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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #159967
Title: A STUDY OF BALE MOISTURE ADDITION

Author
item Chun, David
item Hughs, Sidney
item Armijo, Carlos
item Baker, Kevin
item MCALISTER III, DAVID - USTER TECHNOLOGIES

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2005
Publication Date: 12/5/2006
Citation: Chun, D.T., Hughs, S.E., Armijo, C.B., Baker, K.D., Mcalister III, D. 2006. A study of bale moisture addition. Transactions of the ASABE. 50(2):325-330.

Interpretive Summary: TECHNOLOGIES HAVE CHANGED WHICH ALLOW FOR MORE CONTROL AND HIGHER VOLUMES OF WATER TO BE ADDED TO COTTON AT THE LINT SLIDE THAN EVER BEFORE. THE TREATMENTS APPLIED TO EACH SET OF 9 BALES WERE NO WATER ADDED, 10, 20, AND 30 POUNDS OF WATER ADDED. NINE BALES EACH OF FOUR TARGET MOISTURE LEVELS WERE PROCESSED AT GINNING, RESULTING IN 36 TOTAL BALES. BALES WERE STORED IN A COTTON WAREHOUSE IN CLEMSON, SC. AT INTERVALS OF ONE MONTH, TWO MONTHS AND SIX MONTHS, 3 BALES OF EACH TREATMENT WERE REMOVED FROM STORAGE FOR SAMPLING FOR MOISTURE CONTENT AND FIBER PROPERTIES AND AT SIX MONTHS OF STORAGE SPINNING TRIALS WERE CONDUCTED. WITH RESPECT TO THE STORAGE PERIODS AND TREATMENTS OF THIS STUDY, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT COLOR CHANGES TO THE COTTON FIBER AND YARN QUALITY, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON MICROBIAL ACTIVITY OR THE BLEACHED AND DYED FABRIC. THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND GINNERS AS IT ESTABLISHES SOME POINTS WHERE DETERIORATION OCCURS TO FIBER AND YARN QUALITY FROM ADDING EXCESSIVE MOISTURE. THE RESULTS OF THIS WORK HAVE ALREADY SERVED AS A FOUNDATION FOR CURRENT RESEARCH ON ESTABLISHING A RECOMMENDATION ON THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF WATER THAT CAN BE ADDED AT THE LINT SLIDE WITHOUT CAUSING HARM TO THE FIBER AND THE END TEXTILE PRODUCT.

Technical Abstract: THE STUDY OF THE ADDITION OF WATER TO COTTON AT GINNING DATES BACK TO THE EARLY 1950'S. SINCE THIS TIME, TECHNOLOGIES HAVE CHANGED WHICH ALLOW FOR MORE CONTROL AND HIGHER VOLUMES OF WATER TO BE ADDED TO COTTON AT THE LINT SLIDE THAN EVER BEFORE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY REPORTED HERE WAS TO DETERMINE AN ACCEPTABLE BALE MOISTURE RANGE WITHIN WHICH FIBER QUALITY, YARN QUALITY, MICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND DYED FABRIC QUALITY DEGRADATION CAN SAFELY BE AVOIDED AFTER 6 MONTHS OF BALE STORAGE. NINE BALES EACH OF FOUR TARGET MOISTURE LEVELS WERE PROCESSED AT GINNING, RESULTING IN 36 TOTAL BALES. THE TREATMENTS APPLIED TO EACH SET OF 9 BALES WERE NO WATER ADDED, 10, 20, AND 30 POUNDS OF WATER ADDED. BALES WERE STORED IN A COTTON WAREHOUSE IN CLEMSON, SC. AT INTERVALS OF ONE MONTH, TWO MONTHS AND SIX MONTHS, 3 BALES OF EACH TREATMENT WERE REMOVED FROM STORAGE FOR SAMPLING FOR MOISTURE CONTENT AND FIBER PROPERTIES. AT THE SIX MONTH STORAGE PERIOD, APPROXIMATELY 50 POUNDS OF COTTON WERE SAMPLED FROM EACH OF THE THREE BALES FOR EACH MOISTURE TREATMENT FOR SPINNING TO TEST YARN PROCESSING, YARN QUALITY, AND DYED FABRIC QUALITY. IN ADDITION TO HVI FIBER PROPERTIES, ADDITIONAL TESTING OF THE FIBERS WAS PERFORMED ON THE ADVANCED FIBER INFORMATION SYSTEM (AFIS) FOLLOWED BY MICRIBIAL ACTIVITY DETERMINATIONS. THE RESULTING 20/1 OPEN-END SPUN YARNS WERE SUBJECTED TO TYPICAL YARN QUALITY MEASUREMENTS (C.V., DEFECTS, STRENGTH, & ELONGATION) AND THEN CIRCULAR KNIT INTO PANELS SO THAT YARN FROM EACH TREATMENT WAS BUTT-KNIT TO MORE EASILY OBSERVED COLOR OR SHADE CHANGE. WITH RESPECT TO YARN QUALITY, IT APPEARS THAT 20 OR MORE POUNDS OF WATER ADDED TO BALES OF COTTON AT THE LINT SLIDE RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANT AS WELL AS PRACTICAL REDUCTIONS IN YARN QUALITY. WITH RESPECT TO THE STORAGE PERIODS AND TREATMENTS OF THIS STUDY, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT COLOR CHANGES TO THE COTTON FIBER THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON MICROBIAL ACTIVITY OR THE BLEACHED AND DYED FABRIC. ADDITIONALLY, IT APPEARS THAT BETWEEN 6-8.5% LIES THE POINT OF DIMINISHING RETURN FOR ADDING MOISTURE TO COTTON AT THE LINT SLIDE.