ABSTRACT

Module covers are one part of the module system that when correctly managed ensure cotton lint and seed are protected from rainfall and other environmental factors. New and used module covers currently used in the cotton industry were subjected to standard test methods for water impact (to simulate rainfall) and hydrostatic resistance (to simulate ponding of water). Treatments to new covers included outdoor weathering and pinhole punctures. Used covers were categorized as light damage, moderate damage, heavy damage and abusive damage as determined by visual inspection. Results indicate that as damage level was more severe, water that penetrated the cover material during testing increased. The outdoor weathering treatment results showed that as woven polyolefin material increased in number of tape intersections per square inch, the amount of water penetrating the cover increased. The woven vinyl and the film polyolefin materials allowed zero water to penetrate after weathering. The pinhole treatment results indicate that film polyolefin material allowed a significantly greater amount of water to penetrate the specimen compared to the woven polyolefin and woven vinyl materials. Evaluations at Texas gins revealed that water ponded on 50% of modules after rain events due to uneven module surfaces. Ponding is likely to allow more water to enter the seed cotton than rainfall. Therefore, the module system as a whole is important, specifically the formation of modules having a crowned surface, to prevent ponding of water and allow rainfall to run off of the module cover.