ARS | Publication request: IMPACTS OF GLASS USE IN COTTON COLOR MEASUREMENTS

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 23, 2008
Publication Date: June 13, 2008
Citation: Rodgers Iii, J.E., Cui, X., Martin, V., Watson, M. 2008. Impacts of glass use in cotton color measurements. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference.

Technical Abstract: Cotton color is an important quality and processing property. In the U.S., cotton is classified for color using the Uster® High Volume Instrument (HVI). The color of cotton on the HVI is denoted by the parameters Rd and +b, which represent the cotton’s diffuse reflectance and yellowness, respectively. Rd and +b are specific to cotton fiber and are not typical globally recognized color systems. An earlier program established and validated the feasibility of correlating Rd and +b to the globally recognized color system L*a*b* (or CIELab) for both standard tiles and cottons. The major impact on agreement between the HVI and standard color spectrophotometers and between color spectrophotometers was the use of glass (required for cotton color analyses) between the sample and the spectrophotometer measurement port. A program was implemented to 1) investigate the impact of glass and glass type on the spectrophotometer color measurements and 2) to determine the feasibility of minimizing the glass impact. The results were encouraging, and protocols for minimizing glass impacts on spectrophotometer tile and color measurements were determined.