How to Measure Color and Ensure Compliance on Safety Apparel
To ensure wearer safety, high visibility work clothing must be color-accurate when it leaves the production floor and retain color integrity after washing over time, but fluorescent dyes are challenging to control. DIN EN ISO 20 471 and ANSI/ISEA 107 specify UV-calibrated D65 Xenon lighting must be used to evaluate fluorescent dyes.
Challenges
Manufacturing high-visibility clothing holds many challenges:
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Fluorescent colors must be within the tolerances defined by DIN EN ISO 20 471 and ANSI/ISEA 107 for professional use
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Fluorescent colors must be evaluated using a UV-calibrated spectrophotometer with D65 Xenon lighting
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Garments must retain color integrity after cleaning and over time
Solution
Using a benchtop spectrophotometer and quality control software, textile manufacturers, laundries, and customers can eliminate guesswork and measure safety clothing to ensure compliance with DIN and ISO requirements.
With a 45°:0° geometry and D65 Xenon lighting with UV-calibration, the ColorXRA Lab spectrophotometer offers good correlation with human vision and is ideal for measuring fluorescent colors. It positions and holds the sample against a black hole in front of the measuring aperture to ensure a reflection below 0.04 and uses a physical illumination of CIE D65 in the visible range as well as in the UV range below 400 nm. This ensures constant measurements, even when the lamp is aging.
ESWin software displays measurement results as color indices x, y and luminance factor (β-value) numerically and in a chart to characterize whether fluorescent colors are in tolerance. This enables operators to make clear pass/fail decisions. To ensure the integrity of the program and identify areas of improvement, color quality records are documented according to accepted international standards.
Results
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Pass/fail rankings are made based on DIN EN ISO 20 471 and ANSI/ISEA 107 standards to ensure high-visibility warning clothing is suitable for professional use
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Documentation that production adheres to ISO 9000
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Excellent color communication between clothing manufacturers, laundry services, and their customers
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Calibrated UV content ensures that measurements of new instruments with high UV energy have the same results as old ones
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Measurements are constant over time and traceable between different users at different locations
How it Works
- The textile sample is positioned in front of the measuring aperture of the ColorXRA Lab over a black hole to avoid background reflectance. A measurement is captured on the device and the data is automatically transferred to the software.
- ESWin software calculates the luminance factor as well as the x,y coordinates, for D65, 2° observer. All values are displayed numerically and in a graph for easy visualization. Other coordinates (e.g. L*, a*; b*) and light conditions (e.g. D65, C, A, F11, 2° and 10° observer) are also available for measurements of non- fluorescent colors.
- Pass/fail rankings are made based on DIN EN ISO 20 471 and ANSI/ISEA 107 standards so the operator can determine whether the color is in tolerance.
Featured Products
ColorXRA Lab Spectrophotometer
A 45°:0° benchtop spectrophotometer with a Xenon flash lamp, ideal for measuring fluorescent color on safety apparel. It offers excellent measurement results with a real spectral resolution of 1nm. Absolute automatic wavelength calibration with 0.07 nm precision for excellent short- and long-term stability.
ESWin Quality Control Software
A customizable quality control software solution that works with ColorXRA Lab to make pass/fail decisions for high visibility safety apparel. It presents measurement results in an easy-to-interpret graphic display as well as printed reports for proof of compliance.
Achieve Color Success
Using the ColorXRA Lab benchtop spectrophotometer and ESWin Quality Control software, safety apparel manufacturers can ensure fluorescent colors are within ISO and ANSI/ISEA tolerance to ensure wearer safety.
