Effect of sleeve colour and background colour on change in colour assessments†

The two standard grey scales, ISO 105‐A02 and ISO 105‐A03, used for assessing change in colour and staining, respectively, are both typically provided mounted in black material and within a black sleeve. However, some grey scales are now provided mounted in grey material and within a grey sleeve. This paper reports psychophysical data and shows that the change in colour grades obtained from grey scales are not affected by the background colour of the viewing cabinet. A small, but statistically significant, effect is found for the colour of the sleeve with higher grades being found when using the black sleeve compared to when using the grey sleeve. However, when the samples being assessed are masked by a sleeve of the same colour as that used with the grey scale, an extensive field trial shows that the colour of the sleeve does not affect the change in colour grades obtained under commercial conditions.     

The mapping of a surface of constant visual depth in CIELAB colour space†

Independent visual assessments of depth by a panel of four professional colourists were made on dyeings prepared along eight hue directions in CIELAB colour space. From the assessments made, the variation of lightness with chroma for dyeings of uniform depth was mapped along the hue directions. An algorithm was developed to determine the lightness on the surface for any colour of given chroma and hue angle. Whilst direct comparison with the surface defined by the Christ formula for 1/1 standard depth was not possible, it was found that qualitatively the shapes of the two surfaces were very similar. The Christ formula defined greater increases in lightness with chroma in the yellow and lime‐green regions than the surface obtained in this work, which may be due to an inconsistency of depth of the 1/1 standard depth samples in this region, as indicated by other depth formulae.     

Partitioning colour differences into dyers’ components: the ‘DBH’ model†

Mathematics are given for a method of converting the cylindrical components of colour differences reported by colour measurement systems (differences in lightness, chroma and hue) into components that are correlates of those naturally used by dyers during visual assessment (differences in depth, brightness and hue). The history of the development of the method is recorded. The method has been in successful routine use by many organisations throughout the dye‐making, dyeing and textile‐finishing industries for more than 30 years but its mathematics have hitherto remained unpublished.     

Methods of measuring the colour of opaque fluorescent materials

In the last half century, there has been an increase in the manufacture and use of opaque fluorescent materials and with this has come the need to measure the colour of these materials. The different types of fluorescent materials are considered and the methods which can be used to specify the colour of a fluorescent sample are described in this paper.     

瓶级PET切片色值测试的不确定度评定

对用色度计测试瓶级PET切片色值的不确定度进行了评定,结果表明,定期对标准色板进行检定,严格样品测试的操作细节,确保样品颗粒度均匀,可以达到减少不确定度的目的。     

Dyeing machine control using in-line colour measurement Part 1: In-line monitoring of colour in dye liquors

A novel method of dyebath analysis is described, based on an in-line optical cell with links to a computer-based match prediction system. A multiple path length cell has been used to allow accurate concentration determination over a wide range of dyebath concentrations, and a temperature compensation system has been devised. Problems encountered in previous attempts at carrying out such analysis, due to the large changes in the absorbance of the dyebath during the dyeing and the effect of the dyebath temperature on the measured absorbance, have thus been circumvented. A high level of accuracy has been demonstrated.     

A colour harmony model for two‐colour combinations

This study investigates harmony in two‐colour combinations in order to develop a quantitative model. A total of 1431 colour pairs were used as stimuli in a psychophysical experiment for the visual assessment of harmony. These colour pairs were generated using 54 colours selected systematically from CIELAB colour space. During the experiment, observers were presented with colour pairs displayed individually against a medium gray background on a cathode ray tube monitor in a darkened room. Colour harmony was assessed for each colour pair using a 10‐category scale ranging from “extremely harmonious” to “extremely disharmonious.” The experimental results showed a general pattern of two‐colour harmony, from which a quantitative model was developed and principles for creating harmony were derived. This model was tested using an independent psychophysical data set and the results showed satisfactory performance for model prediction. The study also discusses critical issues including the definition of colour harmony, the relationship between harmony and pleasantness, and the relationship between harmony and order in colour. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 31, 191–204, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20208     

Novel azo dyes derived from phthalimide. Part 2: Dyeing properties and colour fastness on polyester fibres†

The coloration and fastness properties of 18 carbocyclic monoazo disperse dyes bearing a phthalimide ring fused to the aromatic ring of their diazo components have been investigated. In each case, the phthalimidyl nitrogen atom was substituted with either a butyl, sec‐butyl or isopropyl group, while the adjoined phenyl ring bore a substitution pattern typical of commercial colorants. Dye uptake and build‐up onto both conventional and microfibre polyester through exhaustion dyeing were examined: while the expected tendency of greater exhaustion on microfibre was noted, there were few clear trends with respect to dye structure. The nature of the N‐alkyl group made no consistent difference to dye uptake. Attempts to explain the observed percentage exhaustion values by mapping them to calculated partition coefficient or solubility parameter values were unsuccessful. Wash fastness tended to be best for blue dicyano‐substituted derivatives, which may be as a result in part of these substituents promoting hydrolysis of the adjacent phthalimide ring to give more soluble phthalate species. In contrast, the dicyano dyes had relatively poor photostability compared with their unsubstituted analogues.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of colour emotion for two‐colour combinations

Psychophysical experiments were conducted in the UK, Taiwan, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Argentina, and Iran to assess colour emotion for two‐colour combinations using semantic scales warm/cool, heavy/light, active/passive, and like/dislike. A total of 223 observers participated, each presented with 190 colour pairs as the stimuli, shown individually on a cathode ray tube display. The results show consistent responses across cultures only for warm/cool, heavy/light, and active/passive. The like/dislike scale, however, showed some differences between the observer groups, in particular between the Argentinian responses and those obtained from the other observers. Factor analysis reveals that the Argentinian observers preferred passive colour pairs to active ones more than the other observers. In addition to the cultural difference in like/dislike, the experimental results show some effects of gender, professional background (design vs. nondesign), and age. Female observers were found to prefer colour pairs with high‐lightness or low‐chroma values more than their male counterparts. Observers with a design background liked low‐chroma colour pairs or those containing colours of similar hue more than nondesign observers. Older observers liked colour pairs with high‐lightness or high‐chroma values more than young observers did. Based on the findings, a two‐level theory of colour emotion is proposed, in which warm/cool, heavy/light, and active/passive are identified as the reactive‐level responses and like/dislike the reflective‐level response. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2012     

Use of a predictive colour model for managing the colour appearance of two‐colour woven fabrics

The aim of this study was to implement a two‐dimensional colour appearance model for prediction of the colour values of weft threads when the optical mixing of a two‐colour woven structure had to match the colour appearance of a single‐colour reference woven fabric. Five single‐colour woven fabrics were woven from five threads of similar hue. One of the samples was chosen as a reference, for which the colour appearance was the goal to be achieved in the two‐colour woven fabrics prepared with the other available warp threads and newly dyed weft threads. The colour values of dyed weft threads were predicted by a two‐dimensional colour appearance model. With dyed weft threads, managing the colour appearance of the two‐colour woven fabric was enabled to achieve the colour values of the reference. In the results, colour deviations between the predicted and measured colour values of weft threads revealed some limitations to the colour appearance model and performance of the dyeing process. After the production of the two‐colour woven fabric, the colour appearance matched the appearance of the reference, resulting in deviations of ΔE_CMC(2:1) = 1.2‐7.8. Moreover, the differences between theoretically predicted and measured colour values of the two‐colour woven fabric were evaluated as small, ranging from ΔE_CMC(2:1) = 1.5‐1.9. The results demonstrated the efficiency of implementing the colour appearance model and the dyeing process of weft threads as an approach to achieve the defined colour appearance of two‐colour woven fabrics, which with small colour deviations matches the colour of a single‐colour reference.     

ANISOTROPIC MEMBRANE TRANSPORT†

Membranes consisting of two layers, one of which has a concentration-dependent permeability, may show anisotropic fluxes. In other words, the flux under a given concentration difference has a different magnitude if the direction of the concentration difference is reversed but its magnitude is unchanged. This paper develops a simple theory of this effect and verifies aspects of this theory experimentally.     

Direct coloration of textiles with photochromic dyes. Part 2: The effect of solvents on the colour change of photochromic textiles†

Polyester, acrylic and nylon textile substrates dyed with two spirooxazine dyes, 1,3,3‐trimethyl‐spiroindoline‐2,3′‐3H‐naphth[2,1‐b][1,4]oxazine ( 1a ) and 6′‐piperidino‐1,3,3‐trimethyl spiroindoline‐2,3′‐3H‐naphth[2,1‐b][1,4]oxazine ( 1b ), exhibit significantly higher photochromic colour build‐up when wet compared with after drying. A study of this phenomenon, extended beyond water to the influence of a series of selected organic solvents on photochromic behaviour, using colour measurement of the photochromic textiles under controlled ultraviolet irradiation conditions, is reported. The results of molecular modelling calculations (AM1 in water and PM5 in water) have been used as a means of interpreting the observed effects, in conjunction with qualitative arguments based on solvation and fibre swelling.     

Colour harmony of two‐colour combinations using a 3D colour configuration

Over the past few years, although many studies have investigated colour harmony, most of those used the planar colour configuration, which is not in line with the design requirements of real‐life products. Therefore, this study used 11 basic colours and five types of colour scheme techniques to derive 141 colour combinations applied upon a physical 3D colour configuration to observe the phenomena of colour harmony. The results show that colour harmony on a 3D colour configuration is different from that on a planar colour configuration, and can be divided into four phenomena: (i) lightness difference was found to determine the colour harmony while achromatic colour was configured with achromatic colour; (ii) lightness sum prompted colour harmony while chromatic colour was configured with achromatic colour; (iii) lightness sum and chroma sum were found to determine colour harmony while chromatic colour was configured with chromatic colour with a two‐colour hue angle difference >90°; and (iv) lightness sum and hue difference were a determination of colour harmony while chromatic colour was configured with chromatic colour with a two‐colour hue angle difference of ≤90°. On the basis of these phenomena, this study develops a colour harmony model based on the colour parameters, most of which are derived from the addition of the colour attributes of two colours.     

A study of colour emotion and colour preference. Part II: Colour emotions for two‐colour combinations

Eleven colour‐emotion scales, warm–cool, heavy–light, modern–classical, clean–dirty, active–passive, hard–soft, harmonious–disharmonious, tense–relaxed, fresh–stale, masculine–feminine, and like–dislike, were investigated on 190 colour pairs with British and Chinese observers. Experimental results show that gender difference existed in masculine–feminine, whereas no significant cultural difference was found between British and Chinese observers. Three colour‐emotion factors were identified by the method of factor analysis and were labeled “colour activity,” “colour weight,” and “colour heat.” These factors were found similar to those extracted from the single colour emotions developed in Part I. This indicates a coherent framework of colour emotion factors for single colours and two‐colour combinations. An additivity relationship was found between single‐colour and colour‐combination emotions. This relationship predicts colour emotions for a colour pair by averaging the colour emotions of individual colours that generate the pair. However, it cannot be applied to colour preference prediction. By combining the additivity relationship with a single‐colour emotion model, such as those developed in Part I, a colour‐appearance‐based model was established for colour‐combination emotions. With this model one can predict colour emotions for a colour pair if colour‐appearance attributes of the component colours in that pair are known. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 29, 292–298, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20024     

Optimal yarn colour combination for full‐colour fabric design and mixed‐colour chromaticity coordinates based on CIE chromaticity diagram analysis

It is challenging for textile designers to achieve full‐colour effects in woven fabric using a limited set of coloured yarns. The common problems encountered during full‐colour fabric design include an insufficient number of colours and a failure to match the fabric colour with the desired colour. Using the theories of primary colours and optical colour mixing, we examine the mixed‐colour distribution of primary colour yarns on the basis of the CIE 1976 chromaticity diagram (CIE u′v′). In our experiment, dope‐dyed polyester filament yarns were selected as raw materials. Eight kinds of gradually varied weave structures and four types of primary colour combination were adopted in order to make different types of full‐colour fabric colour chart. Spectrophotometer and DigiEye colour measurement systems were selected to measure the reflectance and colour value of the fabric samples. By comparing the colour distribution of mixed fabrics in the CIE u′v′ diagram, the relationship between the primary colour combinations and the colour distribution of mixed fabrics is discussed. Of RGB, CMY, NCS, and RGBCMY combinations, only RGBCMY resulted in a relatively complete and large colour gamut. Moreover, the colour positions of mixed fabrics in the CIE u′v′ diagram were almost all distributed on or near the connecting line of the primary colour coordinates. The specific colour position of mixed fabrics in the CIE u′v′ diagram were mainly determined by the proportion of primary colours on the fabric surface. In this way, a new method for computing colour position in the CIE u′v′ diagram is introduced.