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Title: The Impact of Short Fiber Content on the Quality of Cotton Ring Spun Yarn

Author
item Thibodeaux, Devron
item SENTER, HERMAN - CLEMSON UNIV
item KNOWLTON, JAMES - USDA-AMS-COTTON
item MCALISTER, DAVID - GLOBECOT
item Cui, Xiaoliang

Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/7/2008
Publication Date: 1/20/2009
Citation: Thibodeaux, D.P., Senter, H., Knowlton, J., Mcalister, D., Cui, X. 2009. The Impact of Short Fiber Content on the Quality of Cotton Ring Spun Yarn. Journal of Cotton Science.12:368-377.

Interpretive Summary: One of the biggest concerns relative to the global marketing of U.S. cotton is the perception by international spinners that it contains excessive amounts of short fiber (less than ½ in long). For the spinner, the presence of excessive amounts of short fiber in his input mix can result in production inefficiencies and losses in textile quality. The present study is to assess the effectiveness of the methods currently available to the industry for measuring important properties of raw cotton as they are predictors of spinning efficiency and yarn quality. These include the AFIS (Advanced Fiber Information System), the HVI (High Volume Instrument), and the Suter-Webb Array method (comb sorting of fibers). In general results obtained from the three methods correlated well with each other. Most of the yarn properties correlated well with all of the measures of short fiber content by the three methods. This was especially true for yarn strength, irregularity, and the frequency of thick and thin defects. Finally, mathematical models utilizing the results obtained from three methods were show to be effective predictors of most of the yarn quality parameters.

Technical Abstract: A study was carried to obtain a quantitative assessment of how the presence of short fiber (< 12.5 mm long) in raw cotton affect the quality of ring yarn spun from the mix. Properties of the raw cotton were measured on HVI and AFIS instruments and by the manual Suter-Webb Array method. Twenty-nine bales of cotton were acquired with a wide range of fiber properties having an especially diverse population of short fiber contents. Ring yarns produced from the subject cottons were tested for process and product quality. Results indicated that most of the yarn properties correlated with all of the measures of short fiber content. This was especially true for yarn strength, irregularity, and the frequency of thick and thin defects. A pool of 23 potential predictors from the AFIS, HVI and Suter-Webb fiber properties was utilized to develop ‘best’ models for seven yarn properties. In five of the seven models, the short fiber content variable was the most important predictor, exceptions being the models for yarn strength and elongation. For five of the yarn properties, models built from the basic HVI properties alone were nearly as good as those build from all of the 23 fiber properties. Exceptions were models for elongation and for ends down.