Laserscan™ fibre measurement

CSIRO’s Sirolan Laserscan® instrument measures individual fibre snippets by laser and produces accurate measurements with minimal sample preparation to obtain:

• mean fibre diameter (in microns)
• coefficient of variation of diameter (per cent)
• a diameter distribution histogram (per cent of fibres in 1-micron class intervals)
• fibre curvature in degrees/mm
• comfort factor (per cent of fibres less than 30.5 microns for wool).

Sirolan Laserscan® has full international Wool Textile Organisation Test Methods status (IWTO-12-00) and consequently results may be certified and applied in wool trading.

Laserscan instruments are operating in major processing mills in:

• Australia
• France
• Germany
• Italy.

They are also operating in leading wool testing laboratories in:

• Argentina
• Australia
• New Zealand
• South Africa.

CSIRO has also developed Fleecescan®, a set of easily transportable instruments for measuring the fibre diameter of wool quickly and accurately in the shearing shed (see also Objective measurement of wool).