ARS | Publication request: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PARAMETERS USED FOR CHARACTERIZING COTTON SHORT FIBERS

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: February 8, 2010
Publication Date: April 28, 2010
Citation: Cui, X., Cai, Y., Rodgers III, J.E., Thibodeaux, D.P., Martin, V., Watson, M. 2010. A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON PARAMETERS USED FOR CHARACTERIZING COTTON SHORT FIBERS. Proceeding of the 2010 National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 5-7, 2010, New Orleans, Louisiana. p. 1414-1416. 2010 CDROM

Interpretive Summary: The quantity of short cotton fibers in a cotton sample is an important cotton quality parameter which impacts yarn production performance and yarn quality. Short Fiber Content (SFC) is the most commonly used parameter for characterizing the amount of short fibers in a cotton sample. However, SFC has very high variation. Researchers have proposed different parameters for characterizing short fibers. A comprehensive study was carried out to compare various short fiber parameters reported in the literature. The comparisons were focused on: the variations of these parameters, their relationships with SFC, and their capabilities in predicting yarn properties. Based on this investigation, Lower Half Mean Length (LHML) has the lowest variation, is highly correlated with SFC, and predicts yarn properties similarly as SFC does. LHML is easy to understand as a complement to UHML, which is used for cotton length globally. Therefore, LHML is a good alternative parameter of SFC to characterize cotton short fibers.

Technical Abstract: The quantity of short cotton fibers in a cotton sample is an important cotton quality parameter which impacts yarn production performance and yarn quality. Researchers have proposed different parameters for characterizing the amount of short fibers in a cotton sample. A comprehensive study was carried out to compare various short fiber parameters reported in the literature. The comparisons were focused on: the variations of these parameters, their relationships with the traditional Short Fiber Content (SFC), and their capabilities in predicting yarn properties. The advantages of the new short fiber parameter – Lower Half Mean Length – are discussed.