NITRA launches 2 unique instruments

Conducting need based R&D for textile industry is NITRA’s major activity since its inception. As a result of that, in the sidelines of NITRA’s 14th Convocation Ceremony held in September 2017 at NITRA, Ghaziabad, Sanjay Kumar Jain, Chairman, NITRA Council of Administration and Managing Director, TT Ltd. inaugurated two very useful instruments Electronic Drape Meter based on Image Analysis Technique and Smoothness Tester for Textile Sheeting Materials. Both the equipment have been developed by a team of NITRA scientists following a very long and incisive research work. Dr Arindam Basu, Director General and Dr MS Parmar, Jt. Director (A) were the Principal Investigators for Electronic Drape Meter and Smoothness Tester equipment, respectively. It is expected that the textile industry will make good use of these unique equipment.

The following is a brief glance at the equipment:

Electronic Drape Meter Based On Image Analysis Technique: Till now, laboratories are using conventional drape meter which has several drawbacks like:

• Slow process and too much dependent on the operator
• The accuracy can get affected if there is small variation in drawing and cutting.
• The accuracy of weighing can change the result

To overcome these problems and provide accurate & reliable results, NITRA has developed electronic drape tester using image analysis techniques. Uniqueness of this development is that results will be provided by the software in pdf format. Experimental trials have proven its accuracy at a very high level. Human error during measurement is also totally avoided.

Smoothness Tester for Textile Sheeting Materials: Fabric smoothness/roughness is considered as one of the most important factors of clothing comfort. It is also a significant factor in today’s consumer buying decision. At present, the finisher evaluates the quality of finishes used to impart smoothness to the fabric by rubbing the finished fabric mechanically against itself or feeling it by rubbing between the finger and the thumb which is purely a subjective assessment. Hence, there is a need to develop a low cost instrument that eliminates the subjective evaluation of fabric smoothness property. Such an instrument will be of help to the finishers to precisely evaluate different kind of finishes which they use in their day-to-day operations.

NITRA has invented first-of- its-kind instrument to accurately measure the smoothness properties of fabrics. The instrument works in a closed chamber. Two versions of instruments have been developed. The first version is available for those clients who are having RH and temperature controlling facility in their laboratory. In the second version, facility of controlling temperature and RH inside the chamber is also provided.