Heating, Cleaning, and Mechanical Processing Effects on Cotton: Part I: Fiber Changes as Measured by Alkali Centrifuge Test

Abstract

The effects of heat and mechanical processing were followed, by means of the alkali centrifuge test, in cottons of different crop years. Laboratory heating alone, if held within the limits considered acceptable in ginning operations, did not significantly alter the average alkali centrifuge value (ACV). Mechanical manipulation of cotton while hot and dry, as in gin lint cleaning, increased the ACV. Mill processing increased ACV, and each process produced a constant change regardless of the degree of drying at the gin. Several factors, such as cotton maturity, microbial activity, stage of processing, determine the level of ACV. Certain properties of lint or yarns were related to ACV, sometimes through mutual relations to other properties which are more difficult to evaluate.