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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #336730
Research Project: Enhancing the Quality, Utility, Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Western and Long-Staple Cotton through Improvements in Harvesting, Processing, and Utilization

Location: Cotton Ginning Research

Title: Cryogenically treated gin saw wear test – Third season

Author
item Hughs, Sidney
item Hardin Iv, Robert
item Delhom, Christopher - Chris

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/9/2017
Publication Date: 6/20/2017
Citation: Hughs, S.E., Hardin Iv, R.G., Delhom, C.D. 2017. Cryogenically treated gin saw wear test – Third season. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 4-6, 2017, Dallas, TX. p. 433-434.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Saw blades in saw gin stands are replaced at regular intervals due to wear and are a significant expense item. Extending the working life of gin saw blades would result in cost savings for gin repair and maintenance. It was reported that the lumber industry uses cryogenic treatment to significantly extend the life of saws used in lumber mills. While lumber mill saws and gin saws are very different applications, both are subject to severe wear due to the material that they process. A trial was conducted in three separate commercial cotton gins (two processing machine-picked and one processing machine-stripped cotton) during the 2014/15 ginning season to judge the potential of extending gin saw life using cryogenic treatment. It was observed that treated saw blades showed visibly less wear than untreated saw blades at the end of the ginning season. However, since all treated and untreated saw sets ran to the end of the ginning season, no conclusions were able to be drawn concerning useful gin saw life. A second test was started at a single cotton gin during the 2015/16 ginning season to determine the effect of cryogenic treatment on gin saw life. This test was conducted using gin saws (both treated and untreated) from the same manufacturer’s lot. All saw sets operated the entire ginning season without failure for an average of 10,250 bales through each saw gin stand. These gin saws were left in their respective gin stands and operated through the 2016/17 ginning season. This report documents the time to failure results of the gin saws as well as cotton fiber data from both treated and untreated saw sets for this current ginning season.