Preparation of Specimens from Wool Top and Cores for Electronic Wool Fineness Determination

Abstract

A study was made of means for rapidly preparing specimens from wool tops and grease wool cores for fineness measurement by an electronic particle size analyzer (Coulter Counter). 3 Factors such as types of blades, geometrical relationships of blade, fiber bundle, and anvil, and means of holding the specimen during cutting were varied. A preferred combination of cutting parameters was selected using particle length uni formity as the principal criterion for selection. The new method has the potential of enabling the preparation of specimens for Coulter Counter fineness analysis from wool tops or grease wool cores in about 20 minutes, while introducing less than a 2% increase in the coefficient of variation of fiber diameter.