A comparative study of two automated techniques for measuring fiber length

Abstract

Measurements from two automated fiber analyzers—Kajaani FS-200 and Galai CIS-100—are compared.The FS-200 measures fiber length and coarseness via an indirect optical method.The CIS-100 measures fiber length and width by analyzing video images of fibers. Length-weighted average fiber lengths for the FS-200 were 10–20% lower than those for the CIS-100. Reference measurements from microscopic image analysis suggest that while the CIS-100 measures length more accurately than the FS-200, it is not accurate enough to measure the width of the thin eucalypt fibers used in this study. Both instruments showed good agreement between weight-weighted fiber length for the whole pulp and weight-weighted length calculated from fiber fractions classified in a Bauer–McNett device. Application: Compares the performance of two automatic fiber analyzers, the Kajaani FS-200 and the Galai CIS-100.