Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate sheepskin hair follicle patterns quantitatively using the Kfunction (L-function) method. Especially, the influence of individual and location differences on the estimation of L-function was investigated. Five pieces of chrome-tanned sheepskins were used in this study. Hair follicle patterns of butt, shoulder and belly locations for sheepskins were observed by a digital microscope and were quantitatively estimated using K-function (L-function) method. As a result, it was found that the hair follicle patterns of sheepskins are defined as random distributions for all distances from the chosen sampling point, although they seemed to be regular distributions when observing them using a microscope. No individual and location differences in hair follicle patterns of sheepskins were observed for both observation images and quantitative estimation (L-function). It is concluded that quantitative estimations of hair follicle patterns by K-function (L-function) method is indispensable for the identification of leather materials, because judgments using both observation by a microscope and a statistical K-function (L-function) method give different results for the distribution of hair follicles for sheepskins. In the future, quantitative estimations of hair follicle patterns for a variety of leathers used in leather goods also need to be discussed.