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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Structure and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #173841
Title: METHOD FOR DETERMINING BROKEN FIBER CONTENT IN RING-SPUN YARN

Author
item Robert Jr, Kearny
item Dunn, Melissa
item Price, John
item Cui, Xiaoliang

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2004
Publication Date: 1/4/2005
Citation: Robert Jr, K.Q., Dunn, M.C., Price, J.B., Cui, X. Method for determining broken fiber content in ring-spun yarn. CD-ROM. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 2005.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This student summer project was part of a more general undertaking to survey the Broken Fiber Content (BFC) in cotton at various stages of production and utilization. The specific task reported here was to develop a method for the quantitative characterization of broken fibers in ring-spun yarn. Our approach was to carefully (and tediously) remove the twist from yarns using a twist-measurement device, to recover the individual fibers from the de-twisted yarns in a representative and undisturbed form, and to manually shape the fibers into a sliver suitable for use as a measurement specimen. This manipulation had to be done according to precise unwinding techniques, the development of which was a significant element of this project. The length distribution of the cotton fibers in the hand sliver was then measured by use of the AFIS length-measurement system. The numerical breakage model of Robert et al. was applied to the length distribution data to determine the Broken Fiber Content (BFC), or fraction by mass of broken fiber in each yarn. Preliminary results support the view that the breakage accumulated by cotton during production and utilization processing may total as much as 50% of the mass of the fiber by the time it has been transformed into yarn.