Environmental Impacts on the Micronaire Results from Near Infrared (NIR) Instruments

Micronaire is a key quality and processing parameter for cotton fiber.  Previous evaluations indicated potential impacts on the NIR measurements of micronaire, performed outside of the laboratory, due to measurement environmental conditions (temperature and relative humidity/RH).  The extent of the impacts of temperature and RH on fiber moisture and NIR micronaire results were examined on a laboratory, research-grade NIR and portable NIR units.  The micronaire results of the portable NIR units were more impacted by fiber conditioned at varying temperature and RH compared to the laboratory research NIR unit, providing a rationale for the potential deviations in NIR micronaire results in outside the laboratory micronaire measurements with portable NIR units.