Abstract: The color of ultraviolet (UV) photosensitive fabrics change under UV exposure and recover after the UV light source removed. In this paper, the color change response performances of five kinds of ultraviolet photosensitive fabrics under five different UV irradiation intensities were explored via digital color measurement. The result indicated that when the intensity of UV irradiation remains unchanged, the color of UV photosensitive fabrics remained unchanged with the increase of exposure time. The hue (H) and saturation (S) of fabric color changed following a form of an exponential function. Under UV irradiation,the color change speed was fast at the beginning and then slowed down, and finally stayed stably at the final color. The H value and S value of the fabrics’ stable final color were significantly affected by ultraviolet irradiation intensity, especially the S value increased significantly with the increase of UV irradiation intensity, which was not affected by the duration. Based on the above results, the relationship between UV radiation intensity and color HSV values can be established by systematically characterizing the H value and S value of the colors during the process of color change. Then the UV intensity could be inversely characterized by the color of UV photosensitive fabrics. Visual color warning indicators could be given and new functional textiles for ultraviolet protection could be possibly developed based on the research.

Key words: ultraviolet (UV); photosensitive fabric; color; HSV; color change respond; irradiation intensity