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Title: MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF COTTON ROTOR DUST

Author
item Foulk, Jonn
item McAlister Iii, David
item Himmelsbach, David
item Hughs, Sidney

Submitted to: Journal of Cotton Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2004
Publication Date: 10/1/2004
Citation: Foulk, J.A., Mcalister Iii, D.D., Himmelsbach, D.S., Hughs, S.E. 2004. Mid-infrared spectroscopy of cotton rotor dust. Journal of Cotton Science, Vol. 8, Issue 4, 243-253.

Interpretive Summary: COMPRESSED RAW COTTON BALES CONTAIN VARYING AMOUNTS OF TRASH AND DUST. ALL TYPES OF TRASH ARE KNOWN TO AFFECT PROCESSING EFFICIENCY. DURING TEXTILE PROCESSING THIS COMPRESSED COTTON IS PROGRESSIVELY OPENED, MIXED, CLEANED, AND REDUCED TO SMALLER FIBER TUFTS. LARGE PARTICLES OF TRASH AND DUST ARE MORE EASILY REMOVED DURING THIS OPENING AND CLEANING BUT MICRODUST PARTICLES ARE HARDER TO REMOVE BECAUSE THEY ARE ENTRAPPED WITHIN THE COTTON FIBERS. THE CARD FURTHER REMOVES A LARGE AMOUNT OF THESE PARTICLES WITH ITS VIGOROUS MECHANICAL AND PNEUMATIC FORCES PRODUCING A THIN WEB OF FIBERS. ROTOR SPINNING AFTER CARDING REMOVES SOME OF THE TRASH THAT REMAINS IN THE CARD SLIVER. SOME OF THE TRASH REMOVED DURING ROTOR SPINNING BECOMES ENTRAPPED IN THE ROTOR GROOVE AND CAN CAUSE SPINNING PROBLEMS. TRASH REMOVAL IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR ROTOR SPINNING THAN RING SPINNING THE OTHER PREDOMINANT SPINNING SYSTEM. TRASH IN THE ROTOR GROOVE IS TYPICALLY PULVERIZED TRASH PARTICLES WHOSE ORIGINS CANNOT BE VISUALLY DETERMINED. THE ELIMINATION OF TRASH FROM COTTON FIBER HAS OFTEN BEEN A MEANS TO IMPROVE ROTOR SPINNING EFFICIENCY. THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF FIBER CONTAMINATION AND DETERMINE HOW THESE FRACTIONS IMPACT TEXTILE PROCESSING. THE RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE UTILITY OF USING MID-INFRARED "FINGERPRINTING" AS A MEANS OF TRASH IDENTIFICATION. IN THIS STUDY, MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY APPEARS TO BE ABLE TO PREDICT TRASH TYPE AND DEMONSTRATES THAT THE ROTOR DUST ACCUMULATING IN OPEN-END SPINNING APPEARS TO BE HULL AND SHALE.

Technical Abstract: COTTON ALWAYS HAS A CERTAIN LEVEL OF TRASH ASSOCIATED WITH ITS FIBERS AND THIS TRASH IS KNOWN TO AFFECT PROCESSING EFFICIENCY. ROTOR SPINNING IS MORE SENSITIVE TO TRASH LEVELS IN COTTON COMPARED TO THE OTHER MAJOR SPINNING SYSTEM, RING SPINNING. THE REMOVAL OF CERTAIN TRASH TYPES OR TRASH SIZES HAS OFTEN BEEN A MEANS TO IMPROVE PROCESSING EFFICIENCY. THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO IDENTIFY THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FIBER CONTAMINATION AND UNDERSTAND HOW EACH FRACTION IMPACTS TEXTILE PROCESSING. TRASH TRAPPED IN THE ROTOR GROOVE IS TYPICALLY PULVERIZED TRASH PARTICLES WHOSE ORIGINS CANNOT BE VISUALLY DETERMINED (E.G., LEAF, BARK, SEED COAT, ETC.). THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNIQUES OR INSTRUMENTS WILL BE NECESSARY TO RELIABLY PROVIDE RAPID, CONSISTENT, AND QUANTITATIVE IDENTIFICATION OF COTTON TRASH SOURCES. WORK HAS BEEN DONE WITH INFRARED MICROSCOPY IN ORDER TO CONFIRM THE UTILITY OF INFRARED MAPPING OF COTTON BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS. THE MID-INFRARED REGION IS FOUND BETWEEN THE WAVE NUMBERS 4,000 AND 650 CM-1 AND CAN BE EVALUATED VIA FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED (FT-IR) AS A QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYTICAL TOOL FOR ORGANIC SUBSTANCES. THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH REPORTED HERE WAS TO IDENTIFY THE ORIGINS AND UNDERSTAND HOW EACH TYPE OF PULVERIZED TRASH IMPACTS TEXTILE PROCESSING. THESE RESULTS DEMONSTRATE THE UTILITY OF USING MID-INFRARED "FINGERPRINTING". MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IS USED TO COMPARE TRASH PARTICLESS OR DUST TO A SPECTRAL DATABASE OF AUTHENTIC SAMPLES TO BETTER DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF PROBLEMATIC TRASH TYPES. MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY APPEARS TO BE ABLE TO PREDICT TRASH TYPE AND DEMONSTRATES THAT THE ROTOR DUST ACCUMULATING IN OPEN-END SPINNING ROTORS APPEARS TO BE HULL AND SHALE RATHER THAN SEED COAT FRAGMENTS. THIS TECHNIQUE OFFERS THE POTENTIAL TO STUDY THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS TYPES OF TRASH ON SPINNING EFFICIENCY.