Author
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Bel, Patricia |
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XU, BUGAO - University Of Texas |
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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2011 Publication Date: 3/25/2011 Citation: Bel, P., Xu, B. 2011. A close look at cotton seed coat fragments with AFISPro. Proceedings of National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference,Jan 4-7, 2011, Atlanta, Ga. p 1226-1235. 2011 CDROM Interpretive Summary: Seed coat fragments (SCF) are parts of a seed coat that have been broken from the surface of either mature or immature seeds during mechanical processing and cause spinning problems and fabric defects. SCN, Seed Coat Neps, is the primary measurement of SCF byAFISPro). AFISPro data is compared to sample that have been seeded with SCF and trash. The matching bale fiber samples, without any cleaning were also run on AFIS Pro. The fabrics (from these fibers) are measured by Autorate an image analysis tool that detects SCF on fabrics. The fiber data was then related to the fabric data. Seeded samples had similar results to the Standard samples for AFISPro which leads to the conclusion that AFISPro is consistent in its measurements. The Hand Counted SCF is larger than SCN count. This is probably because AFIS counts many SCF as Neps only and not as SCNs because they are too small to meet the criteria (only neps with a wide signal are counted as SCF). The opener in the AFISPro is aggressive and the SCF break up and the larger particles which have a wider signal than neps became SCN and the smaller broken SCF tangled with fibers and are seen as Neps. A few of these SCF with minimal fiber may become Trash and some of the seed coat may break off and become Dust. There was very little dust, so the majority of the seed coat particles without fiber were counted as trash. VFM increased slightly. When Trash is processed through the opener it breaks into smaller trash particles and dust. A small portion of the trash particles tangled with fiber to form Neps, and very few of those are large enough to be counted as SCFs. SCNs are 1.6 times larger than the Neps in this study. Smaller SCF are counted as Neps. VFM and Trash were unrelated to the dark specks in the fabric which would mean that the dark specks in the fabrics are SCF, not trash particles. SCN and Neps combined were able to predict the dark specks in the fabric with an R2 of 0.7752 Technical Abstract: Seed coat fragments (SCF) can cause spinning problems and fabric defects, which ultimately cause financial losses to the cotton industry. SCF are parts of a seed coat that have been broken from the surface of either mature or immature seeds during mechanical processing. The objective of this study was to evaluate AFISPro measurements of SCF (SCN –Seed Coat Neps is the primary measurement) and compare AFISPro data to the dark specks measured on fabrics made from these fibers. First two controls (polyester and combed cotton) were run on AFIS. Five cottons were seeded with specific levels of SCF and Trash (10 SCF, no trash; 10 Trash particles, no SCF; and 10 SCF and 10 trash particles) and then run on AFISPro. U.S. cottons were hand cleaned, sorting trash and SCF from the fiber, to quantify the levels of SCF and Trash before testing on AFISPro. Five 0.5 gram hand cleaned samples were prepared where the SCF and Trash were counted. The fibers were then seeded with the removed SCF and trash and run on AFISPro. The matching bale fiber samples, without any cleaning were also run on AFIS Pro. The fabrics (from these fibers) are measured by Autorate an image analysis tool that detects SCF on fabrics. The fiber data was then related to the fabric data. |
