Fargetester

Fargetester is a term used to describe a set of methods, devices, and procedures for assessing color properties of materials and solutions. The primary goal is to determine hue, lightness, chroma, and color stability under various conditions. In practice, fargetester encompasses instrumental measurements and qualitative methods.

In textiles and dyes, fargetester are used to evaluate colorfastness to light, washing, rubbing, and perspiration, as well as to ensure color matching between batches. In paints, coatings, plastics, and inks, color testers verify color accuracy against a standard reference and support quality control during production and color matching.

In chemistry, food, cosmetics, and related fields, color tests may quantify dye presence or stability in liquids, measure color development in reactions, or assess color changes during processing. They help monitor product consistency and process performance where color is an important quality attribute.

Methods include instrumental approaches such as reflectance spectrophotometry and colorimeters, which report values in color spaces like CIELAB (L*, a*, b*). Qualitative approaches include color matching using standardized color charts or spot tests. Delta E is commonly used to quantify color differences between samples. Standardization follows ISO, ASTM, or CIE guidelines, and many industries maintain specific acceptance criteria for color tolerance.

Limitations include the influence of lighting, sample geometry, surface texture, and instrument calibration. Perceived color can differ between observers, so objective metrics are used to supplement human assessment.

See also: color matching, colorfastness, spectrophotometer, CIELAB, Delta E.