Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #205133
Title: Creation of a set of reference material for cotton fiber maturity measurements.

Author
item HEQUET, ERIC - ITC
item WYATT, B. - ITC
item ABIDI, N - ITC
item Thibodeaux, Devron

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2006
Publication Date: 4/1/2006
Citation: Hequet, E., Wyatt, B., Abidi, N., Thibodeaux, D.P. 2006. Creation of a set of reference material for cotton fiber maturity measurements. Textile Research Journal. 76(7):576-586.

Interpretive Summary: To constitute a good base for the calibration of the indirect measurement instruments for maturity and fineness one should have: --- A broad range of values for perimeter, area and theta. --- Low coefficients of variation of the measurements. --- Low coefficients of determination between maturity and fineness. --- A low coefficient of determination between micronaire and maturity ratio for the full range of bales. Therefore, this population of bales constitutes a good base for the calilbration of the indirect measurement instruments for maturity and fineness. The authors now have 104 reference cottons which will enable them to calibrate double compression testers (Lintronics, CSIRO) and the AFIS (Uster). The calibration of the AFIS will probably be a difficult task. Although calibration could be done on the average values, the main advantage of an apparatus such as the AFIS is to have access to the fiber distributions. This implies the necessity of calibrating the distributions, as well as the averages.

Technical Abstract: It was the goal of the authors to create a set of reference cottons for maturity measurements. To achieve this they selected 104 cotton bales representing the two principal cultivated species. The vast majority of the bales orginated in the USA, but some foreign-grown cotton bales werew also selected (Egypt, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Cameroon, Syria, Benin, and Australia). A representative sample of approximately 30 kg (70 pounds) was taken from each bale. Each sample was homogenized according to the protocol used by the International Cotton Calibration Standard Committee (ICCSC) to produce reference cottons. Eight sub-samples per bale were taken and a minimum of 500 cross-sections per sub-sample were analyzed. A broad range of average values of fiber perimeter and fiber maturity for the 104 bales were obtained. Evaluation of the mathematical and statistical relationships pertinent to maturity and fineness revealed that four critical criteria for adequate calibration standards were met. Therefore, this population of bales constitutes a good base for the calibration of the indirect measurement instruments for maturity and fineness.