A comparison of estimates of mean fibre diameter, variation in fibre diameter and fibre curvature between OFDA2000 and conventional laboratory based fibre testing

Abstract

Conventional midside testing under the Australian and New Zealand Standards (AS/NZS 4492 2000) has a precision (95% confidence limit) of � 1.1m. The OFDA2000 is a portable instrument capable of real-time measurements of the fibre properties of greasy wool with minimal sample preparation, for use as an aid to sheep selection or wool classing (Brims et al. 1999). Studies by Baxter (2001), Peterson and Gherardi (2001) and Behrendt et al. (2001) have indicated that the OFDA2000 is capable of similar precision to the Australian and New Zealand Standard. Additionally, these studies have shown that OFDA2000 results are correlated with clean measurements done by conventional methods. This paper further describes the correlation between these different methods of measurement.