Introduction To Instruments For Measurement Of Color

Posted by alicealbert on November 25th, 2019

Color can be considered as a sensation experienced (or caused) by light reflected from transmission through objects. To be very specific, it is not possible to directly measure perceived color, but we can measure and at a later stage calculate various factors required for creating color sensation. The quantification of the color characteristics of textile materials is of high economic value in industry, for color training purposes and for devices that can accurately measure color coding in most of the textile methods required in textile coloration.

Color measurements has seen a massive improvement thanks to the accessibility of some major advancement in technology in the last 3-4 decades. In one of the previous publication of Color Technology in the Textile Industry, Roland Derby mentioned that in the year 1954 there were about 10 instruments that were most commonly used in the textile industry. As we speak today, there are numerous instruments (probably thousands) in use alone in North America as these instruments have become crucial in fields such as process quality control, quality assurance of finished items, as well as  color formulation and categorization of piece shipments.

During the last 3-4 decades, with regards to the growth in color measurement, the instruments have become highly accurate, reliable, compact, flexible, and faster than their predecessors. And the best part is that they are significantly lower in price than their predecessors. The range of designs and features available to the potential buyer can become overwhelming at times. Here, you will find some useful information on some practical guidelines, that can be useful for the colorists to get a better understanding of the basics of color instrumentation.

The primarily used devices used for color measurement were known as absorptiometers. They were useful in determining (using visual inspection) whether two solutions were identically colored. This is much similar to inspecting two glass cylinders of dye solution in the presence of a light source and judging whether they are of equal shade and strength. This is except for the fact that the absorptiometers offered a technique to adjust the path width so that any alteration in the width could be detected by using a scale. In keeping with the reflected light measurement from opaque materials preferably textiles, the first instruments were reflectometers. They were created around 1915-1920. They were accurate enough (as per the then standards) to simulate the visual process.

Make a note of this piece of information and enroll for a course of color training to get comfortable with color integration and ideal color techniques for your industry.

Author: The author is a blogger and the article is about color measurement instrument.