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Implications of Pectin on Cotton Fiber Processing

Gary R. Gamble

ABSTRACT

Increasing speeds of cotton yarn production in the textile mill have rendered traditional physical fiber measurements such as length and strength less reliable as predictors of yarn spinning efficiency. With the goal toward addressing this problem, this work attempts to characterize the pectin component of the cotton fiber in order to develop a chemistry-based methodology by which currently unknown factors involved in yarn spinning efficiency may be elucidated. A mathematical relationship of pectin content with fiber micronaire measurements is first established and subsequently used in the comparison of the normalized pectin content with fiber friction measurements. Results indicate that fiber friction decreases as the pectin layer thickness on the cotton fiber outer surface increases. This is an important observation not only from the standpoint of being able to set fiber processing equipment parameters based on chemical measurements, but it also raises the question of whether cotton can be bred in order to produce desirable spinning characteristics based on the level of pectin production during the fiber growth period.





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Document last modified April 16, 2003