Yarn hairiness is a property which affects the appearance of yarn and fabric and influences the handle, thermal insulation and other fabric features. Yarn hairiness increases pilling in fabric and it is a serious problem for the apparel industry, thus its measurement and control is very important. The aim of this research is investigating the effect of blend ratio and abrasion on yarn hairiness in fabric structure using a new objective method. Seven types of polyester/viscose blended yarns have been produced: 87.5/12.5, 75/25, 62.5/37.5, 50/50, 37.5/62.5, 25/75, 12.5/87.5 and also 100% viscose and 100% polyester yarns. All of the yarns were dyed and used as weft for weave of plain fabrics. The woven fabrics were abraded under various cycles of traversing abrasion by Abrasion/Pilling Martindale Tester apparatus. The images of original and abraded fabric samples were taken with equal resolution. The hairiness of yarns in fabrics was detected using image processing. Proportion of hairs in image were detected by image analysis technique. The results show that the proportion of hairs in image increases with increasing viscose ratio in original and abraded fabrics. The fabrics including more viscose ratio tend to make more hairs in various cycles of abrasion.
