Determining the Absorption Properties of Split-Type Microfiber Fabrics by Measuring the Change in Color Depth

When a textile material absorbs a liquid, its color appears deeper than that when it is dry because of the difference in reflectance. The difference in the diffuse reflection between the air and the liquid leads to a difference in color depth between the dry and wet conditions. Using this observation, it is possible to measure absorption weight without a balance. In this research, a spectrophotometer measures these reflection characteristics to ascertain the weight of an absorbed liquid. The textile is a wiping cloth composed of split-type nylon/polyester conjugated multifilaments. The reflectance of the samples is scanned over wavelengths (λ) in the range 400 ≤ λ ≤ 700 nm in the spectrophotometer at intervals of λ = 20 nm. A regression analysis of the results shows a significant (P < 0.05) linear relationship between the absorption weight and the reflective character istics (K/S value, lightness, and color difference). The correlation of the regression analysis of samples with up to 60% maximum absorption weight is much higher than those with up to 100% maximum absorption weight, and the coefficients of determination in most cases have very high values. Determining the color difference is more useful than the K/S or lightness values because it shows similar absolute values as well as the slopes.