Sustainable Success
“The profile of the residual moisture after the
AquaJet and the drying temperature (fabric tempera-
AGES
ture) allow new optimization possibilities in the dry-
ing process. Gentle heating curves become possible,
which prevent nonwoven surface damage. Also, the
process and tolerance monitoring enables the im-
provement of the nonwoven quality, as it is not ex-
posed to unnecessarily high drying temperatures.”
Andreas Nestler,
Research Associate at STFI
The Impact AF 120 after AquaJet before drum dryer

• Increased energy efficiency and lower CO2-emissions due to lowered drying temperatures
• First-Time-Right Principle: prevention of surface damages and improvement of quality
-----> Less second choice goods or rejects which equals waste of resources
EXECUTIVE P
Effect of Colour Appearance and Materials on the Visual-
tactile Properties of Fabrics

Researchers of Leeds University, UK and Wuhan Textile University, China in a joint project have
studied the human perception of the visual-tactile properties: flexible-stiff, smooth-rough and soft-firm
of fabrics as seen on a mobile-phone display. The aim of this study was to test whether different
colours and different fabrics have significant effects on these properties, and to evaluate the differ-
ences between the effects of these two parameters. Eighty images, representing four fabrics and 20
colours, were used to judge the human responses to tactile properties.
People are able to visually predict the tactile properties and surface characteristics of materials. When
people purchase products, factors that include appearance, colour, quality, and material, affect their
preferences and hence their desire to purchase. With online shopping becoming a greater tendency,
the decision to purchase a product has to be made based on the images of that product viewed on a
display, be it a phone, a tablet or a computer. In the field of textiles, the tactile properties of the fabric
are significant factors that affect the perception of the quality of the product, and hence influence the
decision to purchase. When fabrics are viewed on a display, those tactile properties can only be
perceived through images, leading to a different response, namely the perception of the “visual-tactile
properties” of the fabric. Colour is an important parameter that attracts a potential purchaser to, for
example, a particular garment. Thus the display has to adequately represent the garment not just in
terms of the colour but in terms of the colour, overlaid on to the texture of the fabric from which the
garment is made.
The research was based on a psychophysical experiment conducted to evaluate the effect of colour
and fabric material on the human perception of visual-tactile properties of fabrics. Visual-tactile prop-
erties refer to the fabric handling properties that were evaluated visually through images with no actual
touch involved. Statistically, human observers can be significantly affected by colour when assessing
the smoothness, roughness, softness and firmness of woollen wool fabric, for example, purple fabric
tends to be smoother and yellow fabric rougher, black fabric is softer and red fabric is firmer. For
flexibility and stiffness, only a few colours affect human perception significantly, for example, purple
fabric tends to be more flexible and green fabric is stiffer. In addition, fabric material has more signifi-
cant effects than colour on the perception of the tactile properties except perhaps flexibility and
stiffness, making it an essential appearance factor in the evaluation of these tactile properties.
Images viewed on a display are important in the entire textile industry, including the design process,
manufacturing process control, online selling and consumer purchasing. Textile designers can employ
these assessments to predict the degree to which retailers and consumers perceive the tactile proper-
ties. More importantly, the results of this study can assist consumers to correctly perceive the infor-
mation portrayed by the images and hence make a reliable purchase. This will reduce the occurrence
of problems, such as product return, refunds and complaints. In this way, with increased satisfaction
in online shopping.

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