Photofading in cotton fibers dyed using red, yellow, and blue direct dyes during examination with microspectrophotometry (MSP)

Published

June 30, 2017

Author(s)

Amanda Forster, Julie L. Bitter, Samuel E. Rosenthal, Stephanie S. Watson, Sydney Brooks

Abstract

Microspectrophotometry (MSP) is a rapid, nondestructive technique for the analysis of color in textile fibers. This technique combines microscopy and ultraviolet (UV)/visible (Vis) spectroscopy, allowing for very small colored samples, like dyed textile fibers, to be analyzed directly and thereby eliminates the need for time consuming and destructive extractions. While MSP is generally accepted to be a nondestructive evaluation method, a loss of color during analysis, or photofading can occur. In this work, cotton fabric was dyed with blue, yellow, and red direct dyes at different concentrations. Photofading in the MSP was investigated by measuring the absorbance at a specific position on the fiber periodically over the course of 30 minutes. Visible color loss and a reduction in absorbance was observed for all three colors, but was most pronounced for the fibers dyed red. A major goal of this study is to increase awareness of the photofading phenomenon when analyzing cotton fibers using MSP.

Citation

Journal of the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

microspectrophotometry, fiber, photofading

Citation

Forster, A. , Bitter, J. , Rosenthal, S. , , S. and Brooks, S. (2017), Photofading in cotton fibers dyed using red, yellow, and blue direct dyes during examination with microspectrophotometry (MSP), Journal of the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=922822 (Accessed April 23, 2024)