Introduction

Testing of Fibre Properties

Raw material contributes a bulk of the yarn cost as well as the yarn quality
characteristics. Till recently, visual examination has formed the most commonly accepted
process of judgement of a particular raw material regarding its suitability for a particular
end use. It is a known fact that cotton fibre characteristics vary from bale to bale. This
variation is due to genetic and environmental factors such as harvesting and ginning
conditions. Despite this variation aspect, the characteristics of a lot has for long been
judged by tests performed on a representative sample. However, the market environment
today has become increasingly competitive with theconsumer sector becoming more
quality conscious. Besides, sophistication of textile machinery interms of speed and
technology also place stringent technical demands on textile fibres.Therefore, it is very
important for a mill to know all the important cotton fibre properties for each and every
bale as well as to understand how the fibre properties interact with processing conditions
to determine the yarn quality and also processing performance.In this regard, instrumental
evaluation of fibres have helped to a great extent, though individualbale testing has
become possible only with the introduction of high volume instruments capable of testing
at extremely high speeds. The Premier Automatic Rapid Tester (Premier ART)
incorporates the latest technology of high volume instrumental testing and provides for
accurateand precise measurement of all the important cotton properties.It is a fact that the
various instruments available for testing have provided objective methods of estimation of
fibre quality characteristics. However, a major problem in this regard has been toidentify
those properties of cotton which are important as well as to accurately, practically and
economically measure and quantify these properties.
Fibre Properties of Importance
Practical experience over the years and continuous research carried out to study the
influence of the various fibre properties on yarn quality and processing performance have
narrowed down the list of fibre properties to those which are very critical in characterising
any given cotton. The list of such properties is given below.
- Length and Length Distribution
- Strength and Elongation

- Fineness
- Maturity
- Non-lint content
- Colour
The following figure shows a typical representation of the relative contribution of the fibre
properties towards determining the yarn quality.
Contribution of Fibre Properties to Yarn Quality
Research

of

late

has been

concentrated

towards

designing,

developing

and

manufacturing instruments capable of measuring as many of these properties as possible

and at a fast rate too.The Premier Automatic Rapid Tester provides a significant
breakthrough with the capacity to determine most of the above properties accurately,
economically and rapidly. Length and Length Distribution Principles of Length
Measurement It has been fairly well established that Length is the single most important
parameter determining yarn quality for ring spinning. Fibre length is also critical for
optimisation of machinery settings in each department. However, Length in a cotton
sample is a variable parameter and it needs to be defined which length is most important the length of the longest fibre or the length of the shortest fibre or the length of a majority
of fibres and so on. Considerable work has been done on this aspect and the definition of
length has been narrowed down to two criteria - one based on its full length (i.e. end to
end lengths) and the other based on what is called the span length. These two basic
methods are explained in some detail in the next page with their relative merits and
demerits. The following figure represents the Difference between those two basic
methods.
Methods of expressing fibre length
Staple Length
The most popular parameter based on the full length of the fibre is the Staple Length,
which was originally defined as the length of a typical portion of a sample of fibres.
Conventionally, and even today in most of the places where cotton is evaluated, the staple
length is estimated by the hand stapling process performed by an experienced person
called the classer. Later, some instruments were developed for the objective determination
of the staple length. These instruments provided a Staple Diagram - an arrangement of

fibres from the shortest to the longest full length. From the staple diagram, the following
length parameters can be obtained:
1. Mean Length
2. Effective Length
3. Upper Half Mean Length
Of these parameters, the effective length correlates well with the classers staple length
and hence provides an objective measurement of the staple length eliminating the
subjective assessment prevalent with the hand stapling arrangement. The staple diagram
has for long been regarded as the ultimate way to determine the range of fibre lengths. To
make this method as useful as possible, much experimental work has been done on its
correlation with yarn spinning, but the method has certain inherent limitations. The
Fibrogram method is a relatively recent innovation sought to overcome these limitations.
The Fibrogram
The fibrogram is an arrangement of fibres from the shortest to the longest in terms of span
lengths (the distances fibres extend from a random catching point). The Fibrogram
simulates the way fibres will occur in yarn making processes. The practicality of fibrogram
method is revealed when it is recognised that, in processing fibres to yarn, at any instant
of time, those fibres caught by rollers or aprons, being transferred from one place to
another, follows a fibrogram configuration and this is explained in the following figure.
Fibres in the drafting zone
Extending from random catch points, exposed fibre segments will have different lengths
even if all fibres have the same full or end to end length. Consequently expressions of
fibre length and length distribution extracted from the Fibrogram, rather than the Baer
Sorter array, are most useful in explaining fibre behaviour in yarn spinning.
Span Length
Span Length is defined as the distance exceeded by a specific percentage of fibres
extending from a random catch point. The following figure explains the same.
Definition of Span Length
Elaborate studies conducted at the US Dept. of Agriculture have shown that 2.5% Span
Length - i.e. the distance exceeded by 2.5% of fibres in the fibrogram - best matches the
Staple Length as assessed by a classer and consequently 2.5% Span Length is used as
the universal standard for evaluating cottons with regard to its suitability for the spinning

process. Estimating Span Lengths from full lengths and vice versa Despite the
advantages of the Fibrogram, it has not been established that the Fibrogram can fully
replace the staple diagram and hence it often becomes necessary to have a means of
conversion from one form of length estimation to the other. In the high volume fibre tester,
an estimate of the full, end-to-end fibre length distribution is obtained from the span length
distribution by constructing tangents on the Fibrogram. For example, placing a tangent to
the curve that intercepts the Y axis at the 50% level will establish the X-axis intercept and
thereby identify the Upper Half Mean Length. Similarly drawing a tangent at the 100%
level will indicate the Mean Length on the X-axis and so on. Please refer the figure given
below.
Method of conversion from Span lengths to Full lengths in ART
Length Uniformity
It is a well known fact that cotton is a highly variable material and the length is not uniform
throughout the sample. The extent of variability of length plays an important role in the
performance of cotton fibres. This is because, for a given roller setting (decided based on
the 2.5% Span Length or the Effective Length), cottons with a higher length variability
results in a number of floating fibres in the drafting zone which ultimately deteriorates the
yarn quality. There are two popular measures of length uniformity in a cotton sample - the
Uniformity Ratio (UR) and the Uniformity Index (UI). There is little ambiguity with regard to
the use of these measures since mills adopting the span length concept use the
Uniformity Ratio and those adopting the full length concept use the Uniformity Index. The
terms are defined as follows:
Short Fibres and their Influence
The negative effect of the presence of a high proportion of short fibres is well known. A
high percentage of short fibres is usually associated with - Increased yarn irregularity and
ends down which reduce quality and increase processing costs - Increased number of
Neps and Slubs which is detrimental to the yarn appearance
- Higher fly liberation and machine contamination in spinning, weaving and knitting
operations.
- Higher wastage in combing and other operations.
The Premier Automatic Rapid Tester provides estimates of short fibre content based on
empirical equations.
Ring Spinning Index (RiSi) / Rotor Spinning Index (RoSi)

RiSi and RoSi give an indication of the yarn quality obtained from the fibre properties. This
in turn indicates the importance of various fibre properties in deciding the optimum mix to
obtain the best yarn out of the available raw material. The greater the index value, the
better will be yarn quality produced.
Ri.Si = Constant + (Length Co-efficient x 2.5% Span Length) + (Uniformity Co-efficient x
UR) + (Mic Co-efficient x Mic) + (Strength Co-efficient x Strength) + (Reflectance Coefficient x Rd)
Ro.Si = Constant + (Length Co-efficient x 2.5% Span Length) + (Uniformity Co-efficient x
UR) + (Mic Co-efficient x Mic) + (Strength Co-efficient x Strength) + (Reflectance Coefficient x Rd) + (Yellowness Co-efficient x +b) + (Trash Co-efficient x Trash)
A set of the various constants are provided as default values in the ART operating
software. The co-efficients are however user changeable.
Length Measurement in Premier ART
Premier ART uses an optical principle of determination of fibre length. The principle
involved is diagrammatically shown below.
Optical Principle of Length Measurement
A narrow rectangular beam of light is allowed to fall on the specimen beard. The
attenuation of light through the specimen at different areas of the beard is measured and
used to obtain the different span length values. In the Automatic Rapid Tester, the tip of
the beard is scanned first and scanning gradually proceeds towards the clamp. In Premier
ART, the span length values are obtained by actual measurement. Full length parameters
such as Mean Length and Upper Half Mean Length are obtained indirectly as described
earlier.
Fibre Strength and Elongation
Principles of Strength Measurement
Fibre Strength and Elongation are representing the toughness of a fibre which has a direct
effect on the yarn and fabric strength. Very weak cotton fibres tend to rupture during
processing both in blow room and carding, creating short fibres and consequently
deteriorate yarn Strength and Uniformity. It is usual to test the strength of fibre bundles
rather than single fibres since this is more representative and also has an arrangement
similar to that in yarn. It is also common to test the specimens by placing them in clamps
with an initial distance of 1/8" between them. This is because, at this distance, the test
value is most likely to represent the actual fibre strength. In all the common methods of
testing fibre strength (Pressley, Stelometer, High volume Fibre Testing instruments, etc.),

the force at break is measured. Unlike fibre length, there is little debate on what property
is to be used to compare fibre strength between samples. Universally, either the breaking
tenacity in grams per Tex or breaking length is used. This is because these parameters
determine the strength of the yarn, and not the absolute breaking force in grams.
Strength Measurement in Premier ART Premier ART uses Constant Rate of
Elongation principle while testing the fibre sample. The available conventional methods of
strength measurement are slow and are not compatible to be used with a high volume
fibre tester instrument. The main hindering factor is the weight measurement of the test
specimen which is necessary to estimate the tenacity of the sample. Expression of the
breaking strength in terms of tenacity is important to make easy comparison between
specimens of varying fineness. The problem is overcome in the Premier ART by
positioning the jaws and breaking the fibres at a constant amount location across the
beard. By breaking the fibres at a constant amount location, it is made sure that the
samples are broken with a constant number of fibres between the jaws. Therefore, raw
data strength is directly proportional to the force to break the fibres. The raw data so
obtained are then adjusted
to desired levels by testing samples of designated values. In order to make the estimation
of the specimen linear density accurate enough, a micronaire correction factor is normally
introduced so that the strength values are not affected by variations in micronaire.
Fibre Fineness
Principles of Fineness Measurement
After the fibre length, fineness can be considered to be the most important parameter
determining the yarn quality characteristics. This is because fineness influences the
number of fibres in the cross-section of yarn. For a given yarn count, the finer the fibre, the
higher the number of fibres in the cross-section which is explained diagrammatically
below.
Finer and Coarser Fibres in the Yarn Cross Section
As the number of fibres in the cross-section increases the yarn irregularity comes down.
This means that, for a given yarn count, finer fibres produce a better yarn when compared
to coarse fibres. Besides, it can be shown that a fine fibre can be spun to finer counts than
a coarse fibre. In other words, fineness determines the spinning limit of fibres. Further, in
the yarn structure, the finer the fibre, the greater the total surface area available for inter
fibre contact and consequently less twist is needed to provide the necessary cohesion.

Therefore the yarn twist is dependent upon the fibre fineness. While the importance of
fineness has generally been accepted by one and all, accurate determination of this
parameter has always been a problem. This is because of the fact that, fibres exhibit a
variety of shapes and they also vary in section along their length and vary from fibre to
fibre. Traditionally fineness has been expressed as the mass of a given length of fibres
since mass is directly proportional to the area of cross-section for a given length. The most
popular among these expressions is the micronaire value which is defined as the weight
of one inch of fibres in micrograms (10-6 grams). Airflow instruments are widely used for
the estimation of fibre fineness. These instruments are based on the principle that, for
equal weights of fibre samples, the rate of airflow across the sample would be less for
finer fibres than the coarser fibres due to the relatively more surface area in the case of
finer fibres which offer a drag on the flow of air. The issue of fineness measurement is
complicated by the fact that the rate of airflow through a specimen is dependent not only
on the fineness value but also on its maturity. Therefore differences in micronaire values
between two tests may indicate either varying fineness or varying maturity. Within a variety
of cotton however, the change in the fibre perimeter is not significant and hence
micronaire differences could be considered to be due to differences in the maturity of the
samples tested. Though micronaire value does not truly represent the intrinsic fibre
fineness, it is nevertheless regarded as an important parameter in determining the yarn
quality and spinning performance, and hence is continued to be used by instruments
including the latest high volume instruments. The micronaire module of the Premier ART
uses the airflow method to estimate the fineness value of cotton. A sample of known
weight is compressed in a cylinder to a known volume and subjected to an air current at a
known pressure. The rate of air flow through this porous plug of fibre is taken to be a
measure of the fineness of cotton. The number of fibres in a given weight of cotton will be
more in the case of finer fibres than in the case of coarser fibres. If air is blown through
both these samples, the plug containing finer fibres will be found to offer a greater
resistance than the plug with coarser fibres. This is due to the fact that the total surface
area in the case of the former will be greater than the latter and hence the drag on the air
flowing past will be more. This differentiating factor is made use of to indirectly measure
the fineness of cotton.
Fineness Measurement in Premier ART
The micronaire module of the Premier ART operates as follows. When the chamber lid is
closed, a piston at the chamber bottom compresses the fibre to a fixed and known

volume. A regulated stream of air is then forced through the sample and the pressure drop
across the sample is measured as the fineness value. The fineness is expressed in the
form of a parameter called the micronaire value which is defined as the weight of one
inch of fibre in micrograms (i.e. 10-6 grams). It is worth mentioning here that differences in
micronaire values do not always represent differences in the intrinsic fibre fineness
because the rate of air flow is also influenced by the maturity of cotton. A given weight of
mature fibres will contain fewer fibres than a similar weight of immature fibres. Hence, for
the mature sample, air flow rate will be higher. It can be generally considered that, for a
given variety of cotton, micronaire differences are caused mainly due to differences in
maturity. Premier ART provides an empirical estimate of the maturity from the other
measured parameters.
Colour and Trash
Colour Measurement
Colour has been one of the primary factors of cotton quality for quite a long time. Apart
from its influence over the aesthetic appeal of the product whether yarn or fabric many
other fibre properties are also associated with colour. Moreover the natural colour of
cotton highly influences the chemical processing behaviour and dye-ability of the finished
product. Normally human eye defines colour in a relative measure i.e., distinguishing
different colours is easier than defining the actual / absolute colour. Colour perception
highly varies from person to person and distinguishing colours by human eye with slightly
varying intensity is highly unreliable as it depends on the amount of light reflected from the
sample, the amount of redness or greenness of the sample and the amount of yellowness
or blueness of the sample and several other multiple correlated factors. Emergence of
electronic colorimeters has totally solved this problem. Cotton colour falls in a range of
white and yellowness with nil or insignificant amount of other colours. This simplifies the
colour measurement process to just two parameters the amount of reflected light called
the reflectance, measured as Rd and the yellowness, measured in terms of +b value.
Trash measurement
The amount of non-lint content in a cotton bale is a significant parameter considering the
troubles involved in extracting them from the pure cotton fibres to get good quality yarn.
The problem is more severe when the different cottons used for a mixing have varying
degrees of trash. This is because, trashy cotton requires severe beating in blow room and
cards, which may damage the fibres in the cleaner cotton mixed with it. Consequently,
optimisation of the process sequence and selection of process parameters becomes

extremely difficult. A popular trash measuring device is the Shirley Analyser, which
separated trash and foreign matter from lint by mechanical methods. The result is an
expression of trash as a percentage of the combined weight of trash and lint of a sample.
Stricter sliver quality requirements led to the gradual evolution of opening and cleaning
machinery leading to a situation where blow room and carding machinery were designed
to remove exclusively certain specific types of trash particles. This necessitated the
segregation of the trash in the cotton sample by their size. Video analysis method projects
the trash particles as it appears in the finished product. This method will be a better way of
trash estimation rather than estimation by means of trash weight.
Colour & Trash measurement in Premier ART
Premier ART uses optical method to determine the colour & trash content in cotton.
Colour is measured as colour Reflectance (Rd) and Yellowness (+b) value.
Trash content is measured in terms of Trash Area and Trash Count.
Two lamps positioned below the sample window at 45 degrees on either side illuminate
the cotton placed over the window. The color sensors & camera are fitted directly below
the sample window. The sensors captures the voltage levels for Rd & +b values and
processed to arrive at the Rd & +b values in case of colour measurement. The camera
captures image for the full sample window and this image is analysed to arrive Trash
Count & Trash Area for trash measurement.
Colour & Trash Measurement
Moisture Measurement in Premier ART
Fibre properties are being affected by the Moisture present in the cotton material. Cotton
is of hygroscopic in nature, will have the Moisture absorbing capacity. Conditioning of the
cotton samples to be examined. For hygroscopic cotton fibres, deviations in relative
humidity lead to deviations in features such as Length and StrengthThe principle effects of
climate on the mechanical features of cotton are well known. The moisture content of the
cotton fibres is of great significance. The cotton fibre becomes stronger on absorbing
moisture. Moisture is measured during the color and trash measurement. The moisture
measurement probe is placed at the bottom of the compression arm. The probe consists
of two plates, which are not connected to each other. The resistance offered between the
two plates during compression of cotton samples is converted in terms of voltage and the
corresponding voltage levels are converted to the equivalent moisture value. Cotton
samples kept in the two trays are measured for moisture regains individually during
testing.