Engineering and ginning: Effect of machine-fiber interaction on cotton fiber quality and foreign-matter particle attachment to fiber Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Changes in cotton fiber quality and attachment forces between foreign-matter particles and fibers were studied at different stages from the time of harvest through lint cleaning to develop new and less damaging methods for removing foreign-matter particles from cotton fiber. The study involved 75 samples collected from five field locations near College Station, Texas, including three replications and five harvesting and processing treatments: (1) hand picked and hand ginned, (2) machine picked and hand ginned, (3) machine picked, seed-cotton cleaned, and hand ginned, (4) machine picked, seed-cotton cleaned, and machine ginned, and (5) machine picked, seed-cotton cleaned, machine ginned, and onstage lint-cleaned. A microscope was used to identify foreign-matter particles in each sample. Physical characteristics of the particles and their attachment to fibers were investigated and classified. Results indicated that each machine-fiber interaction during the harvesting through ginning process had the net effect of decreasing the size of foreign-matter particles. The particles had no obvious difference in shape across the processing stages. The tightness of particle-fiber attachment, the number of neps, and the short-fiber content differed significantly as a function of mechanical interactions: they increased as the number of mechanical interactions increased. Processing through the gin stand was a major contributor to the increase in short fiber content. The majority of the foreign-matter particles were leaves, but proportions of the particle categories changed with stages of processing. With an increased number. The Cotton Foundation 2010.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Cotton Science

author list (cited authors)

  • Sui, R., Thomasson, J. A., Byler, R. K., Clif Boykin, J., & Barnes, E. M.

publication date

  • January 2010