Processing Sticky Cotton: Effect of Stickiness on Yarn Quality

Seventeen cotton samples with small-to-moderate stickiness contamination were created by mixing sticky cottons with non-sticky cottons, and then processed through ring and rotor spinning. Trehalulose contents ranged from 0.002% to 0.034% of the fiber weight (corresponding to 1.8% and 16.8% of the total sugars), while melezitose contents ranged from 0.023% to 0.071% (corresponding to 10.5% and 22.5% of the total sugars). High-speed stickiness detector (H2SD) readings of the card slivers ranged from 2.0 to15.7. At these relatively low levels of contamination there was no correlation between ends-down in spinning and H2SD readings. Results showed that in the short term, less than 12 H2SD spots within a mix of cotton does not seem to influence spinning productivity on either ring (Saco-Lowell SF-3H) or rotor (Rieter R20) systems. A slight, but significant, negative effect on the ring-spun yarn quality was found even at low levels of stickiness. In the long term, it appears likely that even very small amounts of trehalulose slowly contaminate the equipment. This accumulation of sugars would be expected to have a cumulative, negative impact on both productivity and yarn quality.