Yarn Diameter Measurement Using Morphological Approach

Abstract

Yarn quality depends upon the physical properties like yarn strength, unevenness, hairiness and geometrical parameters like diameter. This paper focuses on the analysis and implementation for Yarn Diameter Measurement (YDM) using image processing for 100% combed, ring cotton yarn and compares the obtained results with the manual microscopic method. The traditional method for YDM includes rod method and travelling microscope method, whereas the electronic methods used for YDM are optical and capacitive sensor method. The result of these methods shows that they are sensitive to environmental conditions. The proposed work aims to measure the yarn diameter using Morphological Approach (MA) which mainly focuses on separating the core area of yarn from the haired area. Then counting the number of pixels in core area so as to measure the diameter in SI units. This approach was applied on 30, 40 & 50 count of 100% combed, ring cotton yarn consisting of 200 samples of each count. The average diameter obtained on 100 samples of each count was then compared with the Uster standard values and from the values computed Zeiss Microscope manually. The results obtained on 100 samples of each count shows that the proposed image processing method for diameter measurement of yarn lies within the allowed tolerance as per the Textile Standards and is immune to environmental effects.