FIBRE TESTING

FIBRE ELONGATION:
There are three types of elongation
Permanent elongation: the length which extended during loading did not
recover during relaxation
Elastic elongation:The extensions through which the fibres does return
Breaking elongation:the maximum extension at which the yarn breaks
i.e.permanent and elastic elongation together Elongation is specified as a
percentage of the starting length. The elastic elongation is of deceisive
importance, since textile products without elasticity would hardly be usable.
They must be able to deforme, In order to withstand high loading, but they
must also return to shatpe. The greater resistance to crease
for wool compared to cotton arises, from the difference in their elongation.
For cotton it is 6 -10% and for wool it is aroun 25 - 45%. For normal textile
goods, higher elongation are neither necessary nor desirable. They make
processing in the spinning mill more difficult, especially in drawing
operations.
FIBRE RIGIDITY:
The Torsional rigidity of a fibre may be defined as the torque or twisting
force required to twist 1 cm length of the fibre through 360 degrees and is
proportional to the product of the modulus of rigidity and square of the area
of cross-section, the constant of proportionality being dependent upon the
shape of the cross-section of the fibre. The torsional rigidity of cotton has
therefore been found to be very much dependent upon the gravimetric
fineness of the fibres. As the rigidity of fibres is sensitive to the relative
humidity of the surrounding atmosphere, it is essential that the tests are
carried out in a conditional room where the relative
humidity is kept constant.
THE SLENDERNESS RATIO:
Fibre stiffness plays a significant role mainly when rolling, revolving,
twisting movements are involved. A fibre which is too stiff has difficulty
adapting to the movements. It is difficult to get bound into the yarn, which
results in higher hairiness. Fibres which are not stiff enough have too little
springiness. They do not return to shape after deformation. They have no
longitudinal resistance. In most cases this leads to formation of neps. Fibre
stiffness is dependent upon fibre substance and also upon the relationship
between fibre length and fibre fineness. Fibres having the same structure
will be stiffer, the shorter they are. The slendernesss ratio can serve as a
measure of stiffness,
slender ratio = fibre length /fibre diameter
Since the fibres must wind as they are bound-in during yarn formation in the
ring spinning machine, the slenderness ratio also determines to some extent
where the fibres will finish up.fine and/or long fibres in the middle coarse
and/or short fibres at the yarn periphery.
TRASH CONTENT:
In additon to usuable fibres, cotton stock contains foreign matter of various
kinds. This foreign material can lead to extreme disturbances during
processing. Trash affects yarn and fabric quality. Cottons with two different
trash contents should not be mixed together, as it will lead to processing
difficulties. Optimising process paramters will be of great difficulty under
this situation, therefore it is a must to know the amount of trash and the type
of trash before deciding the mixing.
SHIRLEY TRASH ANLAYSER:
A popular trash measuring device is the Shirley Analyser, which separates
trash and foreign matter from lint by mechanical methods. The result is an
expression of trash as a percentage of the combined weight of trash and lint
of a sample.

This instrument is used

to give the exact value of waste figures and also the proportion of clean
cotton and trash in the material
to select the proper processing sequence based upon the trash content
to assess the cleaning efficiency of each machine
to determine the loss of good fibre in the sequence of opening and cleaning.
Stricter sliver quality requirements led to the gradual evolution of opening
and cleaning machinery leading to a situation where blow room and carding
machinery were designed to remove exclusively certain specific types of
trash particles. This necessitated the segregation of the trash in the cotton
sample to different grades determined by their size. This was achieved in the
instruments like the Trash Separator and the Micro Dust Trash Analyser
which could be considered as modified versions of the Shirley Analyser.
The high volume instruments introduced the concept of optical methods of
trash measurement which utilised video scanning trash-meters to identify
areas darker than normal on a cotton sample surface. Here, the trash content
was expressed as the percentage area covered by the trash particles.
However in such methods, comparability with the conventional method
could not be established in view of the non-uniform distribution of trash in a
given cotton sample and the relatively smaller sample size to determine such
a parameter. Consequently, it is yet to establish any significant name in the
industry.
RAW MATERIAL AS A FACTOR AFFECTING SPINNING:
Fineness determines how many fibres are present in the cross-section of a
yarn of particular linear density. 30 to 50 fibres are needed minimum to
produce a yarn fibre fineness influences
spinning limit
yarn strength
yarn evenness
yarn fullness
drape of the fabric
lustre
handle
productivity
productivity is influenced by the end breakage rate and twist per inch
required in the yarn
Immature fibres(unripe fibres) have neither adequate strength nor adequate
longitudinal siffness. They therefore lead to the following,
loss of yarn strength
neppiness
high proportion of short fibres
varying dyeability
processing difficulties at the card and blowroom
Fibre length is one among the most important characteristics. It influnces
spinning limit
yarn strength
handle of the product
lustre of the product
yarn hairiness
productivity
It can be assumed that fibres of under 4 - 5 mm will be lost in processing(as
waste and fly). fibres upto about 12 - 15 mm do not contribute to strength
but only to fullness of the yarn. But fibres above these lengths produce the
other positive characteristics in the yarn.
The proportion of short fibres has extremely great influence on the following
parameters
spinning limit
yarn strength
handle of the product
lustre of the product
yarn hairiness
productivity
A large proportion of short fibre leads to strong fly contamination, strain on
personnel, on the machines, on the work room and on the air-conditioning,
and also to extreme drafting difficulties.
A uniform yarn would have the same no of fibres in the cross-section, at all
points along it. If the fibres themeselves have variations within themselves,
then the yarn will be more irregular.
If 2.5% span length of the fibre increases, the yarn strength also icreases due
to the fact that
there is a greater contribution by the fibre strength for the yarn strength in
the case of longer fibres.
Neps are small entanglements or knots of fibres. There are two types of
neps. They are 1.fibre neps and 2.seed-coat neps.In general fibre neps
predominate, the core of the nep consists of unripe and dead fibres. Thus it is
clear that there is a relationship between neppiness and maturity index.
Neppiness is also dependent on the fibre fineness, because fine fibres have
less longitudinal stiffness than coarser fibres.
Nature produces countless fibres, most of which are not usable for textiles
because of inadequate strength.
The minimum strength for a textile fibre is approximately 6gms/tex ( about 6
kn breaking length).
Since blending of the fibres into the yarn is achieved mainly by twisting, and
can exploit 30 to 70% of the strength of the material, a lower limit of about 3
gms/tex is finally obtained for the yarn strength, which varies linearly with
the fibre strength.
Low micronaire value of cotton results in higher yarn tenacity.In coarser
counts the influence of micronaire to increase yarn tenacity is not as
significant as fine count.
Fibre strength is moisture dependent. i.e. It depends strongly upon the
climatic conditions and upon the time of exposure. Strength of cotton,linen
etc. increases with increasing moisture content.
The most important property inflencing yarn elongation is fibre
elongation.Fibre strength ranks seconds in importance as a contributor to
yarn elongation. Fibre fineness influences yarn elongation only after fibre
elongation and strength. Other characters such as span length, uniformity
ratio, maturity etc, do not contribute significantly to the yarn
elongation.Yarn elongation increases with increasing twist. Coarser yarn has
higher elongation than finer yarn. Yarn elongation decreases with increasing
spinning tension. Yarn elongation is also influenced
by traveller weight and high variation in twist insertion.
For ring yarns the number of thin places increases, as the trash content and
uniformity ratio increased For rotor yarns 50%span length and bundle
strength has an influence on thin places.
Thick places in ringyarn is mainly affected by 50%span length, trash content
and shor fibre content.
The following expression helps to obtain the yarn CSP achievable at
optimum twist multiplier with the available fibre properties.

Lea CSP for Karded count = 280 x SQRT(FQI) + 700 - 13C

Lea CSP for combed count = (280 x SQRT(FQI) + 700 - 13C)x(1+W)/100

where,
FQI = LSM/F
L = 50% span length(mm)
S = bundle strength (g/tex)
M = Maturity ratio measured by shirly FMT
F = Fibre fineness (micrograms/inch)
C = yarn count
W = comber waste%
Higher FQI values are associated with higher yarn strength in the case of
carded counts but in combed count such a relationship is not noticed due to
the effect of combing
Higher 2.5 % span length, uniformity ratio, maturity ratio and lower trash
content results in lower imperfection. FQI does not show any significant
influence on the imperfection.
The unevenness of carded hosiery yarn does not show any significant
relationships with any of the fibre properties except the micronaire value. As
the micronaire value increases, U% also increases. Increase in FQI however
shows a reduction in U%.
Honey-dew is the best known sticky substance on cotton fibres. This is a
secretion of the cotton louse. There are other types of sticky substances also.
They are given below.
honey dew - secretions
fungus and bacteria - decomposition products
vegetable substances - sugars from plant juices, leaf nectar, overprodcution
of wax,
fats, oils - seed oil from ginning
pathogens
synthetic substances - defoliants, insecticides, fertilizers, oil from harvesting
machines
In the great majority of cases, the substance is one of a group of sugars of
the most variable composition, primarily but not exclusively, fructose,
glucose, saccharose, melezitose, as found, for example on sudan cotton.
These saccharides are mostly, but not always, prodced by insects or the
plants themselves, depending upon the influence on the plants prior to
plucking. Whether or not a fibre will stick depends, not only on the quantity
of the sticky coating and it composition, but also on the degree of saturation
as a solution.

Sugars are broken down by fermentation and by microorganisms during

storage of the cotton. This occurs more quickly the higher the moisture
content. During spinning of sticky cotton, the R.H.% of the air in the
production are should be held as low as possible.
The following table shows the degree of correlation between the various
cotton fibre quality characteristics and those of the yarns into which these
fibres are spun - RING SPUN YARNS
imperfection
yarn and breaking breaking
hairiness
evenness classimat tenacity elongation
faults
fibre length
micronaire value
nep, trash, leaf,
microdust, fibre
fragments
1/8" breaking
strength
1/8" elongation
colot/reflectance
significant correlation

good correlation
little or no correlation

The following table shows the degree of correlation between the various
cotton fibre quality characteristics and those of the yarns into which these
fibres are spun - ROTOR SPUUN YARNS.
imperfections
yarn breaking breaking
and classimat hairiness
evenness tenacity elongation
faults
fibre length
micronaire
value
nep, leaf,
trash,microdust,
fibre fragments
1/8" breaking
strength
1/8" breaking
elongation
color/
reflectance
significant correlation

good correlation

little or no correlation

Fiber testing

IMPORTANCE OF RAWMATERIAL IN YARN MANUFACTURING:

Raw material represents about 50 to 70% of the production cost of a short-
staple yarn. This fact is sufficient to indicate the significance of the
rawmaterial for the yarn producer. It is not possible to use a problem-free
raw material always , because cotton is a natural fibre and there are many
properties which will affect the performance. If all the properties have to be
good for the cotton, the rawmaterial would be too expensive. To produce a
good yarn with this difficulties, an intimate knowledge of the raw material
and its behaviour in processing is a must.
Fibre characteristics must be classified according to a certain sequence of
importance with respect to the end product and the spinning process.
Moreover, such quantified characteristics must also be assessed with
reference to the following
what is the ideal value?
what amount of variation is acceptable in the bale material?
what amount of variation is acceptable in the final blend
Such valuable experience, which allows one to determine the most suitable
use for the raw material, can only be obtained by means of a long,
intensified and direct association with the raw material, the spinning process
and the end product.
Low cost yarn manufacture, fulfilling of all quality requirements and a
controlled fibre feed with known fibre properties are necessary in order to
compete on the world's textile markets. Yarn prodcution begins with the
rawmaterial in bales, whereby success or failure is determined by the fibre
quality, its price and availability. Successful yarn producers optimise profits
by a process oriented selection and mixing of the rawmaterial, followed by
optimisation of the machine settings, production rates, operating elements,
etc. Simultaneously, quality is ensured
by means of a closed loop control system, which requires the application of
supervisory system at spinning and spinning preparation, as well as a means
of selecting the most sutable bale mix.
BASIC FIBRE CHARACTERISTICS:
A textile fibre is a peculiar object. It has not truly fixed length, width,
thickness, shape and cross-section. Growth of natural fibres or prodction
factors of manmade fibres are responsible for this situation. An individual
fibre, if examined carefully, will be seen to vary in cross-sectional area along
it length. This may be the result of variations in growth rate, caused by
dietary, metabolic, nutrient-supply, seasonal, weather, or other factors
influencing the rate of cell development in natural fibres. Surface
characteristics also play some part in increasing the variablity of fibre shape.

The scales of wool, the twisted arrangement of cotton, the nodes appearing
at intervals along the cellulosic natural fibres etc.
Following are the basic chareteristics of cotton fibre
fibre length
fineness
strength
maturity
Rigidity
fibre friction
structural features
STANDARD ATMOSPHERE FOR TESTING:
The atmosphere in which physical tests on textile materials are performed. It
has a relative humidity of 65 + 2 per cent and a temperature of 20 + 2° C. In
tropical and sub-tropical countries, an alternative standard atmosphere for
testing with a relative humidity of 65 + 2 per cent and a temperature of 27 +
2° C,
may be used.
FIBRE LENGTH:
The "length" of cotton fibres is a property of commercial value as the price
is generally based on this character. To some extent it is true, as other factors
being equal, longer cottons give better spinning performance than shorter
ones. But the length of a cotton is an indefinite quantity, as the fibres, even
in a small random bunch of a cotton, vary enormously in length. Following
are the various measures of length in use in different countries
mean length
upper quartile
effective length
Modal length
2.5% span length
50% span length
Mean length:
It is the estimated quantity which theoretically signifies the arithmetic mean
of the length of all the fibres present in a small but representative sample of
the cotton. This quantity can be an average according to either number or
weight.
Upper quartile length:
It is that value of length for which 75% of all the observed values are lower,
and 25% higher.
Effective length:
It is difficult to give a clear scientific definition. It may be defined as the
upper quartile of a
numerical length distribution
eliminated by an arbitrary construction. The fibres eliminated are shorter
than half the effective length.
Modal length:
It is the most frequently occurring length of the fibres in the sample and it is
related to mean and median for skew distributions, as exhibited by fibre
length, in the follwing way.

(Mode-Mean) = 3(Median-Mean)
where,
Median is the particular value of length above and below which exactly 50%
of the fibres lie.
2.5% Span length:
It is defined as the distance spanned by 2.5% of fibres in the specimen being
tested when the fibres are parallelized and randomly distributed and where
the initial starting point of the scanning in the test is considered 100%. This
length is measured using "DIGITAL FIBROGRAPH".
50% Span length:
It is defined as the distance spanned by 50% of fibres in the specimen being
tested when the fibres are parallelized and randomly distributed and where
the initial starting point of the scanning in the test is considered 100%. This
length is measured using "DIGITAL FIBROGRAPH".
The South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) gives the following
empirical relationships to estimate the Effective Length and Mean Length
from the Span Lengths.
Effective length = 1.013 x 2.5% Span length + 4.39
Mean length = 1.242 x 50% Span length + 9.78
FIBRE LENGTH VARIATION:
Eventhough, the long and short fibres both contribute towards the length
irregularity of cotton, the short fibres are particularly responsible for
increasing the waste losses, and cause unevenness and reduction in strength
in the yarn spun. The relative proportions of short fibres are usually different
in cottons having different mean lengths; they may even differ in two cottons
having nearly the same mean fibre length, rendering one cotton more
irregular than the other.It is therefore important that in addition to the fibre
length of a cotton, the degree of irregularity of its length should also be
known. Variability is denoted by any one of the following attributes
Co-efficient of variation of length (by weight or number)
irregularity percentage
Dispersion percentage and percentage of short fibres
Uniformity ratio
Uniformity ratio is defined as the ratio of 50% span length to 2.5% span
length expressed as a percentage. Several instruments and methods are
available for determination of length. Following are some
shirley comb sorter
Baer sorter
A.N. Stapling apparatus
Fibrograph
uniformity ration = (50% span length / 2.5% span length) x 100
uniformity index = (mean length / upper half mean length) x 100
SHORT FIBRES:
The negative effects of the presence of a high proportion of short fibres is
well known. A high percentage of short fibres is usually associated with,
- Increased yarn irregularity and ends dddown which reduce quality and
increase processing costs
- Increased number of neps and slubs whiiich is detrimental to the yarn
appearance
- Higher fly liberation and machine contttamination in spinning, weaving
and knitting operations.
- Higher wastage in combing and other oppperations.
While the detrimental effects of short fibres have been well established,
there is still considerable debate on what constitutes a 'short fibre'. In the
simplest way, short fibres are defined as those fibres which are less than 12
mm long. Initially, an estimate of the short fibres was made from the staple
diagram obtained in the Baer Sorter method

Short fibre content = (UB/OB) x 100

While such a simple definition of short fibres is perhaps adequate for
characterising raw cotton samples, it is too simple a definition to use with
regard to the spinning process. The setting of all spinning machines is based
on either the staple length of fibres or its equivalent which does not take into
account the effect of short fibres. In this regard, the concept of 'Floating
Fibre Index' defined by Hertel (1962) can be considered to be a better
parameter to consider the effect of short fibres on spinning performance.
Floating fibres are defined as those fibres which are not clamped by either
pair of rollers in a drafting zone.
Floating Fibre Index (FFI) was defined as
FFI = ((2.5% span length/mean length)-1)x(100)
The proportion of short fibres has an extremely great impact on yarn quality
and production. The proportion of short fibres has increased substantially in
recent years due to mechanical picking and hard ginning. In most of the
cases the absolute short fibre proportion is specified today as the percentage
of fibres shorter than 12mm. Fibrograph is the most widely used instrument
in the textile industry , some information regarding fibrograph is given
below.
FIBROGRAPH:
Fibrograph measurements provide a relatively fast method for determining
the length uniformity of the fibres in a sample of cotton in a reproducible
manner.
Results of fibrograph length test do not necessarily agree with those
obtained by other methods for measuring lengths of cotton fibres because of
the effect of fibre crimp and other factors.
Fibrograph tests are more objective than commercial staple length
classifications and also provide additional information on fibre length
uniformity of cotoon fibres. The cotton quality information provided by
these results is used in research studies and quality surveys, in checking
commercial staple length classifications, in assembling bales of cotton into
uniform lots, and for other purposes.
Fibrograph measurements are based on the assumptions that a fibre is caught
on the comb in proportion to its length as compared to toal length of all
fibres in the sample and that the point of catch for a fibre is at random along
its length.

FIBRE FINENESS:
Fibre fineness is another important quality characteristic which plays a
prominent part in determining the spinning value of cottons. If the same
count of yarn is spun from two varieties of cotton, the yarn spun from the
variety having finer fibres will have a larger number of fibres in its cross-
section and hence it will be more even and strong than that spun from the
sample with coarser fibres.
Fineness denotes the size of the cross-section dimensions of the fibre. AS the
cross-sectional features of cotton fibres are irregular, direct determination of
the area of croo-section is difficult and laborious. The Index of fineness
which is more commonly used is the linear density or weight per unit length
of the fibre. The unit in which this quantity is expressed varies in different
parts of the world. The common unit used by many countries for cotton is
microgrammes per inch and the various air-flow instruments developed for
measuring fibre fineness are calibrated in this unit.
Following are some methods of determining fibre fineness.
gravimetric or dimensional measurements
air-flow method
vibrating string method
Some of the above methods are applicable to single fibres while the majority
of them deal with a mass of fibres. As there is considerable variation in the
linear density from fibre to fibre, even amongst fibres of the same seed,
single fibre methods are time-consuming and laborious as a large number of
fibres have to be tested to get a fairly reliable average value.
It should be pointed out here that most of the fineness determinations are
likely to be affected by fibre maturity, which is an another important
characteristic of cotton fibres.
AIR-FLOW METHOD(MICRONAIRE INSTRUMENT):
The resistance offered to the flow of air through a plug of fibres is dpendent
upon the specific surface area of the fibres. Fineness tester have been
evolved on this principle for determininG fineness of cotton. The specific
surface area which determines the flow of air through a cotton plug, is
dependent not only upon the linear density of the fibres in the sample but
also upon their maturity. Hence the micronaire readings have to be treated
with caution particularly when testing samples varying widely in maturity.
In the micronaire instrument, a weighed quantity of 3.24 gms of well opened
cotton sample is compressed into a cylindrical container of fixed
dimensions. Compressed air is forced through the sample, at a definite
pressure and the volume-rate of flow of air is measured by a rotometer type
flowmeter. The sample for Micronaire test should be well opened cleaned
and thoroughly mixed( by hand fluffing and opening method). Out of the
various air-flow instruments, the Micronaire is robust in construction, easy
to operate and presents little difficulty as regards its maintenance.
FIBRE MATURITY:
Fibre maturity is another important characteristic of cotton and is an index of
the extent of
development of the fibres. As is the case with other fibre properties, the
maturity of cotton fibres varies not only between fibres of different samples
but also between fibres of the same seed. The causes for the differences
observed in maturity, is due to variations in the degree of the secondary
thickening or deposition of cellulose in a fibre.
A cotton fibre consists of a cuticle, a primary layer and secondary layers of
cellulose surrounding the lumen or central canal. In the case of mature
fibres, the secondary thickening is very high, and in some cases, the lumen is
not visible.
In the case of immature fibres, due to some physiological causes, the
secondary deposition of cellulose has not taken sufficiently and in extreme
cases the secondary thickening is practically absent, leaving a wide lumen
throughout the fibre. Hence to a cotton breeder, the presence of excessive
immature
fibres in a sample would indicate some defect in the plant growth. To a
technologist, the presence of excessive percentage of immature fibres in a
sample is undesirable as this causes excessive waste losses in processing
lowering of the yarn appearance grade due to formation of neps, uneven
dyeing, etc.
An immature fibre will show a lower weight per unit length than a mature
fibre of the same cotton, as the former will have less deposition of cellulose
inside the fibre. This analogy can be extended in some cases to fibres
belonging to different samples of cotton also. Hence it is essential to
measure the maturity of a cotton sample in addition to determining its
fineness, to check whether the observed fineness is an inherent characteristic
or is a result of the maturity.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF TESTING MATURITY:
MATURITY RATIO:
The fibres after being swollen with 18% caustic soda are examined under the
microscope with suitable magnification. The fibres are classified into
different maturity groups depending upon the relative dimensions of wall-
thickness and lumen. However the procedures followed in different
countries for sampling and classification differ in certain respects. The
swollen fibres are classed into three groups as follows
Normal : rod like fibres with no convolution and no continuous lumen are
classed as "normal"
Dead : convoluted fibres with wall thickness one-fifth or less of the
maximum ribbon width are classed as "Dead"
Thin-walled: The intermediate ones are classed as "thin-walled"

A combined index known as maturity ratio is used to express the results.

Maturity ratio = ((Normal - Dead)/200) + 0.70
where,
N - %ge of Normal fibres
D - %ge of Dead fibres
MATURITY CO-EFFICIENT:
Around 100 fibres from Baer sorter combs are spread across the glass
slide(maturity slide) and the overlapping fibres are again separated with the
help of a teasing needle. The free ends of the fibres are then held in the
clamp on the second strip of the maturity slide which is adjustable to keep
the fibres stretched to the desired extent. The fibres are then irrigated with
18% caustic soda solution and covered with a suitable slip. The slide is then
placed on the microscope and examined. Fibres are classed into the
following three categories
Mature : (Lumen width "L")/(wall thickness"W") is less than 1
Half mature : (Lumen width "L")/(wall thickness "W") is less than 2 and
more than 1
Immature : (Lumen width "L")/(wall thickness "W") is more than 2
About four to eight slides are prepared from each sample and examined. The
results are presented as percentage of mature, half-mature and immature
fibres in a sample. The results are also expressed in terms of "Maturity
Coefficient"
Maturity Coefficient = (M + 0.6H + 0.4 I)/100 Where,
M is percentage of Mature fibres
H is percentage of Half mature fibres
I is percentage of Immature fibres
If maturity coefficient is
less than 0.7, it is called as immature cotton
between 0.7 to 0.9, it is called as medium mature cotton
above 0.9, it is called as mature cotton
AIR FLOW METHOD FOR MEASURING MATURITY:
There are other techniques for measuring maturity using Micronaire
instrument. As the fineness value determined by the Micronaire is dependent
both on the intrinsic fineness(perimeter of the fibre) and the maturity, it may
be assumed that if the intrinsic fineness is constant then the Micronaire value
is a measure of the maturity
DYEING METHODS:
Mature and immature fibers differ in their behaviour towards various dyes.
Certain dyes are preferentially taken up by the mature fibres while some
dyes are preferentially absorbed by the immature fibres. Based on this
observation, a differential dyeing technique was developed in the United
States of America for estimating the maturity of cotton. In this technique, the
sample is dyed in a bath containing a mixture of two dyes, namely Diphenyl
Fast Red 5 BL and Chlorantine Fast Green BLL. The mature fibres take up
the red dye preferentially, while the thin walled immature fibres take up the
green dye. An estimate of the average of the sample can be visually assessed
by the amount of red and green fibres.
FIBRE STRENGTH:
The different measures available for reporting fibre strength are
breaking strength
tensile strength and
tenacity or intrinsic strength
Coarse cottons generally give higher values for fibre strength than finer
ones. In order, to compare strength of two cottons differing in fineness, it is
necessary to eliminate the effect of the difference in cross-sectional area by
dividing the observed fibre strength by the fibre weight per unit length. The
value so obtained is known as "INTRINSIC STRENGTH or TENACITY".
Tenacity is found to be better related to spinning than the breaking strength.
The strength characteristics can be determined either on individual fibres or
on bundle of fibres.
SINGLE FIBRE STRENGTH:
The tenacity of fibre is dependent upon the following factors
chain length of molecules in the fibre orientation of molecules size of the
crystallites distribution of the crystallites gauge length used the rate of
loading type of instrument used and atmospheric conditions
The mean single fibre strength determined is expressed in units of
"grams/tex". As it is seen the the unit for tenacity has the dimension of
length only, and hence this property is also expressed as the "BREAKING
LENGTH", which can be considered as the length of the specimen
equivalent in weight to the breaking load. Since tex is the mass in grams of
one kilometer of the specimen, the tenacity values expressed in grams/tex
will correspond to the breaking length in kilometers.
BUNDLE FIBRE STRENGTH:
In practice, fibres are not used individually but in groups, such as in yarns or
fabrics. Thus, bundles or groups of fibres come into play during the tensile
break of yarns or fabrics. Further,the correlation between spinning
performance and bundle strength is atleast as high as that between spinning
performance and intrinsic strength determined by testing individual fibres.
The testing of bundles of fibres takes less time and involves less strain than
testing individual fibres. In view of these considerations, determination of
breaking strength of fibre bundles has assumed greater importance than
single fibre strength tests.
YARN HAIRINESS
INTRODUCTION
Yarn hairiness is a complex concept, which generally cannot be completely
defined by a single figure.
The effect of yarn hairiness on the textile operations following spinning,
especially weaving and
knitting, and its influence on the characteristics of the product obtained and
on some fabric faults
has led to the introduction of measurement of hairiness.
FACTS ABOUT YARN HAIRINESS:
Hairiness occurs because some fibre ends protrude from the yarn body, some
looped fibres arch
out from the yarn core and some wild fibres in the yarn.
Pillay proved that there is a high correlation between the number of
protruding ends and the
number of fibres in the yarn cross-section.
Torsion rigidity of the fibres is the most important single property affecting
yarn hairiness. Other factors are flexural rigidity, fibre length and fibre
fineness.
Mixing different length cottons-No substantial gain in hairiness. Although
the hairiness of a yarn could be reduced to some extent by the addition of a
longer and finer cotton to the blend. The extent of reduction is not
proportional to the percentage of the longer and finer component. This is
probably due to the preferential migration of the coarser and shorter
component, which has longer protruding ends, from the yarn body. The
addition of wastes to the mixing increases the yarn hairiness; the effect of
adding comber waste is greater than that of adding soft waste.
Blending-not a solution to hairiness. The blended yarns are rather more hairy
than expected from the hairiness of the components; a result similar to that
found in cotton blends. This may be due to the preferential migration of the
shorter cotton fibers; a count of the number of protruding ends of both types
of fiber shows that there is more cotton fiber ends than expected, although
the difference is not very great.
The number of protruding ends is independent of twist, whereas the number
of loops decreases when
the yarn twist increases because of a greater degreee of binding between hte
fibres owing to twist.
The number of wild fibres decreases only very slightly with twist because of
their position on the
yarn periphery.
The proportion of fiber ends that protrude from the yarn surface, counted
microscopically has been found to be about 31% of the actual number of
ends present in the yarn.
If the length of the protruding fibre ends as well as that of the loops is
considered, the mean
value of the hairiness increases as the cross-sectional area increases and
decreases with the length
of the loops. The hairiness is affected by the yarn twist, since an increase in
twist tends to shorten
the fibre ends.
Wild fibres are those for which hte head alone is taken by the twist while the
tail is still gripped
by the front drafting rollers.
Fibre length influences hairiness in the sense that a greater length
corresponds to less hairiness.
Cotton yarns are known to be less hairy than yarns spun from man-made
fibres.

The possible reason

for this is the prifile of the two fibres.Because of taper, only one end, the
heavier root part of the
cotton fibre, tends to come out as a protruding end in a cotton yarn. With
man-made fibres, both ends
have an equal probability of showing up as protruding ends.
If the width of the fibre web in the drafting field is large, the contact and
friction with the
bottom roller reduce the ability of the fibres to concentrate themselves and
hairiness occurs. This
effect is found more in coarse counts with low TPI. This suggests that the
collectors in the
drafting field will reduce yarn hairiness.
The yarn hairiness definitely depends on the fibres on the outer layer of the
yarn that do not
directly adhere to the core. Some of them have an end in the core of the yarn
gripped by other fibres,
whereas others, because of the mechanical properties of the fibre(rigidity,
shape, etc.) emerge to
the surface. During the twisting of the yarn, other fibres are further displaced
from their central
position to the yarn surface.
Greater the fibre parallelization by the drawframe, lower the yarn hairiness.
An increase in roving twist results in lower yarn hairiness, because of
smaller width of fibre
web in the drafting field.
The number of fiber ends on the yarn surface remains fairly constant; the
number of looped fibers reduces in number and length on increasing twist.
Combed yarn will have low yarn hairiness, because of the extraction of
shorter fibres by the comber.
Yarn hairiness increases when the roving linear density increases . Yarn spun
from double roving
will have more hairiness than the yarn spun from single roving. This is due
to the increased number of
fibres in the web and due to higher draft required to spin the same count.
Drafting waves increase hairiness. Irregularity arising from drafting waves
increases with increasing draft. Yarn hairiness also may be accepted to
increase with yarn irregularity, because fibers protruding from the yarn
surface are more numerous at the thickest and least twisted parts of the yarn.
The yarns produced with condernsers in the drafting field, particularsly if
these are situated
in the principal drafting zone, are less hairy than those spun without the use
of condensers.
Higher spindle speed – high hairiness. When yarns are spun at different
spindle speed, the centrifugal force acting on fibers in the spinning zone will
increase in proportion to the square of the spindle speed, causing the fibers
ends as they are emerging from the front rollers to be deflected from the
yarn surface to a greater extent. Further, at high spindle speed, the shearing
action of the traveller on the yarn is likely to become great enough to
partially detach or raise the fibers from the body of the yarn. As against the
above factors, at higher spindle speeds the tension in the yarn will increase
in proportion to the square of the spindle speed, and consequently more twist
will run back to the roller nip, so that it is natural to expect that better
binding of the fibers will be achieved. The increase in hairiness noticed in
the results suggests that the forces involved in raising fibers from the yarn
surface are greater than those tending to incorporate them within the body of
the yarn at higher spindle speeds.
Higher draft before ring frame-less hairiness. There is a gradual reduction of
hairiness with increase in draft. In other word, as the fiber parallelization
increases hairiness decreases. Reversing the card sliver before the first
drawing head causes a reduction in hairiness, the effect being similar to that
resulting from the inclusion of an extra passage of drawing.
Smaller roving package-less hairiness. Yarn hairiness decreases with
decrease in roving (doff) size, and yarn spun from front row of roving
bobbins is more hairy and variable as compare to that spun from back row of
rowing bobbins. It may be noted that though the trends are consistent yet the
differences are non-significant:
The spinning tension has a considerable influence on the yarn hairiness. The
smaller the tension,
the greater the hairiness. This is the reason why heavier travellers result in
low yarn hairiness.
If the traveller is too heavy also , yarn hairiness will increase.
Spindle eccentricity leads to an increase in hairiness. Small eccentricities
influence hairiness
relatively little, but, from 0.5 mm onwards, the hairiness increases almost
exponentially with eccentricity.
The increase in hairiness due to spindle eccentricity, will be influenced by
the diameter of ring,
dia of bobbin, the shape of the traveller,the yarn tension, etc.
Yarn hairiness will increase if the thread guide or lappet hook is not centred
properly.
Heavier traveler- less hairiness. The reduced hairiness of yarns at higher
traveller weights can be explained by the combined effect of tension and
twist distribution in the yarn at the time of spinning. The spindle speed
remains constant, but the tension in the yarn will increase with increasing
traveller weight, and better binding of the fibers would be expected.
Parallel fibers-less hairiness. The improvement of yarn quality on combing
is mainly ascribed to the reduction in the number of short fiber improvement
in length characteristics, and fiber parallelization. There is a marked
difference in hairiness of the carded yarn and the combed yarns, even with a
comber loss of only 5%, but the effect on hairiness of increasing the
percentage of comber waste is less marked. Combing even at low percentage
waste causes a marked drop in hairiness relative to that of the carded yarn. In
the case of combed cotton yarns the average value of hairiness decreases
with increase in count, whereas in the case of polyester/ viscose blend yarns
the hairiness increases with increase in count. In the case of polyester/ cotton
blend yarns trend is not clear.
Flat and round travellers do not influence yarn hairiness, but a greater degree
of hairiness was
observed with elliptical travellers and anti-wedge rings.
Traveller wear obviously influences hairiness because of the greater abrasion
on the yarn.
Yarn hairiness increases with the life of the traveller.
Bigger the ring diameter, lower the yarn hairiness.
Yarn spun in a dry atmosphere is more hairy.
Hairiness variation between spindles is very detrimental. Because these
variation can lead to
shade or appearance variaion in the cloth.
The variation in hairiness within bobbin can be reduced considerably by the
use of heavy travellers
alone or by balloon-control rings with travellers of normal weight. In both
the cases yarn is prevented
from rubbing against the separators.
Yarn hairiness is caused by protruding ends, by the presence of a majority of
fibre tails.

This suggests that these tails will become heads on unwinding and that
friction to which the
yarn is subjected will tend to increase their length. It is therefore logical that
a yarn should be more
hairy after winding.
Repeated windings in the cone widning machine will increase the yarn
hairiness and after three
or four rewindings, the yarn hairiness remain same for cotton yarns.
Winding speed influences yarn hairiness, but the most important increase in
hairiness is produced
by the act of winding itself.
Because of winding, the number of short hairs increases more rapidly thatn
the number of long hairs.
In two-for-one twisters (TFO), more hairiness is produced because, twist is
imparted in two steps.
Yarn hairiness also depends upon the TFO speed, because it principally
affects the shortest fibre ends.
Hairiness varitions in the weft yarn will result in weft bars.
Hairiness Testing of Yarns
Hairiness of yarns has been discussed for many years,but it always remained
a fuzzy subject. With the advent of compact yarns and their low hairiness
compared to conventional yarns,the issue of measuring hairiness and the
proper interpretation of the values has become important again.Generally
speaking,long hairs are undesirable, while short hairs are desirable (see
picture ). The picture shown below just give a visual impression of
undesirable and desirable hairiness at the edge of a cops.
Figure:
 RING YARN COMPACT YARN
There are two major manufacturers of hairiness testing equipment on the
market,and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Some detail is
given below.
USTER
USTER is the leading manufacturer of textile testing equipment. The
USTER hairiness H is defined as follows .
H =total length (measured in centimeters) of all the hairs within one
centimeter of yarn .
(The hairiness value given by the tester at the end of the test is the average
of all these values measured, that is,if 400 m have been measured,it is the
average of 40,000 individual values) . The hairiness H is an average
value,giving no indication of the distribution of the length of the hairs. Let
us see an example
0.1cm 0.2cm 0.3cm 0.4cm 0.5cm 0.6cm 0.7cm 0.8cm 0.9cm 1.0cm total
yarn
100 50 30 10 5 6 0 2 1 0 398
1
yarn
50 10 11 5 10 0 5 10 0 11 398
2
Both yarns would have the same hairiness index H, even though yarn is
more desirable,as it has more short hairs and less long hairs,compared to
yarn 2.
This example shows that the hairiness H suppresses information,as all
averages do. Two yarns with a similar value H might have vastly different
distributions of the length of the individual hairs.
The equipment allows to evaluate the variation of the value H along the
length of the yarn. The "sh value "is given, but the correlation to the CV of
hairiness is somehow not obvious.A spectrogram may be obtained.
2.ZWEIGLE
Zweigle is a somewhat less well known manufacturer of yarn testing
equipment. Unlike USTER,the Zweigle does not give averages. The number
of hairs of different lengths are counted separately, and these values are
displayed on the equipment. In addition, the S3 value is given,which is
defined as follows:
S3 =Sum (number of hairs 3 mm and longer)
In the above example,the yarns would have different S3 values:
S3yarn 1 =2 .
S3yarn 2 =4 .
A clear indication that yarn 2 is "more hairy "than yarn 1. The CV value of
hairiness is given a histogram (graphical representation of the distribution of
the hairiness) is given.
The USTER H value only gives an average,which is of limited use when
analyzing the hairiness of the yarn.The Zweigle testing equipment gives the
complete distributionof the different lengths of the hairs. The S3 value
distinguishes between long and short hairiness, which is more informative
than the H value.
HAIRINESS IN YARN
I am very happy to add this article written by Mr.Kamatchi Sundaram , All
india Service Manager of VOLTAS LTD. INDIA, in my site. He is one
among the good technologists who has indepth knowledge about textile
technology and spinning machines. I hope this information is of use to the
technical people who browse through this site.
Hairiness is a measure of the amount of fibres protruding from the structure
of the yarn. In the past, hairiness was not considered so important. But with
the advent of high-speed looms and knitting machines, the hairiness has
become a very important parameter.
In general, yarn spun with Indian cotton show high level of hairiness due to
the following reasons.
1. High short fibre content in mixing.
2. Low uniformity ratio.
3. High spindle speeds.
Hence most of the Indian yarns have a hairiness index above 50% Uster
standards. However, as this parameter is becoming more and more
important, Indian spinners are concentrating more on this aspect and try to
reach at least 25% standards by conducting lot of trials. He has conducted a
lot of such studies on hairiness and he is pleased to share his learning’s with
you.
Hairiness is measured in two different methods.
1. USTER HAIRINESS INDEX:
This is the common method followed in India. The hairiness index H
corresponds to the total length of protruding fibres within the measurement
field of 1cm length of the yarn.
2. ZWEIGLE HAIRINESS INDEX:
This zweigle hairiness measurement (S3) gives the number of protruding
fibres more than 3 mm in length in a measurement length of one meter of the
yarn.
From the above you can infer that Uster hairiness index give the total length
of hairs whereas zweigle hairiness testers give the absolute number of fibres.
Though the later measurement is more accurate, most of the Indian spinners
are still following Uster hairiness index only.
The factors effecting hairiness can be sub divided into 3 major components.
a) The fibre properties.
b) Yarn parameters.
c) Process parameters.
a)THE FIBRE PROPERTIES:
Fibre length, Uniformity ratio, Micronaire and short fibre content are the
properties exerting high influence on hairiness. Among the above the length
and short fibre content exerting major influence. For a particular count,
higher length of fibre leads to lesser hairiness and high short fibre content
leads to high hairiness.
b)YARN PARAMETER:
Hairiness is dependent on the number of fibres present in the cross section of
the yarn. Hence coarser yanrs have more hairiness compared to finer yarns.
The yarn twist is another major factor and higher twists lead to less hairiness
up to a certain extent. This is the main reason while hosiery yarns normally
have high hairiness compared to warp yarns.
However in a mill condition, the fibre parameters and yarn parameters
cannot be adjusted. Hence the next topic, process parameters, assumes very
high significance, as this is the only available option at the mill level to
reduce the hairiness.
C) PROCESS PARAMETER:
The preparatory machines do not have a big influence on hairiness. The
Speed frame, Ring frame and the Cone winder are the only machines to be
attended for reduction in hairiness. I give below the various process
parameters that can be attended for reducing the hairiness.
a)SPEED FRAME:
1. Roving hank: It plays a major role in the reduction of hairiness. For a
particular count, the hairiness of the yarn goes down, as the roving hank is
made finer and finer.
For example: If 30s yarn is spun with 0.8 and 1.0 hank, yarn made with 1.0
hank will give lesser hairiness than the yarn made with the 0.8 hank. Hence
please conduct a trial with finer roving hank to reduce the hairiness.

The results of the study conducted recently at a leading mill are given below
for your reference on this point.
TRIALS ON HAIRINESS
EFFECT OF ROVING HANK ON HAIRINESS
 Ring rail bottom po Ring rail top postion
COUNT 24 ch 24 ch 24 ch 24 ch 24 ch 24 ch
ROVING
1.0 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.9 0.8
HK
SPACER 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
U% 8.75 8.8 8.72 8.61 8.54 8.68
thin
0 0 0 0 0 0
(-50%)
thick
10 15 15 9 11 14
(+50%)
Neps
12 18 21 12 14 18
(+200%)
Total IPI 22 33 36 21 25 32
Hairiness
7.52 7.86 8.45 6.4 6.48 7.09
Index
Sh(-) 1.31 1.3 1.48 1.19 1.27 1.41
You would note from the above that the hairiness as well as imperfections
have improved significantly by using finer hank of the roving.
2. Spacer Size: It is the normal tendency of the technicians to use spacer as
thin as possible to reduce the U% and imperfections. But thinner spacers
lead to higher hairiness. Hence please conduct a trial with a spacer, which is
1.0 to 1.5 mm thicker than existing spacer.
b)RING FRAME:
1. Ring Traveller: It is generally opined by many technicians that the
traveller plays a major role in hairiness. Though selection of the traveller
plays a small role in hairiness (specially with reference to the yarn
clearance), it’s effect is quite less. This is because the yarn contact point with
the traveller is quite far away from the ring and traveller contact point.
Hence even if the traveller is run for a long time, the hairiness will not
increase. But the breakage rate will increase.
2. Ring: It is the general opinion of some technicians that imported rings
give lesser hairiness than Indian rings. It is also believed by technicians that
older rings give more hairiness. Recent studies / trials conducted by us
recently at a leading mill indicate this not to be true. Please refer the table
below.
EFFECT OF RINGS ON HAIRINESS
RING COPS TRAIL (TOP POSITION OF THE RING RAIL)
PARAMETERS old lmw rings new lmw rings bracker rings
NOMINAL
30s CH 30s CH 30s CH
COUNT
U% 9.37 9.59 9.59
Thin (-50%) 0 0 0
Thick (+50%) 24 28 24
Neps (+200%) 51 52 58
Total IPI 75 80 82
Hairiness Index 5.4 5.26 5.33
Sh(-) 1.18 1.13 1.17
RING COPS TRAIL (BOTTOM POSITION OF THE RING RAIL)
PARAMETERS old lmw rings new lmw rings bracker rings
NOMINAL
30s CH 30s CH 30s CH
COUNT
U% 9.24 9.18 9.24
Thin (-50%) 0 0 0
Thick (+50%) 26 19 27
Neps (+200%) 49 44 46
Total IPI 75 63 73
Hairiness Index 6.11 6.06 6.22
Sh(-) 1.27 1.26 1.29
You would note from the above trials that:
a) There is no significant difference in hairiness between Imported & Indian
rings.
b) There is also no significant difference in hairiness between a new and a
one-year-old ring. However if the condition of the ring is highly worn out , it
will affect the hairiness. In short the ring and traveller do not play a major
role on hairiness compared to other process parameters, which are explained
below.
3) SPACER SIZE: Size of the spacer plays significant role in reducing the
hairiness. Many technicians have a tendency to use the thinnest spacer for
reduction in U% and imperfections. However it leads to significant increase
in hairiness.
 A study conducted recently at a leading mill proves this point. Please refer
the table below for the above study.
EFFECT SPACER SIZE ON HAIRINESS
Ring rail bottom position Ring rail Top position
COUNT 24s CH 24s CH 24s CH 24s CH
ROVING HK 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
SPACER 3.0 4.0 3.0 4.0
U% 8.7 9.06 8.58 8.76
thin (-50%) 0 0 0 0
thick (+50%) 8 15 7 12
Neps (+200%) 14 16 16 19
Total IPI 22 31 23 31
Hairiness
7.32 6.72 5.87 5.35
Index
Sh(-) 1.27 1.19 1.07 1.06
You would note from the above that there is a significant reduction in
hairiness by using thicker spacer. However the imperfection has also
increased. .
The spacer should be selected such that optimum results are achieved with
respect to imperfections as well as hairiness. We request you to conduct a
trial with a spacer, which is 0.5 to 1mm thicker than the existing spacer. It is
needless to mention that using thicker spacer will increase the imperfections.
However if the reduction in hairiness is more significant than increase in
imperfections it can be allowed.
4) TPI IN THE YARN: Increasing the TPI leads to reduction in hairiness and
this is more significant in the case hosiery yarn. Hence if the hairiness is a
bigger problem faced by mill, trials can be conducted by increasing the TPI
up to the allowable limit for achieving reduction in hairiness.
5) LAPPET HEIGHT: Reduction in lappet height leads to direct reduction in
hairiness. However care should be taken to ensure that the yarn does not
touch the tip of the Empties. Please conduct trials with reduced lappet height
(Formula: Lappet height = 2D+5mm).
6) SUCTION TUBE SETTING: The suction tube should be set such that the
yarn does not touch the tip of the suction tube in running. If the yarn touches
the suction tube due to improper setting, it will lead to increase in hairiness.
7) TRAVELLER SIZE: Usage of heavier traveller leads to reduction in
hairiness.
 For Example: If the breakage rate in 30s carded hosiery count is same with
4/O and 6/O traveller, using 4/O traveller will give lesser hairiness than 6/O
traveller.
8) LIFT AND RING DIAMETER: Using lesser lift and lesser ring diameter
will lead to direct and significant reduction in hairiness.
For Example: If 30s carded hosiery count is spun with 170/38 and 180/40
combination, spindle speeds remaining the same, the former combination
will give much lesser hairiness than the later combination because of a
reduction in the height and diameter of the yarn balloon while spinning.
C) CONE WINDER:
There will be a significant difference between the hairiness of the yarn at
cop stage and at cone stage. The cone winding process increases the
hairiness by 15 to 20%, which is unavoidable. However, if the modern
AutoConers are not tuned properly, it will lead to increase in hairiness of
much more than 20%. In this case the following points need attention.
1. WINDING SPEED: The speed of winding plays a significant role on
increase in hairiness. The increase in winding speed leads to direct increase
in the hairiness. The results of the study conducted recently at a leading mill
are given below for your reference on this point.
EFFECT OF WINDING SPEED ON HAIRINESS
winding
winding speed winding speed
PARAMETERS Cop result speed
1200 m/min 1400 m/min
1600 m/min
NOMINAL
30 s CH 30 s CH 30 s CH 30 s CH
COUNT
U% 9.37 9.59 9.6 9.53
Thin (-50%) 0 0 0 0
Thick (+50%) 16 14 15 17
Neps (+200%) 39 41 41 50
Total IPI 55 55 59 50
Hairiness Index 5.04 7.13 7.47 7.5
Sh(-) 1.08 1.59 1.66 1.73

You would note from the above that the hairiness increases more and more
with the increase in the winding speed. However it is not economically
feasible to run the AutoConer at slow speed just for achieving lesser
 hairiness. But all the AutoConers have a provision to adjust the speed of
winding according to the stage of the cop and this is called variable speed
arrangement. By selecting the right speeds at different stage of the cop the
increase in hairiness can be controlled to a great extent.
2. YARN TENSION DURING WINDING: By optimizing the yarn tension
the increase in hairiness can be controlled. The results of the study
conducted recently at a leading mill are given below for your reference on
this point.
tension 25
PARAMETERS tension 32 grams
grams
NOMINAL
30/1 CH 30/1 CH
COUNT
U% 9.73 9.68
Thin (-50%) 0 0
Thick (+50%) 23 19
Neps (+200%) 52 48
Total IPI 75 67
Hairiness Index 7.41 7.72
Sh(-) 1.74 1.79
You would note from the above that the hairiness can be reduced by
optimizing the winding tension. This trial may be conducted at your mills for
controlling the hairiness.
3. WAX PICK UP: It is the normal practice of many mills to apply wax on
the hosiery yarn during winding. By controlling the wax pick up, the
increase in hairiness can be reduced. The detail of the study recently
conducted at a leading mill is given below for your reference.
EFFECT OF WAX PICK UP ON HAIRINESS
PARAMETERS wax pick up 0.8 gms/kg wax pick up 1.2 gms/kg
NOMINAL COUNT 30/1 s CH 30/1 s CH
U% 9.84 9.91
Thin (-50%) 0 1
Thick (+50%) 32 30
Neps (+200%) 89 112
Total IPI 121 1459
Hairiness Index 8.13 7.89
Sh(-) 1.84 1.87
We request you to conduct a study of this aspect at your mills for control of
hairiness. Thus, there are several process parameters that can be optimized
for controlling the hairiness. Unless the ring and traveller are in a worn out
condition, the role played by the ring and traveller on hairiness is quite
negligible on modern ring frames like LG5/1 and LR/6.
YARN EVENNESS TESTER
DIAGRAM
The mass variations or weight per unit length variations are recorded and
printed as a Diagram by
the Evenness tester. The diagram is an extremely important part of evenness
testing. It contains a
large amount of information which cannot be provided by the wavelength
spectrum, U% value, and the
imperfections. Diagrams help to understand the following seldom occuring
events long wave-length variations periodic mass variations with wave-
lengths which are longer than 40m(which can not be confimed
by the spectrogram. extreme thick and thin places randomly occurring thick
and thin places which tend to be available in batches. slow changes in the
mean value step changes in the mean value with periodic faults, it can be
determined whether the fault is permanently availabe or occurs
only in batches with measurements "within a bobbin", seldom occurring
events can be found and changes in the mean
value taking place over a number of kilometers can be confirmed. with
unusual measured values, it can be proved in many cases by means of the
diagram whether these
refer to a faulty or to a correct measurement.
RELATIVE COUNT:
It is a measure used to calculate the count variations using capacitance
method of USTER TESTER.
It calucalates a value called "Average Value Factor AF". This factor is
proportional to the mean count
of the tested sample length.
The relative count describes the variation of count between separate
measurements within a sample. The
single values are calculated such that they are in direct reference to the mean
value of the sample
which is always considered to be 100%. The relative count is always
estimated with reference to a
test length of 100m or 100 yards.
From the single-overall report, it is possible to recognize immediately which
samples are lying above
or below the mean value. The standard deviation provides a reference to the
variation in count between
samples. As the mean value is always 100%, the standard deviation also
provides a reference to the
coefficient of variation. If the samples are from the same bobbin this would
indicate the "within bobbin"
variation and if the samples are from the same bobbin this would indicate the
"within bobbin" variation
and if the samples are from different bobbins this would indicate "between
bobbin" variation.
VARIANCE LENGTH CURVE:
The variance-length curve is generally regarded as the most useful technique
for expressing the
yarn irregularity data. Any fibre assembly has a TOTAL IRREGULARITY
CV(T), and this coefficient of
variation is made up of two terms. These are the coefficient of variation
within length ,CV(L) and the coefficient
of variation between lengths CB(L).
The co-efficient of variation at different cut lengths provided by the
evenness testers provide invaluable
information with regard to the variations prevalent at the specific cut
lengths. Therefore independently, the
shor, medium and long term variations could be studied by estimating the
coefficient of variation of
the required length. However, such numerical values, cannot directly provide
complete information on
the source of faults. The spectrogram provides a possibility of localizing the
source of fault but with a
spectrogram, only faults of periodic nature could be identified and that too,
in most cases, only if proceeded
by some other means of identifying the machine / processing stage
responsible for the fault. When the
variations prevailing at different cut lengths are simultaneously represented
graphically, it provides
the possibility of segregating cut lengths at which abnormal variations occur
and consequently identify
the process stage which is most likely to be responsible. This is made
possible by the "Variance
Length Curve" which is a standard feature of most evenenss testers.
A variance-length curve can be set out in quite a simple manner by cutting a
fibre assembly into pieces
and determining gravimetrically the mass of these pieces. The CV value is
then calculated from each of these
separate values. If this procedure is repeated for various cut lengths and the
CV value drawn out,
one obtains the variance-length curve. Uster tester can be used to obtain the
curve in a much shorter
time than is possible by manual analysis. For constructing the variance
length, the measuring field
length is taken as the basic cut length at which the CV is calculated and
plotted. For variations at
other cut lengths, the mass of successive portion of material are added up
and the CV calculated.
Strictly speaking, the variance-length curve is only a straight line on double
logrithmic paper in the
medium length range of approx.1 cm to 100m. For cut lengths shorter than 1
cm and longer than 100m,
the variance-length curve tends to become flatter. One can easily
comprehend that the curve for the
same raw material and same ideal processing conditions will always be a
straight line with an unchanged
angle of inclination. Deviations from the straight line must therefore indicate
porblems due to the
machine or the raw material.
THEORETICAL LIMIT FOR IRREGULARITY:
The spinning process is based primarily on a procedure which evenly mixes
the fibre, separates each
fibre from its neighbour, lays the fibres parallel to each other and draws
these out to produce a
? final count. The mixing leads, however, to the fact that each single fibre
has the same probability
of appearing in any chosen section of the fibre mass. The fibres are therefore
equally distributed in
the fibre assemblies.
The number of fibres in any section considered is dependent on random
variations.
The fibres overlap each other and result, even under the best conditions, in a
spun material which
has a certain minimum irregularity. With the natural fibres, in contrast to the
synthetic staple fibres,
there is an additional irregularity because the single fibres themselves have
differences in their fibre
corss sectional size.
The theoretical investigations have helped to arrive at a formula which will
help us to calculate
the limiting irregularity.
CV(lim) = 100 /(sqrt(N)
where,
N = mean number of fibres in the cross section.
CALCULATION OF NUMBER OF FIBRES IN THE YARN CROSS-
SECTION:
The number of fibres in the cross section of a yarn can be calculated if the
fibre fineness and yarn
count in tex are available, or can be converted into tex(gram per 1000m)
N = T/Tf
where,
N = number of fibres in the cross section
T = count of the fibre material in TEX
Tf= Fibre fineness in TEX
INERT TEST:
The uster evenness testing installations offer two possible modes of
operation which are referred to
as the
Normal test
Inert test With the "NORMAL TEST" , a signal is obtained from the tested
masterial which is in reference to the measuring
field length of the applied measuring slot.
In the operating mode "INERT TEST", the signal obtained from the test
material is passed through an
electrical filter arrangement. Normally, the signal from the test material
consists of short and long-
term variations which are superimposed on each other. By means of this
filter procedure, the shorter-term
variations are suppressed in a certain manner, so that only the mean value
 variations, i.e the
long-term mass variations, will be traced out in the diagram. This testg
serves primarily to provide,
an indication of the random mean value variations in the test material
a means of localizing and indicating long term periodic variations in the test
material
a means of facilitating the setting of the mean value at the yarn signal
instrument.
If medium-term varitaions appear in a diagram, one can make these more
distinctive by choosing a suitable
diagram feed and suitable material speed and operating with the mode Inert
test.

CONSTANTS AND CALCULATIONS:

FIBRE FINENESS, YARN COUNTS AND CONVERSIONS:

Micronaire value(cotton) : The unit is micrograms per inch. The average weight of
one inch length of fibre, expressed in micrograms(0.000001 gram).

Denier(man-made fibres): Weight in grams per 9000 meters of fibre.

Micron:(wool): Fineness is expressed as fibre diameter in microns(0.001mm)

Conversions:

• Denier = 0.354 x Micronaire value

• Micronaire value = 2.824 x Denier

YARN COUNTS:

It is broadly classified into 1. DIRECT and 2.INDIRECT system.

DIRECT SYSTEM:

• English count (Ne)

• French count(Nf)
• Metric count(Nm)
• Worsted count

Metric system: Metric count(Nm) indicates the number of 1 kilometer(1000 meter)

lengths per Kg.

Nm = length in Km / weight in kg (or)

Nm = length meter / weight in grams

INDIRECT SYSTEM:

• Tex count
• Denier

CONVERSION TABLE FOR YARN COUNTS:

tex Ne den Nm grains/yd
tex den/9 1000/Nm gr.yd x 70.86
Ne 590.54/tex 5314.9/den Nm x .5905 8.33 / gr/yd
den tex x 9 9000/Nm gr/yd x 637.7
Nm 1000/tex 9000/den 14.1 / gr/yd
grains/yd tex / 70.86 den / 637.7 14.1/Nm

Where, Nm - metric count, Nec - cottoncount

CONVERSION TABLE FOR WEIGHTS:

ounce grains grams kilograms pounds

ounce 437.5 grains 28.350 grams
0.03527
grains 0.0648 grams
ounces
grams 0.03527 grains 15.432 grains 0.001 kgs
2.2046
kilograms 35.274 ounces 15432 grains 1000 grams
pounds
pounds 16.0 ounces 7000 grains 453.59 grams 0.4536 kgs

CONVERSION TABLE FOR LINEAR MEASURES:

 yard feet inches centimeter meter
0.9144
yard 3 feet 36 inches 91.44 cms
meter
0.3048
feet 0.3333 yards 12 inches 30.48 cms
meter
0.254
inches 0.0278 yards 0.0833 feet 2.54 cms
meter
centimeter 0.0109 yards 0.0328 feet 0.3937 inches 0.01meter
meter 1.0936 yards 3.281 feet 39.37 inches 100 cms

CALCULATIONS:

• grams per meter = 0.5905 / Ne

• grams per yard = 0.54 / Ne

• tex = den x .11 = 1000/Nm = Mic/25.4

• Ne = Nm/1.693

• DRAFT = (feed weight in g/m) / (delivery weight in g/m)

• DRAFT = Tex (feed) / Tex(delivery)

• DRAFT = delivery roll surface speed / feed roll surface speed

• No of hanks delivered by m/c = (Length delivered in m/min) / 1.605