Colour recipe prediction using ant colony algorithm: principle of resolution and analysis of performances

This paper presents a new method for colour recipe prediction using ant colony optimisation. Three reactive dyes, namely CI Reactive Yellow 145, CI Reactive Red 238 and CI Reactive Blue 235, were used for colour formulation. Samples of 100% cotton fabrics were used for dyeing. The objective was to assure, control and optimise the colour formulation step by determining the dyes to be applied and their respective concentrations to reproduce the desired shades. The criterion of optimisation is to minimise the colour differences [Colour Measurement Committee (2:1)] between the target colour and the colour obtained by the proposed recipe. Errors between the proposed recipe and actual concentrations are also evaluated. The developed algorithm showed good performances with small colour differences between the target and reproduced colours (all lower than 0.7).