High Quality Yarns from High Speed Roller Ginning of Upland Cotton

The highest quality yarns from upland cotton are typically produced by using combing in the textile mill.  Combing is a resource-intensive process in which short fibers are removed from cotton before spinning.  The improvement in fiber length and length uniformity of upland cotton when high speed roller ginning is employed has been well documented.  The ability to produce high quality yarns without combing by utilizing roller ginned upland cotton was investigated.  Producing combed quality yarns without combing reduces processing costs.  Bales of saw-ginned and roller ginned lint were produced from the same seed cotton and subjected to textile processing.  Carded yarns produced from roller ginned cotton were compared to combed yarns produced from saw ginned cotton.  Overall quality of the yarn, as well as production efficiency, twist-strength curves and spinning limits were compared.