Author
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Bel, Patricia |
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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/2005 Publication Date: 6/4/2005 Citation: Bel Berger, P. Neps in U.S. cottons. Proceedings of the 2005 Beltwide Cotton Conferences. CD-ROM. Memphis, TN:National Cotton Council. Interpretive Summary: International marketing of US cotton is much more important now than it was as few as ten years ago. As US mill production has dropped, China's mill production and consumption of cotton has increased significantly. Neps have become an international problem for US cottons, particularly in China. China has historically hand counted neps and their test methods indicate that US cottons have elevated levels of neps. US and Chinese cottons were evaluated at SRRC by the Chinese nep method, HVI, AFIS and the 720 Uster Nep Tester (Chinese HVI add-on). The US samples were processed into fabrics and evaluated for white speck neps, the most critical neps for fabric quality. The study shows very little correlation between the Chinese nep method to white specks. The 720 Uster Nep Tester and AFIS Neps have a high correlation to white speck neps in dyed fabrics. AFIS and the 720 Nep tester (both developed by Uster) have a mechanical opener and the clusters of immature fibers that are removed in the Chinese method are turned into the neps, just as they would be during mill processing. AFIS shows the Chinese hand picked cottons have a similar level of neps as the US spindle picked cottons. AFIS and Uster Nep Tests are fast but not as fast as HVI. The HVI Buckling Coefficient (Length2/mic2) also has a strong correlation to white specks, which indicates that long fine immature fibers are more likely to produce entanglements in processing which appear white in the dyed fabrics. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists' expertise in measuring cotton quality has helped ensure continued access to China. It is important for the USDA to continue their work with the Chinese as the actual U.S. shipments to China are presently over 4.8 million bales or about 27% of the U.S. crop of 18 million bales, a market worth $733 million in 2003 to U.S. cotton producers. Technical Abstract: It's vital for the US cotton industry to understand other countries' perception of our cotton quality. In the last 10 years, US mill production has dropped dramatically and international marketing is becoming critical to the US cotton producers. During this period, China's mill production and consumption of cotton has increased significantly, filling the void due to the shut down of our mills. Neps have become an international problem for US cottons, particularly in China. China has historically hand counted neps and their test methods indicate that US cottons have elevated levels of neps. US and Chinese cottons were evaluated at SRRC by the Chinese nep method and AFIS. The US samples were processed into fabrics and evaluated for white speck neps, the most critical neps for fabric quality. There is a very low correlation between the neps from the Chinese nep method and white specks. A high correlation is seen between AFIS measurements and white specks. AFIS has a mechanical opener and the clusters of immature fibers that are removed in the Chinese method become neps from the mechanical action of the opener, just as they would during mill processing. AFIS shows that the Chinese hand picked cottons have a similar level of neps as the US spindle picked cottons. |