Heating, Cleaning, and Mechanical Processing Effects on Cottons; Part III: Fiber Properties and Spinning Behavior

Abstract

The fiber properties and processing behavior of gin-dried cottons were determined on Deltapine 15 cotton from the Mississippi Delta area. Several comparisons were made of hand-harvested and machine-havested cottons. Growth conditions had an important influence on the short-fiber content and spinning properties. High short-fiber contents in ginned lint persisted after processing into card sliver. Examination of fibers from length arrays indicated a preferential breakage of fine and immature fibers during ginning and cleaning. At spindle speeds that cause a large number of ends to break, the number of breaks during each hour was related to the running hour of the doff. The spread in number of breaks per doff decreased as number of end breaks decreased. End breakage in spinning increased with gin drying for hand-harvested cotton, but had a minimum at an intermediate drying level for machine-harvested cotton. Yarn grade and strength for both types of harvesting decreased with gin drying. Overdried lint from center segments of bales when processed without preconditioning had higher end breakages than lint from the outer segments.