Development of a device for 3D surface reconstruction of thermal shrinkage of flame-resistant fabrics

Thermal shrinkage of flame-retardant fabrics under high temperature exposure would result in the change of air layer under clothing, which can affect the thermal protective performance of clothing. This paper introduces a new image-based device to characterize the thermal shrinkage of the fabrics. The device was aimed to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) surface morphology of fabrics based on grayscale images. The imaging collecting system was designed to obtain the grayscale images of thermal-shrinkage fabrics. Then, MATLAB programming of the 3D reconstruction algorithm based on photometric stereo was developed. A comparison of the results of the 3D reconstruction method with the 3D scanning method showed that the 3D reconstruction method was practical and repeatable. The research provides a simple and effective method to characterize the 3D morphology of thermal-shrinkage fabrics, which will help in the quantification of thermal shrinkage of fabrics and the prediction of the thermal protective performance of clothing.