The effect of short fibre and neps on Murata vortex spinning

subjected to extended pilling tests to againhighlight the <strong>effect</strong>s <strong>of</strong> elevated <strong>short</strong> <strong>fibre</strong>.FIBRE QUALITY CHARACTERISTICSSince growing location <strong>and</strong> conditions includingharvesting were identical, the differences in <strong>fibre</strong>properties can be attributed to module storage<strong>and</strong> gin heat. As expected, micronaire, <strong>fibre</strong>fineness <strong>and</strong> maturity were unaffected by the gintreatments. But length, strength, trash <strong>and</strong> nepcharacteristics were significantly affected by thecombination <strong>of</strong> storage moisture <strong>and</strong> gin heatconditions.FIGURE 6: MVS yarn tenacityFibre length characteristics<strong>The</strong>re were pronounced differences in staplelength, <strong>short</strong> <strong>fibre</strong> index <strong>and</strong> length uniformitybetween gin treatments (see Figures 1, 2 <strong>and</strong> 3).In general, seed cotton ginned with no heat inthe gin produced longer, more even cotton.Moist seed cotton ginned with no heat (MZ)produced the longest, most even cotton followedby dry seed cotton treated with zero heat (DZ).On the other h<strong>and</strong>, dry seed cotton treated withhigh heat (DH) <strong>and</strong> seed cotton stored underambient conditions <strong>and</strong> treated to st<strong>and</strong>ard heat(AS) produced lint with reduced staple length<strong>and</strong> higher <strong>short</strong> <strong>fibre</strong> contents.FIGURE 7: MVS yarn imperfections (Ne30/1 only)StrengthFibre strength is a fundamental <strong>fibre</strong> propertythat decides both yarn <strong>and</strong> fabric quality <strong>and</strong>processing efficiency. Fibre strength across alltreatments was generally very good (more than29 grams per tex) <strong>and</strong> in keeping with the grade<strong>of</strong> the cotton ginned. As expected, <strong>fibre</strong> strengthdid not vary greatly between gin treatments,although measurements were higher fortreatments stored under moist conditions (MZ<strong>and</strong> MH).FIGURE 8: MVS yarn hairinessTrash <strong>and</strong> <strong>neps</strong>Trash <strong>and</strong> <strong>fibre</strong> entanglements, such as <strong>neps</strong>,disrupt the spinning processes <strong>and</strong> damage bothyarn <strong>and</strong> fabric appearance. <strong>The</strong>se contaminantsmay be less <strong>of</strong> a problem in MVS spinningbecause <strong>of</strong> the suction around the MVSstationary spindle. As well as removing <strong>short</strong>er<strong>fibre</strong>s, the vacuum removes <strong>neps</strong> before they areFIGURE 9: Fibre lost during spinning