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Effect of Prep on Pima Cotton Textile Quality

S. E. Hughs and C. Owen


 
ABSTRACT

The only reliable source of Pima cotton that is classed as having excessive preparation is cotton that has been ginned in a commercial gin plant and then given the preparation designation during the normal classing operation. Representative Pima cotton bales that were classed both preppy and non-prep were obtained from each of the three major Pima cotton production areas. The goal was to obtain pairs of bales from each of the three production areas whose only significant difference was the preparation designation. The goal was not completely met for micronaire, but other HVI properties were in the normal range. Data analysis showed that there were significant differences between growing areas, as might be expected, in most of the raw fiber properties measured for the six bales tested. When comparing raw fiber properties between paired bales from a given production area's prep and non-prep bales, the prep bales tended to be lower in strength, micronaire, grade, color, neps, and length. Evaluation of yarn and cloth properties also showed significant differences between production areas as would be expected due to the initial differences in raw fiber properties between production areas. This test indicates that there are small but significant differences in some yarn properties and dyeing performance when comparing prep and non-prep Pima cotton. Yarn made from Pima cotton classed as preppy was not as uniform as the yarn made from cotton that did not receive the preparation designation. Also, the preppy cotton resulted in dyed cloth that was significantly higher in white specks than cloth made from non-prep cotton. One factor that could have affected the quality of yarn and cloth, apart from the preparation designation, was the low micronaire cotton included in the test. To verify this result, the test should be repeated with all fiber properties in the normal or premium range for both the prep and non-prep bales.



Reprinted from Proceedings of the 2000 Beltwide Cotton Conferences pp. 1582 - 1585
©National Cotton Council, Memphis TN

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Document last modified Saturday, Jun 17 2000