Colorimetric analysis of black coated fabrics

In this article, two visual evaluation methods, i.e., the rank-ordering and pair comparison techniques, are sequentially used to investigate the effect of hue, lightness, and chroma values on the preference of blackness of 216 black coated fabrics. Based on the colorimetric attributes of specimens, the blackness preference of samples is assessed by 18 amateur observers through different predesigned experiments. Results show that while the lightness of samples performs a very important role in the blackness preference, it does not individually influence the results, and irrespective of the effect of chroma, observers perceive bluish-cyanish black fabrics as the preferred black samples. However, the specialized functionality of lightness is evident for black coated fabrics with very close hue and chroma attributes, and the blackness preference of samples increases when lightness is decreased. Finally, the validity of some suggested blackness indices is evaluated with comparison to the visual results.