Application of an Automatic Yarn Dismantler to Track Changes in Cotton Fiber Properties During Processing on a Miniature Spinning Line

This paper reports on the application of a newly developed automatic yarn dismantler for dismantling short staple ring-spun yarns, to track changes in cotton fiber properties from lint to yarn, during processing on a miniature spinning line. The results obtained on different Upland cottons have clearly demonstrated the practical value of the yarn dismantler in enabling yarns to be automatically dismantled into their constituent fibers. Based upon Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) fiber tests, miniature opening and cleaning, on a Shirley Analyzer, increased fiber neps and short fiber content and decreased fiber length, whereas the miniature card did not have a consistent effect on mean fiber length, but decreased neps substantially. The first miniature drawframe passage resulted in a significant increase in mean fiber length, fiber linear density, and maturity ratio and a decrease in short fiber content, immature fiber content, and neps. The mean length of fibers from the dismantled yarn tended to be slightly longer than that of the fibers just prior to the miniature spinning frame, while the immature fiber content tended to be slightly lower and the maturity ratio slightly higher.