Author
Submitted to: Fiber Selection Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 11/2/1995 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Cotton quality grades, provided by the USDA, now include a measure of leaf area to indicate the amount of visible trash. Leaf area is measured with video trashmeters and reported as the percent of the cotton sample covered by leaf particles. This report includes equations (for cotton consumers) to estimate the amount of loss one can expect when cleaning cotton for textile mill processing. Technical Abstract: Digitized images from black and white video cameras are being used to measure the area and numbers of particles in cotton. The method now provides trash grades for nearly all U. S. cotton. Small samples from each bale are compressed against a glass window and illuminated for imaging. Trash area readings are based on the relative darkness of each particle when compared to the cotton lint. Herein, we compare the accuracy of this method with gravimetric measurements of nonlint content from Shirley Analyzers and provide a formula to estimate textile mill losses. |