Effect of Cleaning Treatment and Cotton Cultivar On Textile Yarn Quality

Textile yarn quality can be affected by ginning processes and cotton cultivars. The overall goals of this study were to utilize a microgin to evaluate the effect of seed cotton cleaner and lint cleaner on yarn quality. Six cleaning treatments in a microgin were arranged by varying seed cotton cleaners (stick machine, cylinder cleaner, and Trashmaster®) and one saw-type lint cleaner. Ring yarn quality was measured in terms of spinning efficiency, tensile, hairiness, defects, and waste. Results from this study revealed that cotton lint with less cleaning processes exhibited lower defects, lower hairiness (irregular CV), but more waste than that with more cleaning processes. Given the waste can be cleaned during the carding process and easily manageable, the less ginning options could be beneficial to spinning process. Among the three cultivars, PHY 370 generated the highest quality yarn suggesting that DP 555 can be replaced by other cultivars with improved yarn quality. This study shed light on cleaning and cotton varietal effect on the spinning performance of the cotton fiber. The information could be useful to improve the profitability of cotton growers, ginners, and spinners alike.