Dual-Beard Fibrography for Cotton Length Distribution Measurement

Fiber length uniformity is the one fiber quality that impacts yarn strength, yarn evenness, and ultimately fabric strength and appearance.  Unlike many other attributes of cotton, fiber length uniformity has not been improved for the past few decades.  Improving length uniformity becomes one of the focused research areas of the U.S. cotton industry. This research project was aimed at developing a new cotton sampling method and a simple instrument that can be used by cotton breeders and at the early stage of seed selections. The objective of the research was to develop a portable, economical, and easy-to-use system for fiber length distribution measurement based on dual-beard fibrograpy and a new mechanism for separating fibers at given lengths. The new system can eliminate the need for fiber alignment, reduce fiber entanglement in the sample, and allow the bearded sample to be fully scanned so that short fiber contents are also included in the length distribution.