Objective Evaluation of Fabric Wrinkles and Seam Puckers Using Fractal Geometry

Fractal geometry is used to objectively evaluate the surface ruggedness of fabric wrinkles and seam puckers. To measure the fractal dimension (FD) of wrinkles and puckers, both the spatial cubical box-counting method and the cross-sectional method are employed. The results of the fractal dimensions of wrinkles and puckers are compared with subjective evaluations of the AATCC rating method, and they show that the new objective fractal dimension gives a quantitative practical value for evaluating fabric wrinkles and seam puckers with more accuracy and reproducibility. Thus, the fractal dimension can be used to evaluate the surface ruggedness of wrinkles and puckers. Reliable objective five-rating and ten-rating methods using the fractal dimension are suggested as substitutes for the conventional subjective AATCC five-rating test method to establish a new industrial standard.