Control of Waste in Spinning PDF

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Control of wastes in spinning
Abstract: This chapter deals with the various control points and remedial
measures in each process for the control of waste to improve the yarn realization
in spinning. The various factors influencing the yarn realization and control of
hard waste and their norms are also discussed. The influence of process and
machine parameters on control of waste in blow room, carding and comber and
the influence of modern developments on waste control have been discussed.
The effect of contamination on final yarn quality and various techniques of
contamination removal during spinning processes have also been discussed in
detail.
Key words: yarn realization, hard waste, invisible loss, cleanability, noil
4.1 Yarn realization

The growing global competition forces the cotton spinning mills to produce
yarns in constant quality at internationally competitive prices. When
comparing the cost structures in different locations it can be clearly seen –
under consideration of all the regional dissimilarities – that the raw material
price now as before represents the dominating factor in yarn manufacturing
costs. This means that the key to survival in the international market is to best
possibly utilize the raw material, despite all influences of labour costs and
capital costs.
A high yarn realization is a factor of great importance in the production
economics of a spinning mill. One per cent reduction in yarn realization
would cause almost the same economic impact on the mill’s profit as 1%
increase in the raw material cost would make. This is because resale value
of waste is much less than the actual price of cotton till it reaches yarn stage.
To illustrate, in the prevailing cotton cost and yarn selling price, even a 1%
improvement in yarn realization would lead to a saving of Rs 20 lakhs per
year for a 30000 spindle mill manufacturing 40s yarn. Hence control of yarn
realization is important to a mill as the control of cotton and mixing costs.
Yarn Realization is the percentage of yarn output produced from the
given cotton input. Yarn Realization largely depends on the level of trash in
cotton.
© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

70 Process control and yarn quality in spinning
4.1.1 Method of yarn realization calculation

The estimation of yarn realization has to be done accurately by maintaining
proper recording of bale weights, wastes and yarn produced. Because the
estimation of quantities such as moisture content in cotton and yarn, tare
weights, allowances for twist contraction and idle spindles and invisible loss
are subjected to a number of assumptions as well as possible sources of error.
Generally most of the mills use the following formula:
Yarn production
Yarn realisation (%) = × 100
Cotton consumption
Where, Cotton consumption = Cotton issued (kg) + Opening process
stock − Closing process stock
The percentage of yarn realization from any mixing depends upon the
magnitude of two types of wastes:
1. Process waste – Wastes taken out in blow room, cards and combers,
which together form about 80% of the total waste. These wastes are
extracted for the purpose of cleaning, so there should be a direct
measurement and control of process wastes.
2. Product waste – Wastes which are incurred at each stage of processing.
The product wastes can be controlled through proper supervision.
The types of waste incurred in the spinning mills can be categorized as:
1. Usable wastes:
• Lap bits and card web
• Sliver waste in drawing and fly frames
• Waste at comber preparatory and combers
• Roving ends
• Pneumafil and roller waste (ring frames)
2. Non-usable wastes (process and product waste):
• Blow room droppings
• Card waste (licker-in, flat strips and other wastes)
• Gutter / filter waste
• Micro dust
• Comber noils
• Yarn waste (hard waste)
• Sweep waste (includes fan wastes of draw frame and speed frame
and OHTC waste)
• Invisible loss
For the calculation of yarn realization only non-usable wastes are taken
into consideration. Formula for estimating the yarn realization given by
SITRA is shown on the next page:

Control of wastes in spinning 71
Yarn Realization YR (%) = (100 – (Wbr + Wk + Wh + Ws + Wg) – I)….

for carded counts
= 100 – (Wbr + Wk + Wc + Wh + Ws + Wg)
– I)…. for combed counts
Where,
Wbr = Blow room waste%
Wk = Card waste%
Wc = Comber noil%
Wh = Yarn waste%
Ws = Sweep waste%
Wg = Gutter / Filter waste%
I = Invisible loss%
If a mill does not reuse the usable wastes in the same mixing, the
corresponding usable wastes (%) must be deducted in the above estimation.
4.1.2 Norms for yarn realization and waste in different

departments
The percentage yarn realization depends primarily on the process waste taken
out at the blow room, cards and combers. Of these, the waste taken out in the
blow room depends on the trash content of the mixing, the waste in cards,
on the type of cards and also on the trash in the lap and the waste in combers
on the nature of fibre length distribution of typical mixing used for different
combed counts. The norms for the various waste losses and yarn realization
for types of yarns are given in Tables 4.1 and 4.2, respectively.
Table 4.1 Norms for types of waste in spinning
Content Carded Combed MMF
Count 4–9 10–13 14–25 26–34 28–34 35–44 45–70 71–99 –
Trash% 11 10 7 5 5 4 3 2 –
B.R. dropping 12 11 7.7 5.4 5.4 4.4 3.2 2.2 0.1
Card waste 4.2 4.2 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.3 4.3 6.4 0.1
Comber
– – – – 9 10.9 12 13 –
waste
Sweeping 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.2 1 1 0.5
Clearer waste 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1
Hard waste 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4
Invisible loss 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Y.R.% 78.1 79.7 83.6 86.5 77.5 77.4 77.9 77.9 97.6

Table 4.2 Standards for yarn realization and waste%
Category Blow room Card Comber Ring Yarn

waste waste waste frame realization
Carded cotton count 5–6% 5–6% – 3% 85–88%
Combed cotton count 5–6% 5–6% 3–5% 3% 70–75%
Manmade fibers 1% 1% – 2% 95–97%
The actual waste collected should be compared with the norms and causes
for deviation should be thoroughly investigated. Weekly waste indices showing
the ratios of actual hard waste and sweep wastes to the respective norms should
be calculated for each section. Often, the causes of high hard waste, soft waste
and sweepings are due to negligence of workers, rough handling of materials
and poor working conditions. A high sweep waste arises due to operatives
throwing away the waste like bonda waste etc. on the floor. Periodically the
sweep waste should be checked for the presence of good fibres. The spinning
tenters should be provided with bags and it should be ensured that the bonda
waste is kept in the bags during piecing. Proper supervision, maintenance and
strict control would help to reduce the incidence of these wastes.
The process waste need to be weighed only once a month and percentage
for all categories of waste estimated taking the total cotton consumed as the
basis. Estimates of the invisible loss or gain in ring spinning, reeling and
winding stages should be made at periodic intervals. The norm for usable
waste in cotton processing is given in Table 4.3. By exercising good control
over end breaks in various machines, material handling and storage and work
practices of operatives a mill could maintain the usable waste below 5%. In
Synthetic processing all wastes are reusable except Blow room droppings and
carding flat strips. Maximum waste achieved in blow room dropping is 0.5%,
card flat strip is 1.5%, and Invisible loss is 0.5%. So, all the synthetic mills can
able to achieve 97–98% yarn realization.
Table 4.3 Norms for usable waste
Type of waste Norms (%)
Lap bits 0.5
Card web 0.2
Sliver waste in drawing and fly frames 0.5
Comber preparatory and comber waste 1.0
Roving ends 0.3
Pneumafil and roller waste (ring frames) 2.0

4.1.3 Effect of fibre parameters on yarn realization

The fibre parameters which can affect the yarn realization are:
1. Trash% in mixing
If the trash percentage is higher in mixing, more waste in blow room
and card be removed to get the required quality compared to the cotton
having less trash% in mixing, which in turn affects the yarn realization.
2. Short fibre content (SFC) in mixing
Higher SFC in mixing resulted in more waste in blow room. Improper
control of short fibres leads to fluff liberation in the departments
which in turn higher invisible loss and affects the yarn realization.
3. Moisture content in mixing
If there is more moisture content in cotton, the amount of invisible
loss will be higher.
4. Micronaire
In less Micronaire cotton, the amount of immaturity is higher, so that
due to fibre rupture in blow room and card the waste will be higher.
MCU5 – 3.8 to 4.2, DCH32 – 3.0 to 3.2.
5. Maturity Ratio
In more immaturity cotton, due to fibre rupture in blow room and card
the waste will be higher.
6. Stickiness of cotton / Honey dew content
Higher honey dew content in cotton leads to more white waste and
higher micro dust/fluff accumulation on the machine components and
leads to higher invisible loss or micro dust which in turn affects the
yarn realization.
4.1.4 Records for estimating yarn realization and waste

The various quantities for which systematic records have to be kept for the
purpose of obtaining the yarn realization and waste losses, and their inter-
relationships are shown in Fig. 4.1. It contains only one quantity which is not
directly measured, namely, the invisible loss. The quantity of the invisible loss
is obtained by subtraction.
By implication the invisible loss refers to the loss caused by the
evaporation of part of the moisture content in the cotton, and by the escape
into the atmosphere of some fibres and dust at various stages of processing.
In practice, however, the invisible loss is the total unaccounted loss and
consequently reflects immediately any mistake, or systematic error in record
keeping. A relatively small inaccuracy in the waste or production records
would cause a large proportionate change in the invisible loss.

74
Figure 4.1 Records recommended to account for yarn realization
Yarn realization
Process control and yarn quality in spinning

Cotton consumed Waste generated Yarn produced
Is obtained from Consists of Is recorded as
Cotton Stock in Process Product Invisible Doff Hank meter

Or
issued process waste waste loss weights readings
Opening Closing Blow

Cards Combers
room
Processed Noil Unaccounted Tare weights, Wrapping count,

Bale cotton Gutter Flat strips, Clearer
through blow losses:
room B.R. + waste strippings, waste calibration of twist contraction,
sweepings Moisture and balances bonda waste,
cards B.R. droppings droppings
hard waste fly errors hank meter
+ Cards + in record correction, idle
comber keeping spindle

Almost all data are recorded daily; the only exceptions are the stock in
process and the gutter loss in blow room. The overall and mixing-wise values
of yarn realization should be calculated once every month and the overall
invisible loss also determined at that time. If the values of overall invisible
loss remain steady over the months, but the overall yarn realization fluctuates,
then it is clear that the changes in the yarn realization are real and are due to
some changes in the waste levels. If however, the invisible loss also fluctuates
substantially then it indicates some mistake in calculation or in recording data,
besides a possible change in the waste levels themselves.
4.1.5 Control of invisible loss

While calculating the yarn realization, the quantity of wastes which are not
weighable / quantifiable due to evaporation of part of the moisture content
in the cotton and the escaping of short fibres and dust at various stages of
processing of cotton such as micro dust, flies etc. are called as invisible loss.
Invisible loss = 100 – packed yarn production% – packed waste%
(including micro dust and sweeping waste).
In practice, however, the invisible loss is the total unaccounted loss and
consequently reflects immediately any mistake in record keeping. A relatively
small inaccuracy in the waste or production records would cause a large
proportionate change in the invisible loss.
4.1.5.1 Reasons for invisible loss

1. Short fibres and fluff escaping from departments
2. Weighment errors in cotton purchased and wastes sold
3. Excess giveaway of yarn and inaccuracies in the estimates of stock
held in process
4. Differences in moisture content between cotton and yarn
5. Pilferage
6. Inaccuracies in the estimates of stock held in process
7. Improper accounting of waste produced
4.1.5.2 Control measures for invisible loss

1. Ensure the moisture content in yarn is equal or little higher than the
moisture content in mixing. The loss due to this would be invariably
very insignificant and the mills should keep a check by weighing a
few bales at random after a lapse of 3–4 months and compare the
same with the weight at the time of purchase.
Normal moisture content in mixing – 6–7%

Normal moisture content in yarn:

Before yarn conditioning – 4.5–5.0%
After yarn conditioning – 6.0–6.5%
During the process of fibre to yarn conversion, the decrease of 1–2
percentage happens which would not only affect the yarn quality,
but also the invisible loss. The yarn conditioning process increases
the moisture content by 1.0–1.5% (by restoring the yarn’s natural
regain). The increase in moisture content in yarn after conditioning
would reduce the invisible loss and in some cases it would result in
‘invisible gain’.
2. Maintain the relative humidity at 65% in winding 70% in packing
departments
3. Condition the yarn at least for 12–16 hours in humidified atmosphere
before packing
4. Use yarn-conditioning plant, if necessary. The objective of yarn
conditioning system is to restore the natural properties of yarn like
moisture content and to improve the strength and elongation and to
produce a balance yarn (twist setting). So due to this the invisible loss
is compensated.
5. Accuracy of balances used in weighment plays a crucial role since
any under estimation in weight would be a financial loss to the mill
and over estimation would lead to market complaints. Hence balances
used in cotton godown, cone winding packing departments must
be calibrated as per schedule and cross-checked periodically with
standard weight.
6. Tare of different packs viz., bags, cartons and pallets must be checked
every week
7. Saleable wastes like blow room droppings, card waste, comber
waste, etc., should be weighed shift-wise and proper records should
be maintained. Reconciliation of weight of wastes should be done
during selling. Yarn issued to workers (for cleaning purpose) must be
weighed and recorded.
8. A high invisible loss can arise due to excess bundle weight in reeling,
either due to coarser count or longer length. The quality control
department should keep a periodic check of the net weight after
conditioning and length of yarn in cones and knots.
4.1.6 Control of hard waste in spinning mill

A high incidence of yarn waste, apart from leading to a loss of Rs 6–15 per
spindle per year for every 0.1% waste, is an indication of poor machinery

condition and maintenance, and inappropriate work practices of operatives.

The norms for hard waste for different machines are given in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4 Norms for hard waste in spinning and post-spinning machines (SITRA)
S. no. Department Good Average Poor
1 Conventional cone winding

• Mechanical slub catcher 0.10 0.15 0.20
• Electronic clearer 0.10 0.15 0.20
2 Reeling 0.10 0.15 0.20
3 Doubler winding
• Cop feed 0.15 0.25 0.30
• Cone feed 0.04 0.06 0.08
4 Ring doubling 0.05 0.08 0.10
5 Two-for-one twister 0.03 0.05 0.06
6 Auto coner
• Savio 0.40 0.60 0.75
• Muratec 0.50 0.75 1.00
• Padmatex 138 0.50 0.75 1.00
• Schlafhorst 238 0.30 0.45 0.60
7 Open end spinning 0.01 0.02 0.03
8 Ring spinning 0.02 0.03 0.04
The incidence of hard waste in any process is influenced by the following

three factors:
• End breaks and feed package replacement
• Work practices and
• Other causes such as quality of feed packages, housekeeping and
material handling.
4.1.6.1 Control of hard waste in ring frame

Causes of hard waste
Since the ring cops are the feed packages for single yarn winding, the quality
of ring cops must be maintained at good level. Whenever there is a count
change in ring frame, the cop quality should be checked. Proper quality of
cop ensures higher winding efficiency. The cop quality is checked as per the
parameters listed in Table 4.5.

Table 4.5 Quality parameters to be checked in a ring cop
S. no. Parameter Standard Impact
1 Bobbin diameter Ring diameter: 3 mm • Cop content

• Hairiness
2 Chase length Cop diameter × 1.2 Less chase:

• Slough off
• Bobbin rejection
• Bunch in cone
3 Bobbin hardness 60–70° shore for Less hardness:

cotton • More slough off
4 Winding and binding 2:1 to 3:1 Slough off

length
5 Bobbin empty (Top) 12 mm Lower setting at top:

• Slough off
• Low yarn content
6 Bobbin empty 10 mm Lower setting at bottom:

(bottom) • Bottom spoiled
7 Back winding 1.5 to 2 Hard waste
8 Under winding 3–5 layers • Hard waste

• Startup breakage
9 Tail end Min. possible Tension break at bottom
(a) Cop content: Depending on the spindle lift and ring diameter, the cop
content (in grams) should be as given in Table 4.6
Table 4.6 Relationship between lift, ring diameter and cop content (g)
Spindle lift Ring diameter

38 mm 40 mm 42 mm
170 mm 48–52
180 mm 62–65
190 mm 68–70
(b) Diameter of the cop: The ‘actual cop diameter’ must be checked
against ‘standard cop diameter’. The standard cop diameter depends
on the ring diameter as shown in Table 4.7.
Standard cop diameter = Ring diameter – 3 mm

Table 4.7 Relationship between ring diameter and cop diameter
Ring diameter Cop diameter

38 mm 35 mm
40 mm 37 mm
42 mm 39 mm
(c) Back winding: The number of back winding coils should be around
1.5–2.5 and the maximum length of back winding should not be more
than 80 cm.
(d) Under winding: The number of under winding coils should be around
2–3 and the maximum length of back winding should not be more
than 20 cm. As the under winding and back winding increases, more
time is wasted to open them up before feeding in the magazine and
also hard waste is increased.
(e) Top clearance: The clearance from bobbin tip to yarn body of a full
cop should be approx. 10 mm. If the top clearance is too less, it may
cause slough off at the start of the bobbin unwinding.
(f) Bottom clearance: The clearance from bobbin bottom to yarn body of
should be approx. 10mm. If the bottom clearance is too less, it may
cause bottom spoiled bobbin.
(g) Yarn length per chase: The length of yarn per chase should be around
3.5–5.5 m. If the length is too long, it may lead to slough off during
high speed unwinding.
(h) Bobbin hardness: The bobbin hardness should be around 50° to 55°.
Soft bobbins results slough off. Besides the above-mentioned points,
the cops should be also checked for long tail end, deshaped bobbin,
kirchi & lapetta, ring cut, overfilled and bottom spoiled bobbin to
ensure high production efficiency in winding.
In ring frames, poor work practices of workers and poor maintenance of
machinery affect the quality of cops which in turn increases the end breaks,
slough off, cop rejection etc., in the post spinning process ultimately leading
to high hard waste. Some of the wrong work practices which affect the quality
of the cop are double gaiting, over-end piecing, upward and downward
ratcheting, not engaging the pawl on the ratchet wheel while starting the frame
after doffing, using empties with remnants, not stopping the frame properly
for doffing thus leading to more backwind coils, etc.
Improper maintenance of builder motion, poor spindle and lappet gauging,
etc., produce poor quality cops. The average cop content is about 15% lower
than that expected for the lift and ring diameter used by the mills. Some of
the parameters which influence the cop content besides the maintenance of

machines are as follows: low utilization of tube length, frequent ratcheting, not
providing cop bottoms, improper ratchet wheel and lifter wheel combination,
more chase length etc. The quality of yarn should also be maintained at good
level. The incidence of high hard waste in ring frames is due to the following
causes:
1. High end breaks
2. Removing more yarn unnecessarily while attending defects in cops
3. Taking more length of yarn from cops while piecing
4. Removing the cops roughly without stopping the spindle and making
slough off
5. Poor doffing practice – doffing and donning separately
6. More frequent wrapping (for count checking)
Measures to reduce hard waste
1. Maintain low breakage rate in all post-spinning operations by
improving the parent yarn quality
2. Improve the quality of cops by reducing the defects like ring cuts,
slough off, over filled cops, double gaiting, etc.
3. Ensure high cop content for the given package size
4. Impart training to workers for correct work methods
5. Maintain the machinery in good condition
6. Maintain the number of backward coils / underwind coils in the cop
7. Adopt good material handling practices such as use of plastic crates
for transporting cops, trolleys, etc.
8. Improve housekeeping. Keep cop stocks in cone winding with proper
covers and full cones should be stocked in raised platform.
4.1.6.2 Control of hard waste in cone winding
The various measures required to reduce the hard waste level in winding
department are given below:
1. Keep the functioning of stop motions in cone/cheese winding in good
condition
2. Maintain the cop rejection in autoconers below 10% by improving the
cop quality. The various reasons of bobbin rejection are as follows:
• Bobbin quality – Long tail end, kirchi / lapetta, deshaped bobbin,
overfilled bobbin, bottom spoiled bobbin, ring cut bobbin, soft
bobbin, sick bobbin
• Bobbin feeding in magazine
• Top bunch transfer failure
• Fault in winding unit and yarn quality
• Double gaiting / over piecing in ring frame
• Insufficient suction in the gripper arm

3. Wind all the rejected bottoms from auto coners in conventional cone
winding machines with slow speed (after removing the defects, if
any) instead of cutting them using knife
4. Attend to red light immediately in auto coners
5. Feed only the minimum amount of yarn in the suction of autoconer
while creeling the cops
6. Avoid using damaged empties
7. Maintaining proper yarn tensioning
8. Minimum splicing length.
9. Maintain proper records
10. Reconcile the hard waste recorded in production departments with
that of godown figures periodically
4.2 Control of blow room waste

Raw cotton contains various kinds of trash, such as leaf, bark, and seed coat
particles. The content of each of those trash categories is highly depending
on the origin of the cotton and its harvesting method. Trash content from bale
to sliver should decrease through the opening. In one hand, the requirements
of sliver quality impose that the cotton must be intensively cleaned during
ginning, spinning mill and carding. On the other hand, the amount of those
contaminations provides useful information for finding more efficient cleaning
processes and predicts the quality of the finished products.
4.2.1 Need for opening

The term ‘opening’ in the technological sense, means while number of fibres
remaining constant volume of the flock is increased, i.e. the specific density
of the material is reduced. Opening is usually the first step in the spinning
process and includes removal of the fibres from the bale by plucking followed
by further opening using pinned cylinders and pinned lift aprons. Opening to
a fine degree is normally performed using a feed roll/feed plate combination
to restrain the cotton whilst it is opened into very small tufts by wire wound
cylinders, pinned beaters or blade beaters. At each stage of opening a cleaning
operation can be performed. Cotton has to be opened more than once because
trash is removed only from the surface of tufts and multiple opening actions
are needed to expose all the trash.
In the blow room cotton tuft size vary from 5 mg to not more than 150
mg. Throughout the processing steps in the spinning plant the density of the
fibre assembly changes as shown in Table 4.8.

Table 4.8 Density of fibres at different processing stages
Processing step Density

In the bale 0.30–0.70 g/cm3
In mixer or blender 0.10 g/cm3
In the sliver can 0.10 g/cm3
On the roving bobbin 0.25–0.35 g/cm3
Yarn on the bobbin 0.50 g/cm3
The intensity of opening of cotton in blowroom depends upon on raw

material, machines, machine speed and ambient conditions. All these factors
have to be considered before optimizing the opening and cleaning of the
cotton in the blowroom. The influence of number of machines in the blow
room line is shown in Fig. 4.2.
Figure 4.2 Influence of number of machines on opening intensity in blow room

The fourth or fifth cleaning step in the blow room line on the over-all
cleaning efficiency is marginal, but the contribution to fibre loss and quality
reduction is considerably higher. Hence shorter cleaning lines with only
two or three cleaning points are preferred in modern blow room lines. With
appropriate machinery design, one pre-cleaner and one or two fine cleaners
per line are sufficient.
4.2.2 Need for cleaning

The term ‘cleaning’ in the technological sense means that it is the process
of releasing the ‘imprisoned’ impurities from the bale cotton. The available
possibilities for cleaning of natural fibres can be classified into three groups’ viz.
wet cleaning, chemical cleaning and mechanical cleaning. Since mechanical
cleaning is the cheapest, easiest and fastest method, in mechanical processing
of cotton, this method is widely accepted and used in the blowroom. In the
mechanical cleaning the dirt particles on the surface of the flocks are removed
by the use of one or combination of the striking, scrapping, suction, combing
or ejecting.
4.2.3 Factors influencing cleaning in blow room

Normally trash is separated from the cotton by centrifugal force. The material
is moved at high speed in a circular motion. The trash tends to sling out from
the fibre surface during the passage in the pipeline. Grid bars are provided
in the machines to allow the trash to escape and separate from the fibre that
passes over the grid bars. The grid bars are adjustable to vary the angle and
open space allowing more, or less trash to be removed. With an increase in the
grid bar opening, there is an increase in the amount of good fibre that goes into
the waste with the trash. Good fibre in the waste is normally kept to a minimal
amount. However, if maximum cleaning is required there will be good fibre
in the waste.
New tuft surfaces must be created continuously to facilitate cleaning.
Larger, heavier particles are relatively easy to remove. Beating devices tend
to break large trash particles making them smaller and more difficult to
remove. Large trash should be removed at the beginning of the cleaning
process. For this reason, cotton removed from the bales should be in small
tufts for effective cleaning. Very small trash particles tend to be carried
with the cotton in the transport air and it is difficult to obtain separation.
Condensers and fibre separators help with the removal of dust sized particles.
The various trash liberating forces and their principle of operation is given
in Table 4.9.

Table 4.9 Change of intensity of trash liberation and separation
Way to change intensity
Liberation by
(i) Centrifugal force Rotational speed of opening element, diameter of drum or
roller, velocity of air flow and radius of curvature of bend in duct
(ii) Impact Speed, setting between feed nip to line to action of opening
elements
(iii) Pneumatic Suction fan speed
force
(iv) Frictional force Sharpness of grid bars, angle of inclination, closeness of
interacting surfaces
Separation by
(i) Gravity Size of slot, setting between grid bars
(ii) Suction Size of screen perforations, aim discharge rate
(iii) Buoyancy Velocity of cross air, location of separation edge
(iv) Magnetic Magnetic power, location
As cleaning demands both liberation and separation good cleaning is only

possible if both are highly effective and appropriate to the nature of trash/
foreign matter we intend to extract. As an example the principle to be used and
intensified for liberating and extracting large and heavy trash particles would
be quite different than that to be used for dust or seed coat fragments.
4.2.4 Degree of cleaning in the blow room

The trash content of cotton varies greatly, from 1% to as high as 15%. It is
much more difficult to remove trash from cleaner cotton than it is from dirty
cotton. Table 4.10 shows how much trash is normally removed from cottons
with different trash levels.
Table 4.10 Relationship between cotton trash and trash removal in blow room
Original trash content Quantity of trash removed

< 1.2% <40%
1.3–2.0% 40–50%
2.1–4.0% 50–60%
4.1–7.0% 55–65%
≥7.1% 60–75%

As mentioned above some good fibre is lost with the trash. The appearance
of the waste indicates the selectivity of the cleaning machine. The cleaning
machines have to be carefully set to avoid excessive loss of good fibre but yet
obtain the necessary trash removal action. An analysis of the waste using the
Shirley Analyzer can give an objective measurement of the amount of good
fibre in the waste. This can be expressed as a percentage of the waste material
or as a percentage of the total material fed. Figure 4.3 shows the amounts of
trash and good fibre removed as waste with a range of cleaning settings.
Figure 4.3 Relationship between trash, waste and lint loss
Definition to be used
1. Degree of cleaning – The numerical evaluation of the cleaning
effect of a machine in spinning preparation is generally effected by
detailing the degree of cleaning, which indicates in percentage terms
the quantity of trash removal relative to the trash content present in
the feed material.
Trash in input material – Trash in output material
Degree of cleaning = × 100
Trash in input material
Cleaning efficiency – Refers to the percentage of trash contained in

2.
the waste removed by a cleaning machine. Low fibre content in the
waste gives a high cleaning efficiency
Total waste percentage – Fibre content percentage
Cleaning efficiency = × 100
Total waste percentage
According to Zellweger USTER, the classification of degree of cleaning

(DC) is given in Tables 4.11 and 4.12.

Table 4.11 Classification of DC (%) for the blow room
Class Interpretation
>40% Very good
30–40% Good
20–30% Average
10–20% Bad
<10% Very bad
Table 4.12 Classification of DC (%) for the card
Class Interpretation
>90% Very good
80–90% Good
70–80% Average
60–70% Bad
<60% Very bad
The degree of cleaning is influenced not only by the lint characteristics

in intermediate products, but also by the mechanical handling of the fibre,
because cotton has a lower degree of cleaning DC% if it is difficult to clean
(bad cleanability) and\or if the machine has a lower cleaning efficiency.
However the degree of cleaning DC% is improved when the cotton is easy to
clean (good cleanability) and\or when the cleaning efficiency of the machine
is improved. The following are the basic parameters to be considered in
blowroom process for degree of cleaning:
• No. of opening machines
• Type of beater
• Type of beating
• Beater speed
• Setting between feed roller and beater
• Production rate of individual machine
• Production rate of the entire line
• Thickness of the feed web
• Density of the feed web
• Fibre micronaire
• Size of the flocks in the feed
• Type of clothing of the beater

• Point density of clothing

• Type of grid and grid settings
• Air flow through the grid
• Position of the machine in the sequence
• Amount of trash in the material
• Type of trash in the material
• Temperature and relative humidity in the blow room department
4.2.5 Cleanability of fibres

Cleanability is defined as “Combined influence of fibre properties on the
response of cotton to cleaning”.
Cleaning efficiency
Cleanability C =
Trash % on feed coton
Table 4.13 shows the cleanability of cotton for different trash levels.
Table 4.13 Cleanability of cotton at different trash levels
Trash in feed Trash in delivery Cleaning efficiency Cleanability
4.5 1.7 62 13.5

3.2 1.52 52 16
2.75 1.50 45 16
2.0 1.24 38 19
1.7 1.0 35 20
1.0 0.7 30 30
It is evident that, the cleanability is not more dependent on the absolute

trash content in the cotton and is not necessarily influenced by the level of
trash in cotton. The fibre characteristics that influence cleanability are fibre
length, micronaire, strength and maturity.
(a) Fibre length – Seed coat fragments sticking on the longer fibre is
difficult to be removed unlike on short fibres. Opening and cleaning
of long fibres require careful handling. Seed coat which sticks firmly
on the long fibres will result further entanglement with neighbouring
fibres thereby causing fibre knots, tufts and balls.
(b) Micronaire – Cleanability will be affected in case of too much of
variation in the micronaire within the mixing. Opening action is likely
to rupture the low micronaire fibres than coarse fibres. Preferably the
micronaire difference within the mixing should be kept a 0.2 to avoid
more nep generation and improve cleanability.

(c) Strength – Fibres with adequate strength will withstand the opening
action and will influence the fibre rupture. Heavy trash particles such
as stalk, sand and dust etc will fall down readily on vigorous shaking,
beating or tumbling action. Fibres with more tuft but less trash offer
more resistance to cleanability.
(d) Fibre maturity – Presence of more number of immatured fibres cause
neps and thereby entangle with seed coat fragments. Immatured
fibres will also entangle with good fibres causing thick places and
neps. Cleanability is highly influenced by the presence of immatured
fibres.
4.2.5.1 Determination of the cleanability
Several methods are used to determine the cleanability C. The most simple
consist to determine the relationship between the percentage of trash
eliminated after one passage T1 of the sample in the control device Micro Dust
Trash Analyzer, MDTA3, and Ttotal of this same sample. C-factor depends on
successive passages of the control device ‘Uster-MDTA 3’, more the quantity
of trash T1 collected in the first passage is raised more the cleanability of
cotton is better. Leifeild developed a systematic, mathematical description of
the various factors effects upon cleaning efficiency, with the objective of being
able to predict the results of cleaning processes and proposed the following
empirical formula:
Dc (%) = 10 × C × Ttotal × Mcl
Where,
Dc (%) = Degree of cleaning
Mcl = Cleaning efficiency (represents the influence of the machine)
Ttotal = Trash content
C = Cleanability of the cotton. A high C factor means good cleanability, a
low C-factor characterizes cotton that is difficult to clean.
4.2.5.2 Influence of the trash content and the micronaire value on

the cleanability
The cleanability is independent from the trash content. Indeed, it is quite
possible that cotton, which has high trash content, possesses a good or a bad
cleanability. It is the same for cotton of low trash content. On the contrary,
Fig. 4.4 shows that there is a definite relationship between cleanability and
micronaire values. With increasing micronaire values, there is a rise in the
C-factor and in the cleanability of the cotton, this suggests that the finer cotton
fibres have low rigidity and high buckling coefficient, and are thus more
easily entangled into neps and attached to the trash during cleaning. Thus
their cleaning and spinning efficiencies will be affected.

Figure 4.4 Relationship between cleanability and micronaire values
4.2.5.3 Influence of seed-coat fragments (SCF) on the cleanability

The SCF are virtually impossible to extract from the bulk of raw cotton
because of the tuft of fibres attached generally incorporated into the yarn as
a neps. These tests confirm that the C-factor depends largely on the content
of small fragments SCF. Therefore, an increase of SCF in raw material is
also associated to the cotton cleaning difficulty. So, the smooth-leaf needs
only gentle cleaning at the mill, but the hairy-leaf cotton needs much more
aggressive cleaning to remove the hairy-leaf particles, which tend to attach to
the cotton fibres.
The effect of seed-coat fragments (SCF) particles has increased
significantly in the cotton industry because the demand for improving fabric
quality has increased. In general, the lint cleaning considerably decreases
the weight of fragments in lint, but only slightly affects their number. This
indicates that lint cleaners, in addition to removing fragments, may create new
seed-coat fragments by breaking up some of those present, so fibres contain
more SCF, which explains the decrease in cleanability at successive stages of
the spinning process.
It is important to understand that the presence of a large number of SCF in
a cotton, for instance due to excessive cleaning, will exert a negative effect on
the cleanability of the cotton, because these small fragments are more difficult
to remove. This implies that the majority of small imperfections found in yarn
are actually due to the presence of SCF in the lint.

4.2.6 Influence of various parameters on blowroom

waste
The following points in blow room have to be checked and ensured to improve
the yarn realization:
Speeds and settings
Speeds and settings of blowroom machines play a very important role in
deciding the amount of opening and hence cleaning that can be achieved by a
machine. Higher beater speeds and closer beater settings give better cleaning,
but if used beyond a critical point it can lead to fibre damage, nep formation
and stringiness of cotton.
The selection of beater is important such that wrong selection of beaters
and wire profile may lead to fibre rupture and in turn increases the waste%. The
beater speeds have to be optimized such that blow room cleaning efficiency
is around 50–60% depending upon the trash in mixing and the fibre rupture in
blow room should be less than 2%. Increase in fibre rupture leads to increase
in waste.
The condition of beaters plays a vital role. The blunt beater wires lead not
only to higher nep generation but also increases the white waste which in turn
increases the lint loss%. The beater wires have to be changed in 2000–2500
tones.
Air currents
Control of air currents contribute significantly towards effective opening and
cleaning. Well controlled air currents, prevent recombination of trash with
cleaned stock, improve selectivity of cotton against each trash and decide the
time for which the cotton strays in a machine and thus the control the degree
of opening and cleaning.
Position of machines in blowroom
Correct positioning of the machines in the blowroom is equally important
because, for a certain machine to give its best in terms of cleaning efficiency,
it must be fed with material that has been pre-opened to a certain degree.
Exhaust suction pressure in pipelines
The guideline for exhaust pressures to be maintained in different machines is
given below:
Vario clean = –300 to –400 pa
Unimix = –50 to –100 pa
Flexi clean = –100 to –150 pa
MBO = –100 to –150 pa

Very high exhaust pressure not only affects the uniform filling but also
affects the micro dust waste%. So the exhaust pipe line has to be cleaned
frequently and the required pressure has to be maintained to reduce the micro
dust in blow room.
Waste plate setting in unimix, MBO and flexi clean
The waste plate setting can be kept in range of 1–5 mm. Closer setting gives
the dark waste and wider setting gives the white waste. Depending upon the
trash% and lint loss% in waste the waste plate setting of five plates can be
optimized. Two types of waste plates 12 mm and 20 mm are available. For
cottons having less trash% (like Bola-S having 1.5% trash) and for synthetic
processing 20 mm plate can be used to reduce the lint loss%.
Grid setting
The grid setting in MBO, Unimix and Flexi clean can be kept between 1 and
5. Closer setting gives the dark waste and wider setting gives the white waste.
In Mono Cylinder the grid setting can be adjusted between 2.5 mm and 11.5
mm and at the angle of 0° to 30°. Wider spacing and higher angle setting gives
more waste and higher lint loss%. Hence the setting has to be optimized. In
varioclean the grid setting can be done between 1 to 10 corresponding to 10°
and 22°. Wider angle gives more white waste and vice versa.
Gap between conveyor and lattice in unimix
Normally the between conveyor and lattice will be kept as 8–10 mm. The
wider gap than this may leads o more white droppings in this area.
4.2.7 Waste adjustment in modern machines

4.2.7.1 Varioset in Rieter
Rieter has a unique concept called “VARIOSET”. With this machine,
selective trash removal is possible. Waste amount can be changed in a range
of 1:10. The “Cleaning Intensity” can be adjusted step-less, to changing the
rotational speed of the drum. The adjustment can be done while the machine
is running. Additionally, the angle of the grid bars is automatically changed
in combination with the speed. The “Waste rate” can be varied by changing
the grid bar angle with an electrically controlled cylinder. The settings of the
cleaning intensity and waste rate can be recalled and used again at a later date.
Cleaning intensity
Table 4.14 shows the range of cleaning intensity and beater speed in varioclean
machine.

Table 4.14 Range of cleaning intensity and beater speed in varioclean
Production Setting Drum speed

0.0 (low) 480 rpm
Up to 1200 kg/h Step-less adjustment to
1.0 (high) 960 rpm
Relative waste rate

The relationship between cleaning intensity, grid angle and waste% are shown
in Figs. 4.5 and 4.6.
Setting «1» (Low): Setting «10» (High):
Grid closed, lowest waste rate Grid open, highest waste rate
Dark waste composition Light-colored waste composition
Figure 4.5 Cleaning characteristic diagram
The typical amount of waste to be removed by varying the settings is

shown in the following chart. The influence of the cleaning intensity setting
increases as the waste rate is increased.
Relative cleaning intensity
High 1.0
Low 0.0
1 10 10
Small High
Relative waste rate
Figure 4.6 Relationship between cleaning intensity and waste rate

As a guideline, Table 4.15 gives values of the cleaning intensity and the
waste rate according to the trash content of the cotton to be cleaned.
Table 4.15 Guideline for cleaning intensity for different trash%
Trash in cotton Applications Cleaning Waste rate

intensity
0.5–2.0% Clean cotton fine combed yarns 0.5–0.9 0.5–0.8%
1.0–3.5% Ring spun carded yarns 0.6–0.9 0.8–1.5%
1.5–4.5% Rotor yarns 0.7–0.9 1.0–2.0%
Ne 10/1 to 24/1
3.0–6.0% and more Rotor yarns coarse counts 0.2–0.7 1.5–4.0%
4.2.7.2 Cleanogram from Trutzschler

The importance in spinning preparation is that interfering particles are
removed from the cotton in a particularly gentle and waste-saving manner.
Nevertheless, to merely attain a high degree of cleaning is not practical as long
as the waste quality is not optimized in correspondence to the raw material
as well. An adjustment to the lowest usable lint content in the waste is just
as impractical, if this results in a low degree of cleaning. This complexity
can best and most effectively be observed in the Cleanogram, which displays
waste quantity and degree of cleaning under the influence of raw material and
its cleanability, as well as total trash content (Fig. 4.7).
2 100
Trash removal (%)
Ideal
Cleaning degree (%)
Real
1.2
1 50
Working point
Fibre
Trash waste
1.2 0.4
0 0
0 1 1.6 2 3
Amount of waste (%)
Figure 4.7 Cleanogram

If a cotton containing 2% trash could be freed of all foreign matter by

extracting 2% waste, then the theoretical ideal line for the degree of cleaning
as shown in the Cleanogram as a straight line would be achieved. However, in
a practical example, cleaner waste of 1.6% results in a combination of 1.2%
trash and 0.4% lint content. The intersecting point of the waste quantity and
the separated impurities of 1.2% establishes the operating point, which should
be as near to the ideal line as possible, at a very high separation level to attain
a reasonable degree of cleaning.
Thus, modern cleaners, which were developed with the aid of such
methods, provide the spinner with tools that help him realize a high cleaning
efficiency as well as a high degree of cleaning. As an example for such a
machine serve the cleaners of the “Cleanomat” series. It is better to use CVT1
(single opening roller machine) if roller ginned cotton is used. CVT3 or CVT4
machines with 3 or 4 opening rollers can be used for saw ginned cotton. The
arrangement of opening rollers and cleaning positions in CVT series are
shown in Fig. 4.8.
Figure 4.8 Arrangement of beaters in Cleanomat
Figure 4.9 Waste removal concept in CVT

The cleaning points in CVT1, CVT3, CVT4, etc., consist of opening roller,
deflector blades, mote knives and suction hood. Trash particles released due
to centrifugal forces are separated at the mote knives and continuously taken
away by the suction. This gives better cleaning. The trash removal concept in
CVT cleaners are shown in Fig. 4.9.
The Trützschler’s waste sensor WASTECONTROL BR-WCT is attached
to a Cleaner CLEANOMAT and optically measures good fibres in the waste
and amount of suction for fibres. This system detects the waste quality and
automatically sets the deflector blades of the cleaner by servo-motors as
shown in Fig. 4.10.
Figure 4.10 Waste control sensor in CVT
The suction plays a major role in these machines. If suction is not

consistent, the performance will be affected badly. Very high suction will
result in more white fibre loss and less suction will result in low cleaning
efficiency. The minimum recommended pressure in the waste chamber (P2) is
700 Pascals. It can be up to 1000 Pascals. The material suction (P1) should be
around 500 Pascals. Whenever the suction pressure is changed, the deflector
blade settings should be checked. Deflector blade setting cannot be same for
all the three rollers or four rollers. The setting for deflector blades in the panel
looks like this 3, 12, and 30 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd deflector blades. The deflector
blade setting should be done in such a way that the setting should be opened
till the fibres start slipping on the deflector blade. Wider the deflector blade
setting results in higher waste. If the setting is too wide, white fibre loss will
be very high. For saw ginned cottons, the above concepts helps a lot because
of constant suction concentrated directly at the mote knives, ensures much
removal of dust from the cotton.

4.3 Control of card waste

Since raw material constitutes bulk of the yarn manufacturing cost, control
of waste at different stages of manufacture is of considerable importance
in the process control activity of a mill. Waste that is not reusable should
be monitored closely to achieve maximum yarn realization possible. Card
droppings are not generally reusable and waste control effort should be at
this region. However, waste reduction should not be at the cost of cleaning
efficiency and yarn quality. The emphasis must be to minimize loss of good
fibres while ensuring trash removal.
Optimization of process parameters such as card settings/speeds,
modifications /attachments to the cards and some features of recent generation
of cards result in saving lint losses in the waste. Cleaning that is done in a card
has a profound influence on yarn and fabric quality and also performance of
the material in spinning and subsequent processes. Seed coats, motes, fuzz,
immature fibre clusters and trash are normally removed in card.
4.3.1 Influence of air currents

Air currents play a critical role in effecting separation of trash from lint in
the licker-in region. The air currents are generated by rotation of licker-in but
due to design of licker-in, air pressure varies around the licker-in. The region
above the licker-in is relatively at a high pressure as air currents generated
by the licker-in are forced through the limited space between licker-in wire
surface and the bonnet. The mote box region is again at a lower pressure
compared to undercasing region.
4.3.2 Licker-in waste optimization

The journey of fibres through the carding process being with feeding a
uniform fibre mat prepared by the chute feed system and supplied to the
carding machine using feed roller. The weight of the fibre mat may typically
range from 400 to 1000 g/m (Ktex). This weight approximately corresponds
to a number of fibres in the mat cross section in the range from 2 to 6 millions
of fibres depending on fibre fineness. The task before the carding process is to
intensively open and draft this large mass down to about 3–5 g/m (the sliver
count); or to reduce the number of fibres down to approximately 40,000 fibres
in the card sliver cross section. This intense reduction is mainly achieved in
the zone between the feed roll and the taker-in (or licker-in).
The feeding rate is normally slow to allow exposition of small portion
of the fibre mat to the action of the high speed licker in (typically, 25 cm

diameter, 700–1200 rpm for cotton and 400–600 rpm for man-made fibres).
The taker-in being clothed with saw-tooth wire removes the fibre tufts from
the input fibre mat. The draft ratio (the ratio of surface speed between the
taker-in and the feed roll) is typically around 1000.
The centrifugal force caused by the high rotational speed of the licker-in
throws the heavy trash particles, and seed coats fragments out at the mote
knives with the assistance of air draft. The taker-in removes about half of all
trashes held in the cotton. The licker-in segments in a carding machine are
shown in Fig. 4.11.
Figure 4.11 Licker-in under segments in a carding machine
The licker-in region of a card has been primarily designed for carrying
out the following functions:
• To tear apart the compressed lap or fibre mat in to minute tufts without
inflicting any or possibly minimum damage to the fibres.
• To lead the opened tufts and liberated trash over dirt eliminating parts
for removal of trash and other foreign matters without incurring too
much loss of lint.
• To transfer fibres on to the cylinder

Lots of ingenuity has been shown by the machine manufacturing in the

design of licker-in region so as to perform these functions in an efficient
manner employing one or multiple licker-in with associated strategically
located combing bar and suction system.
4.3.2.1 Factors influencing the licker-in waste

1. Mote knife selection
The angle of mote knives may range from vertical disposition to about 30° to
the vertical, but the nearer a knife approaches a tangential position the greater
is the extraction of waste. If the setting is too close, loss of good cotton may
occur and it is too wide, the mote knives operate inefficiently. The sizes of
front mote knife available are 5 mm, 8 mm and 15 mm. Lesser the size, the
higher will be the amount of waste and lint loss. Depending upon the chute
trash and quality requirements the size of mote knifes can be selected.
2. Waste plate setting
Closer the setting lesser will be the waste and vice versa. Wider setting may
leads to more white waste. Closer setting of taker-in to taker-in grid increases
the fibre extraction with waste.
3. Feed plate to licker-in setting
Wider setting will leads to more waste and hence chances of more white
waste. The setting has to be optimized considering the staple length, strength
and fineness of cotton processed.
4. Under-casing waste
Cylinder under casing to cylinder setting influences air currents and production
of fly and too wider setting causes loss of fibres. Similarly, licker-in to cylinder
under casing setting if more, loss of fibre may occur.
4.3.3 Flat waste optimization

Flats are an important partner of cylinder for accomplishing carding actions.
Because of the carding action between them, fibres get distributed on both
cylinder and flat surface. The enormous speed difference between them
causes the flats to be loaded with fibres very fast and they lose their opening
capacity. Therefore, they need to be taken out of carding zone for cleaning
and in the process replacing the loaded ones by fresh flats. While the flats get
loaded with fibres very fast as they enter the carding zone, over the rest of
their journey through the carding zone, it keeps on absorbing dust, neps and
trash particles being thrown by cylinder.

Apart from individualizing the fibres, flats also contribute significantly

to the cleaning achieved in the card. While heavier type of trash is found in
licker-in region, lighter trash composed of leaf-bits, motes and broken seed
coats and immature fibre clusters are removed in the flat strips. The cleaning
action of the flat is dependent upon type of flat used, flat speed, flat to cylinder
setting, front plate setting and condition of flats. Increase of flat waste up to
a point is associated with improved yarn appearance, while waste extraction
beyond this level does not contribute much to quality. Hence the flat waste
should be kept at the optimum level by proper choice of flat speed. Normally,
a flat speed of 6”/min is adequate for semi high production cards, while for
high production cards, flat speed can be increased up to 10”/min. A good
opening of the fibres in the licker-in region are therefore helpful to keep down
flat to cylinder action. Flat waste should also be checked for uniformity of
thickness across the width of a card. Cards showing thicker flat strips should
be checked for settings.
If the flats move in the direction of movement of cylinder, then removal
of stripping is easy. In reverse movement of flats, cylinder carried the material
to be cleaned by flats just above licker-in. The flat take up the dirt/trash but do
not transport it throughout the whole machine in normal forward movement
systems, instead dirt is immediately removed from the machine. The speed
of flats is so slow in comparison to cylinder surface speed, that a change in
speed of flats makes hardly any difference in the aggressiveness of carding
action, where as strip waste generated by flats increases with contaminants
increase in the extraction of thrash, neps, seed coats and dust. As a result card
cleaning efficiency is expected to increase. With increase in production rate
i.e. with modern generation card, it is imperative to use higher flat speed in
order to effectively clean the stock by taking out more waste in absolute terms.
Besides a lower waste extraction in blowroom primarily aimed to avoid nep
generation and shattering of seed coat and other trash particles also necessitate
more flat waste to be extracted at a card.
Flat setting and flat waste plays a vital role in quality of carding sliver.
Hence trials have to be taken to optimize the flat setting and amount of flat
waste to be extracted. Closer flat setting will give more flat waste. The speed
of the flat is also directly related to the amount of waste removed in the form of
flat strips, i.e. the higher the flat speed heavier is the flat strips. The condition
of flat and cylinder wire points will also plays an important role in flat waste
extraction.
To analyze the flat waste, AFIS test has to done for the flat waste. If the
length of flat waste from the AFIS test was more than 70% of the original fibre
length then it is evident that good fibres are going along with the waste. Hence
the flat setting has to be opened slightly.

Effect of cylinder undercasing to cylinder setting

The setting between cylinder undercasing and cylinder affects the cylinder
fly waste which is composed mainly of good fibres. Normally 0.2% to 0.3%
waste at this region is considered to be satisfactory.
Pre-carding zone waste
The SFL (Stationary flats above licker-in) waste can be optimized by
1. Waste plate setting – wider setting leads to more waste and vice versa.
2. Gap between knife and waste plate – more gap results in higher waste
and vice versa.
Post-carding zone waste
The SFD (Stationary Flats above Doffer) waste can be optimized by
1. Front top plate setting – Wider front top plate setting in the middle
leads to more white waste. The setting of 1.1 mm should not go at any
point in front top plate.
2. Gap between the knife and front top plate – More gap resulted in
more waste and vice versa.
Norms for different types of waste in carding are given in Table 4.16.
Table 4.16 Norms for card waste (SITRA)
Mixing Type of card Licker-in droppings Flat strips Others Total
20s to 40s SHP 1.5 2.5 0.5 4.5

HP 1.8 3.0 1.2 6.0
VHP 2.0 3.5 1.5 7.0
Above 40s SHP 1.2 2.3 0.5 4.0
HP 1.5 2.8 1.2 5.5
VHP 1.8 3.0 1.2 6.0
4.3.4 Carding of synthetic fibres and blends

Earlier the mills used to set the cards so as to remove negligible amount of
waste. However, there is general consensus to set the card to remove a small
amount of waste even with man-mad fibres. This approach gives better results
especially for production of clean yarns free from neps. The waste removed in
carding of man-made fibres is mainly contributed by flat strips. The level of
card waste in a metallic card varies between 1% and 2% and largely depends
upon a type of fibre. A general break up of total waste for polyester and
viscose is given in Table 4.17. The waste-level break up for acrylic is more or
less similar to that of polyester.

Table 4.17 Card waste% in synthetic fibres
Type of waste Polyester Viscose
Flat strips 0.5–0.7 0.8–1.1
Lickerin droppings 0.1–0.2 0.2–0.3
Cylinder, doffer fly 0.05 0.05–0.1
Cylinder and doffer strips and others 0.05 0.05–0.1
Total 0.7–1.0 1.1–1.6
The licker-in waste mainly consists of fused fibres and fibre dust which
are not reusable. The flat strip also should not be reused as it contains
entanglements, neps and fused and undrawn fibres. However, for yarns
where quality is not very demanding the flat strips may be reused. The waste
that can be readily is the clean card sliver waste. The card-to-card variations
in flat strips should be minimized as this is one of the common drawbacks
observed in some mills. The flat strip is found to come out only over part of
the flats at edges, the remainder being devoid of strip. Sometimes it varies
in thickness along the width of the card. These things can be set right by
keeping uniform setting between front plate and cylinder across the width
of card and by removing bend in the front plate and maintaining uniform
height of flat wire.
4.3.5 Influence of modern developments on waste

optimization
Changing the amount of waste extracted at the licker-in was always
a troublesome and time-consuming operation. For this reason, the
technologically necessary adaptation to the raw material was often neglected.
In practice, this meant excessive amount of waste and therefore poor yield
from the raw material.
Waste extraction at the licker-in is done by two mote knives in combination
with suction hoods. With deflector blades in front of the mote knives the
amount of extracted waste can be easily fit. If the setting of these deflector
blades is opened, more air passes beneath the edge of the corresponding mote
knife, and therefore more waste are extracted. In contrary, if the deflector
blade setting is closed there is a reduction in the amount of waste extracted
as shown in Fig. 4.12. When man-made fibres are being processed the closed
deflector blades prevent fibre loss in the licker-in region. This ensures optimum
adjustment to any raw material processed.

Figure 4.12 Deflector blade in licker-in
The area of the first roll of the WEBFEED System is the main cleaning
zone of the TC 5. Here, an optimal setting of the knife is important, particularly
with regard to an optimal waste composition. This applies to the distance of
the knife to the clothing points, as well as to the clamping point between feed
roll and opening roll, since both influences the degree of cleaning. This is
exactly what the successful Precision Knife Setting System PMS (Fig. 4.13)
of the TC 5 provides.
The knife, which circles around the centre of the first pre-opening roll, is
infinitely adjustable within seconds, so that the distance of the knife point to
the clothing or needles points is exactly the same in every position. In doing
so, there is no need to stop the card, as the setting lever, which is positioned on
the left machine side, is freely accessible. A glance into the transparent suction
ducts immediately shows the success of the readjustment.
Among the multitude of possible setting points which have an influence on
quality and productivity, it is known that the setting of the carding gap between
main cylinder and revolving flats is the most effective and important one.

1. Feed roll
2. The adjusting slide moves with the knife on a circular path
around the centre of the pre-opening roll
3. With this lever the position of the knife is adjusted in no time at
all
4. The permanent suction keeps the card clean in this area as well
Figure 4.13 Precision Knife Setting (PMS)
Hence, the tiniest changes of even a few thousandths of an inch influence the
card sliver quality. When considering, however, that this important setting is
usually still carried out by subjective sensing of the distance via feeler gauges,
it becomes clear that this is the most effective place to simplify the setting
and improve the reproducibility of the carding quality. For the new high
production card, the interaction of all elements of the revolving flats system
was newly designed to meet these requirements with

• flat bars made of high-precision aluminium extruded profiles

(Fig. 4.14)
Figure 4.14 Aluminium flats
• flexible bend, now with 6 instead of 4 adjusting spindles (Fig. 4.15)
Figure 4.15 Adjustment of the flexible bend with 4 and 6 adjusting spindles

• flat drive with a separate variable speed drive

• non-contact flat distance measuring system Flatcontrol FCT
(Fig. 4.16)
Figure 4.16 Flatcontrol FCT
• newly developed precision setting device Precise Flat Setting (PFS)

(Fig. 4.17) the flat adjustment can be carried out in seconds without
tools, reaching a new optimal level and up to now unknown precision.
With the help of the Flatcontrol print-outs, how such an adjustment
can be accurately carried out, for instance in two steps by 4/1000”
each as shown in Fig. 4.18.
Figure 4.17 Precise flat setting PFS

Figure 4.18 Flat adjustment with PFS
4.4 Control of comber waste

The waste at combers needs to be checked regularly and controlled accurately
as:
1. Higher waste than nominal result in a financial loss
2. Less waste than the nominal leads to poor yarn quality and also results
in count variation between bobbins.
3. Controlling the waste at the pre-determined level ensures that
the average comber sliver wrapping does not vary from time and
is uniform on all combers working on the mixing so that routine
wrapping checks at the combers can be dispensed with.
Combing can be applied to a wide range of spinning processes and the
range of improvement in quality is correspondingly wide. Accordingly, quality
classes must be differentiated in combed yarns:
• Semi-combed (upgrading) with a noil percentage below 12%;
• Normally combed, with a noil percentage between 12% and 18%;
• Highly combed, 18–22%;
• Super combed, with noil percentages above 22%.
Combing with a noil percentage below 12% is also referred to as
upgrading, since this type of combing enables cotton stock to be moved up
one or two classes, with the additional advantage of elimination of short fibres.
Combing with a noil percentage above 22% is rare and is generally used only
where superfine yarns are to be spun. Besides the removal of impurities,
combing serves mainly to eliminate short fibres. The effect is shown in a
simple example in Fig. 4.19: a is the original staple, b the staple diagram after
combing and c the diagram of the noil.

Lmm Lmm Lmm

40 40 40
30 30 30
20 20 20
10 10 10
0 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100% 0 20 40 60 80 100% 0 20 40 60 80 100%
Figure 4.19 Fibre length frequency: a - cotton before combing; b - cotton after
combing; c - noil
Figure 4.20 shows the effect of combing at different noil percentages

for a certain type of cotton. What can be generally noticed is that with
increasing noil percentages the important quality parameters of strength
and evenness improve, but not as much as may be expected. A far bigger
improvement can be achieved in imperfections, and the big leap up to 10%
of noil is remarkable here. This is exactly the range of upgrading. A further
improvement is noticeable with regard to the ends-down rate in downstream
processing. Compared with carded material, the ends-down rate in spinning
combed cotton is generally lower, but the improvement does not continue
with the increase in noil percentage; on the contrary, the ends-down rate can
start to increase again as the noil percentage rises above 20%.
Figure 4.20 Dependence of various quality parameters on noil elimination; A,

improvement of yarn quality in %; B, noil elimination in %; a, yarn strength; b, yarn
evenness; c, yarn imperfections

The minimum level of comber waste which gives the desired yarn
quality and productivity in ring frame depends upon the nature of fibre length
distribution in cotton. The relationship between the fibre length distribution
in cotton and optimum comber waste to be removed for better yarn quality is
shown in Table 4.18.
Table 4.18 Recommended level of comber waste for different fibre length distributions
Type of fibre length Short fibre Mean Optimum level of

distribution in cotton percentage by length comber waste%
number SFC(n)
Triangular > 20% < 26 mm No optimum level.
Triangular
Increasing the noil
percentage continuously
improves quality
Flat < 18% > 26 mm 0.5 × short fibre %

Flat
4.4.1 Influence of preparation of comber lap on noil%

For a given mixing and count, the noil percentage to be removed in comber
depends not only on the comber machine settings and process parameters
but also on the comber lap preparation. The following parameters have to be
considered in preparation of lap:
1. Parallelization of the fibres in the batt
2. Batt thickness (weight)
3. The disposition of the hooks
4.4.1.1 Parallelization of the fibres in the batt

From the viewpoint of both economics and quality, the degree of parallelization
has a very great influence on the result of the combing operation. Lack of
longitudinal orientation, i.e. noticeable fibre disorder, leads, as already
explained, to elimination of longer fibres together with the noil. Loss of good
fibres owing to fibre disorder is reinforced to the extent that the circular
combs are overloaded during passage through a disordered batt, so that they
pluck and tear at the stock, thereby carrying away bunches of fibres. The same
happens with an excessively thick batt.

Figure 4.21 Dependence of noil elimination on the degree of parallelization of the

fibres in the feedstock (degree of parallelization corresponding to the draft). A: noil
percentage. B: draft between the card and the comber.
With constant machine settings, the quantity of noil decreases linearly

with increased parallelization of the fibres (Fig. 4.21) and with a decrease in
batt thickness (below the optimum, of course). It therefore does not always
follow that more noil is automatically associated with better yarn quality. The
correct goal is always a predetermined waste elimination level.
4.4.1.2 Batt weight
The self-cleaning effect of the batt exerts a considerable influence on the
combing operation. This effect arises from the retaining power of the fibres
relative to impurities, which depends not only on the disorder of the fibres but
also on their quantity. A thick batt always exerts greater retaining power than
a thin one. At least up to a certain level, the clamping effect of the nippers is
also better with a higher batt volume. Adversely, a thick batt always exerts
a heavy load on the comb and this can lead to uncontrolled combing. In this
case, the fibre farthest from the circular combs (upper side of the nipped web)
may escape the combing operation, since the combs are no longer able to pass
through the whole of the layer. Depending on staple length (and Micronaire

value), the ideal batt weight lies between 72 and 80 Ktex for short and medium
staple cotton, and between 64 and 74 Ktex for long staple cotton > 1 1/4 (Figs.
4.22 and 4.23).
[g/m] 82
80
78
76
74
72
70
68
66
64
62
60
1 13/32
1 16/32
1 17/32
1 19/32
1 21/32
1 23/32
1 11/32
1 11/32
1 11/16
1 8/32
1 8/16
1 3/32
1 5/32
1 3/16
1 7/32
1 3/16
1 7/32
1 9/32
1 5/16
1 5/16
1 7/16
1 9/16
1 7/8
1 7/4
1 3/8
1 1/2
1 5/8
1 3/4
[inch]
1
Maximal achievable
Figure 4.22 Batt weight in relation to staple length
Numbers of fibers in cross-section [x 1000]
3
700
3.5
600
4
500 4.5
5
400 5.5
300
200
54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88
Batt weight [g/m]
Figure 4.23 Batt weight in relation to fibre mass (Micronaire value and number of
fibres in the cross section are decisive)

It is observed that a heavier lap is an essential requirement for preventing

buckling of the combed fringe during its forward movement. In addition, it
also results in a better constraint to hold back the neps and trash particles
during detachment. The orientation of fibres and the lap weight are considered
together by taking the lap strength. The effect of lap strength on quality of
combing is shown in Fig. 4.24.
Figure 4.24 Effect of lap strength on cleaning effect
4.4.1.3 Disposition of hooks

The fibres must be presented to the comber so that leading hooks predominate
in the feedstock. This influences not only the opening out of the hooks
themselves, but also the cleanliness of the web. If the batt is fed in the wrong
direction, the number of neps rises markedly. It also increases the noil and
loading of top combs and circular combs, and finally the neppiness.
4.4.1.4 Effect of pre-comber draft

Higher the pre-comber draft, the better will be the parallelization of the fibres
and also more will be the hook removal. This in turn is expected to reduce
the noil% for the same comber settings. In other words for the same comber
noil%, it is expected that the yarn quality will improve with increased pre-
comber draft.

4.4.2 Influencing factors in comber on noil%

4.4.2.1 Feed amount moved per cycle
This has a noticeable influence on
• noil percentage,
• the quality of the combing operation, and
• the production rate
A high feed amount increases the production rate but causes deterioration
in quality, especially in the cleanliness of the web. Hence, the feed amount
per cycle must be set lower, the higher the quality requirements, and this
correlates – not exactly but approximately – with the fibre length. Figure 4.25
serves as an indication in selecting the feed amount.
mm
1 11/6 11/8 13/16 11/4 15/16 13/8 17/16 11/2 B
Figure 4.25 Typical values for the feed amount per cycle. A, feed amount per cycle in
mm; B, corresponding staple length of cotton in inches
4.4.2.2 Type of feed

Forward feed used to be chosen for higher production rates when quality
requirements were not too rigorous, mainly for upgrading with noil
percentages of up to 12% (max. 14%). When higher demands were made on
quality, backward feed had to be used with noil percentages in the range of
12–25%. With modern high-performance the situation has changed. Forward
feed is mostly used over all staple ranges for achieving noil levels from 8 to
18%. One main reason is the better “self-cleaning effect” during detaching
and top combing action by generating higher retaining forces. Fibre rear ends
and the hooks are more extended. Disturbing impurities (husk particles, dust
and trash, leaf and husk remnants, fibre neps and seed coat fragments) and

short (floating) fibres are hold back by the top comb during detaching and are
combed out by the next circular combing cycle.
4.4.2.3 The detachment setting
This refers to the distance between the clamping line of the nippers and the
nip line of the detaching rollers when these parts are at their closest spacing.
The detachment setting provides the chief means for influencing the level
of noil elimination. A wide detachment setting results in a high level of noil
elimination; a closer setting is associated with a lower noil level.
Spinning mills must find the optimal setting for their own conditions. If
the detachment setting is increased, starting from a certain optimum, there
will be hardly any improvement in quality except in relation to imperfections.
The detachment setting normally lies in the range of 15–25 mm. If the noil
percentage varies for no reason while the machine settings (including the
detachment setting) are kept constant, the cause lies not in the machine but in
the raw material (variability of the raw material characteristics, e.g. short fibre
content).
4.4.2.4 Depth of penetration of top comb

Noil extraction can also be influenced by the depth of penetration of the top
comb. Lowering of the top comb by about 0.5 mm is followed by an increase
in noil of about 2%. The main improvement due to this procedure has to be
seen in the elimination of neps. Initially the top comb can be set to +0.5. In
case of extracting less than 10% noils the top comb can be set to ‘0’ or (–1).
For higher waste% and when quality requirement is high it can be set to (+1).
As always, the optimum setting must be established, since excessively
deep penetration of the top comb disturbs fibre movement during piecing. The
result is deterioration in quality.
4.4.2.5 The number of points in the comb

Comb segments on older machines had a clothing of needles. Both the point
density and the fineness of the needles were adapted to the raw material. Top
combs are still clothed in this way or are equipped with teeth. Clothing of
circular combs has changed in recent decades: a saw tooth clothing is used
today. In comparison with needles, the new type of clothing is more robust,
needs less maintenance and is more universally applicable. Since the combs
are called upon to perform the main work of the machine, their influence on
quality is considerable.
Needles on the top comb have a flattened cross-section and are formed
with a bend. Usually they are used with a point density in the range of 23–32
needles per centimetre.

Fewer needles are used when higher production is needed together with
lower waste elimination. More needles produce more noil.
An important fact about neps that is significance in the context of
optimizing comber waste is as follows. The proper place for controlling neps
is carding and not combing. Firstly, the quality of carding influences the level
of neps considerably and secondly, it is often more economical to run cards
at somewhat low production rates than to take out extra comber waste for
keeping the level of neps in yarn at the desired low level. The nep removal at
combers is expensive because the comber needles cannot positively comb out
neps, which are smaller in dimension than the spacing between the needles of
even the top comb. The neps are in fact removed along with the clusters of
fibres which go into the waste. Thus, large amount of wastes will have to be
incurred for increasing the nep removal at combing.
4.4.3 Reasons for comber waste variation

Reasons for variation in waste% between heads and machines are:
1. Variation in mixing time to time
2. Variation in blending of different cotton
3. Variation in unsuitable and unproportional mixing of soft waste
4. Variation in lap weight
5. Insufficient draft in lap preparation
6. Bad mechanical condition of lap machine like bent weighting hooks,
defective top rollers and variation in top roller pressure
7. Bad condition of comber machine parts like brush, unicomb, top
comb.
8. Variation in unicomb to nipper gap between heads and top comb
penetration
9. Poor nipper grip and bent nipper
10. Variation in feed ratchet gear; count change gear and tension change
gears between combers
The head-to-head variation can be controlled to the level ±1.5% and the
comber-to-comber variation can be controlled to the level of ±0.5%.
4.4.4 Procedure for control of comber waste

Two important parameters such as “overall comber waste%” and “head-to-
head variation” in waste are to be controlled during combing process. Both
the head wise as well as overall comber waste can be determined accurately
by collecting and weighing the head wise noils and sliver made during five
minutes of production.

Loaded circular and top combs are known to cause a slight increase in
the waste percentage. Depending on the preparation given, it rises by 0.5–
1% in the first 20 minutes and then remains more or less constant. To obtain
comparable measurements, therefore, before every measurement, the circular
and top comb must be cleaned properly; i.e., the machine must run in slow
speed for some time. However the waste percentage is determined afterwards
at normal speed.
Both head-wise as well as over all comber waste can be determined
accurately by collecting and weighing the head-wise noils and the combined
sliver from the cans made during 5 minutes.
Weight of noil from heads
Overall comber waste % =
Weight of sliver + Weight of noil from all head
Weight of noil from heads ‘X’
Head wise waste % = × 100
1/n (Weight of sliver + Weight of noil from X head)
where n = number of heads on the comber.
Estimating the waste percentage, longer periods more than an hour and
measuring individual head noils and sliver produced has close relationship
with the above easy method. Estimating the waste% less than 5 minutes does
not give accurate results as well as longer duration more than 5 minutes do
not improve the accuracy also. The waste% of comber has to be checked and
reset at least once in 15 days. The comber which is mechanically sound and
properly set the waste% will vary time to time. Such natural variation must be
allowed before taking up the comber for resetting.
For combers in good condition, the coefficient of variation of comber
waste based on a 5 minute test is about 4%, while that for the waste from
individual head is about 6%. For these values of CV, Table 4.19 gives the
limits within which there is no need for readjusting the comber.
Table 4.19 Limits of comber waste
Normal waste % 8 10 12 15 18 20
Comber to comber (+) 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Head to head (+) 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.2 2.4
Stepwise procedure for controlling the comber waste is given below:

1. Determine the optimum level of comber waste (0.5 × short fibre%) to
be extracted from cotton/mixing.
2. Find out the variability of comber waste by taking at least 20 waste
readings of 5 minutes each over a period of 10–15 days. If the
CV% of head waste and comber waste are higher than 6% and 4%

respectively, attempts should be made to bring down by looking into

the mechanical condition of the combers.
3. Take a 5 minute test, collecting the sliver from the can and the waste
from each head
4. Calculate the head-wise and the total comber wastes.
5. Adjust each head where the waste falls outside the limits and recheck
the waste by a second test.
4.4.5 Improvement in mean length on combing

Combing efficiency is generally assessed by the improvement in fibre length
that achieved in sliver in relation to that of the input material. Theoretically,
the comber should remove all the fibres in the lap which are shorter than the
detachment setting, i.e. which are shorter than the minimum distance ‘d’ mm
between the nippers and the grip of the back detaching rollers. Also, if ‘f’ mm
is the lap feed per nip than all fibres longer than d + f should always go into
the sliver. Fibres of intermediate length (i.e., those longer than d but shorter
than d + f) would go either into the waste or into the combed sliver depending
upon their position in the feed cycle. Even a perfectly maintained comber,
therefore, cannot remove short fibres as selectively as could be expected from
its mechanism since it is not possible to feed all fibres in the lap as straight
fibres without any hooks and parallel to the length of the lap, also the fibre
movement should not be influenced by any frictional contact between the
neighbouring fibres.
The words fractionating efficiency refer to the degree to which a comber
succeeds in removing all the fibres shorter than the detachment setting d
without losing any fibres longer than the detachment setting plus feed, d + f.
Combing efficiency (%) per 1% noil extraction is given by =
50% span length of comber sliver-50% span length of comber lap 100
×
50% span length of comber lap % noil
A periodic check on the fractionating efficiency of combers serves two

purposes: (i) it permits the assessment of improvement in fibre length in
relation to the comber waste percentage; and (ii) it helps indirectly to judge
the mechanical condition of the combers.
4.4.6 Factors influencing the combing efficiency

4.4.6.1 Fibre length distribution in staple diagram
The combing efficiency not only depends upon the amount of waste extracted
but also has a greater bearing on the amount of short fibre content in the feed

material. For example in the triangular-type fibre distribution the increase in

noil% improves the combing efficiency. However in the more like rectangular
(i.e., flat) type staple diagram the extraction of noil% beyond the short fibre
content does not improve the combing efficiency.
4.4.6.2 Amount of waste extracted

Under good working conditions, for every 1% increase in comber noil, yarn
lea strength will increase by 1% and the yarn evenness will improve by
0.15U%. Apart from machinery condition and process parameters used, the
combing efficiency also depends on the short fibre content of feed lap. Higher
the short fibre content better will be the combing efficiency. The norm for
combing efficiency is given in Table 4.20.
Table 4.20 Norms for combing efficiency
Rating Combing efficiency (%) per 1% noil extraction
Up to 12% noil extraction 13% to 20% noil extraction
Good 0.6 0.8

Average 0.5 0.7
Poor 0.4 0.6
4.4.6.3 Comber lap preparation

The combing efficiency may slightly improve with better lap preparation.
However the type of fibre distribution in the staple diagram is the major
contributor.
4.4.6.4 Comber machine settings

The following settings have influence on the combing efficiency.
1. Top comb penetration
2. Unicomb to nipper gap
3. Nipper grip
4. Brush and wind protecting plate setting
5. Detaching roller loading
6. Detaching distance setting
7. Timing of unicomb
8. Selection of control wheel index setting

4.4.7 Influence of modern developments on comber

waste
4.4.7.1 Concentric synchronise movement of the nippers
The combing will be better if the bottom nipper lower surface remains at fixed
set distance from the bottom comb during the entire circular combing. This
is achieved by using the standing pendulum principle (Fig. 4.26). The Rieter
E65/E 75 comber, Trützschler Comber TCO 1, Marzoli Comber CM600N are
equipped with concentric synchronise nippers movement.
Figure 4.26 Concentric nipper assembly
4.4.7.2 Reducing the clamping distance

By reducing clamping distance, long fibres going into the waste can be avoided
(Fig. 4.27). If this distance is wide, fibre control during combing is hampered,
thus deteriorates combing efficiency. Rieter comber has designed this area to
keep this distance minimum.

Figure 4.27 Clamping distance in Rieter comber
4.4.7.3 Self-cleaning top comb

The top-combs, during operation, get loaded with short fibres and impurities.
Thus, the machine is stopped intermittently for cleaning and results into
production loss. Trützschler comber is equipped with self-cleaning top combs
(Fig. 4.28). An extremely short compressed air blast of a few milliseconds
purges the needles from top to bottom and detaches the adhering fibres. The
cleaning frequency can be adapted to the respective degree of soiling.
Similarly Rieter also provides ‘Ri-Q-Top’ top-comb with high self-
cleaning effect as shown in Fig. 4.29. The flat teeth combined with wedge-
shaped wire profile minimize the wrapping tendency of fibres in the top comb
wires.

Figure 4.28 Self-cleaning topcomb from Trützschler
(a) (b)
Figure 4.29 (a) Conventional top comb; Vs (b) Rieter Ri-Q-Top
4.5 Contamination removal techniques

In today’s circumstances, contamination playing a vital role in deciding the
quality of cotton apart from essential properties such as length, strength,
fineness. Contamination of raw cotton can take place at every step, i.e. from
the farm picking to the ginning stage. Contamination, even if it is a single
foreign fibre, can lead to the downgrading of yarn, fabric or garments or even
the total rejection of an entire batch and can cause irreparable harm to the
relationship between growers, ginners, merchants and textile and clothing
mills.
An International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) reported that
claims due to contamination amounted to between 1.4% and 3.2% of total

sales of 100% cotton and cotton blended yarns. All this makes it important
to find the most effective solution to combat foreign matter in cotton. Many
foreign fibre problems are only detected after finishing, and the spinner is
finally made responsible for the damage. Therefore, the costs for such claims
can be considerable, and provisions have to be made to absorb such claims if
the spinning mill does not have a quality management system to eliminate or
minimize the number of foreign fibres in yarns.
4.5.1 Contamination level in cotton bale

Extraneous contaminants are found in cotton from all origins, without any
exception. Not one single cotton shipment was found to be totally free from
contamination in the last eight years. The perceived degree of contamination
in all growths steadily increased from 1989 to 2007. Indian cotton always
have high contamination level due to poor work practices right from picking
to finishing stage. The raw cotton bales from different countries differ in the
degree of contamination. Broadly, cottons from 15 origins can be classified
into 3 groups – group I with low contamination, group II with medium levels
of contamination, and group III with high level of contamination – as can be
seen in Table 4.21.
Table 4.21 Extraneous contamination by origin (2006–07 average)
Origin % of bales % of fibrous Amount of

contaminated contaminants contamination
Group I Australia 10–20% 60–75% 1–3 g/ton

(Low Brazil
contamination) China
Mexico
United States
Group II Mozambique 60–80% 75–85% 4–12 g/ton

(Moderate Paraguay
contamination) Uzbekistan
West Africa
Zambia
Group III India 90–100% 80–90% 20–100 g/ton

(High Pakistan
contamination) Syrian Arab
Republic
Uganda
Zimbabwe

4.5.2 Types of foreign material in cotton

Mixing of foreign material/matter with main product at any stage of collection,
production, handling, storage, processing in the yarn manufacturing process is
termed as contamination. The International Textile Manufacturers Federation
(ITMF) investigates the contamination of cotton bales on a global scale. The
classification of foreign material in bales is given in Fig. 4.30.
Figure 4.30 Classification of contamination in bale
4.5.3 Effect of contaminations on process efficiency

The influence of various types of contaminations on process efficiency and
the remedial measures are given in Table 4.22.

Table 4.22 Effect of contaminants on further process
S. Source of Effect Remedies

no. contamination
1 Strings/fabrics • Increased end breakage • Avoid use of jute/hessian
of jute/hessian rate at ring/rotor for transportation at farms
• Poor yarn appearance and ginning
• Differential dye pick-up • Use of cotton cloth for
cotton bales
2 String/fabrics of • Poor quality of yarn/cloth • Automatic transportation
cotton due to coloured fibres • Manual picking
• Education/Training
3 Strings/fabric of • Differential dye pick-up • Avoid usage of plastic

woven plastic/ • Very poor yarn/fabric material
plastic film quality • Better house-keeping and
• Damage to machinery practices
4 Organic • Damage to machinery • Use of pre-cleaners at

matters: leaves, • Increased waste at ginning
feathers, paper spinning • Better house-keeping and
leathers etc practices
5 In organic • Damage to machinery • Use of pre-cleaners at
matter: • Increased waste at ginning
(a) Sand dust spinning • Better house-keeping and
practices
(b) Inorganic • Damage to machinery • Better house-keeping and
matter practices
metal/wire
6 Oily • Mars yarn/fabric • Avoid usage of stamp
substances: appearance colour
(a) Stamp • Use of printed/pre-marked
colour cotton cloth/paper
(b) Grease/Oil • Mars yarn/fabric • Better house-keeping
appearance • Replace single roller gin by
double roller gin
7 Hair-human • Increased end breakage • Use of caps
rate at ring/rotor spinning • Automatic transportation
• Poor yarn/fabric • Education/Training
appearance
• Differential dye pick-up
8 Stones • Damage to machinery • Better house-keeping and
practices
9 Seed-coats • More waste at spinning • Use pre-cleaner and post
• Poor yarn/fabric cleaner ginneries
appearance
10 Pouches-Gutka • Damage to machinery • Education/training
• Poor yarn appearance • Better practices

4.5.4 Size and appearance of foreign matter in spinning

mills
In order to convert a fibre into yarn, cotton passes through a large number
of processes in a spinning mill. A large number of machines mechanically
reduce the size of most foreign matter clusters into a large number of
individual foreign fibres. These fibres can remain undetected under normal
mill processing conditions and only become noticeable when the production
process is interrupted, by a spinning end break or when the yarn is used to
make up fabric and the fabric is subjected to normal quality control inspection.
If foreign material cannot be eliminated prior to the card the foreign
material is cut into pieces by the card. A piece of plastic can result in a number
of individual foreign fibres after the card. As these fibres are mostly colored
fibres, the cluster of foreign fibres can easily be recognized in the card sliver
(Fig. 4.31).
Often in some spinning mills some of the foreign fibres are added
accidentally through human ignorance, waste recycling, etc., which
contaminate the cotton fibres during the spinning process. For such fibres the
clearer as a monitoring system at the last stage of the spinning process is the
only tool which can eliminate such fibres. The foreign fibres which cannot be
eliminated during the spinning process will show up in the yarn and have to
be eliminated by the yarn clearer either on the winding machine or OE rotor
spinning machine.
Figure 4.31 Effect of contamination in bale on yarn
4.5.5 Appearance of foreign fibres in spinning mills

In order to understand the appearance of foreign fibres in spinning mills we
have to consider that foreign fibres which exist as clusters in the card sliver

are drawn in the spinning process. The more steps in the spinning process
the more increases the distance from foreign fibre to foreign fibre in the
yarn. Therefore, the distance between two foreign fibres is longer in a ring
spinning operation with combers than in an OE rotor operation as shown in
Fig. 4.32. Assumption: Plastic film prior to card of 2 cm2. Resulting cluster:
400 individual foreign fibres in the card sliver. In Fig. 4.32, the processing
steps and the drawing ratios are shown for the 3 most important spinning
processes. It can be seen in the figure that the distance between two foreign
fibres is short for short spinning processes and long for spinning processes
with many steps.
Figure 4.32 Influence of spinning techniques on contaminated yarn appearance
4.5.6 Causes of contamination in picking and ginning

process
Most contamination arises from impurities being incorporated into the bale as
a result of human interaction during harvesting, ginning and baling as shown
in Fig. 4.33.
The following are the some of the reasons behind high contamination
level in cotton:

1. Hand picking method

2. Reuse of fertilizer bags
3. Lack of infrastructure and awareness
4. Improper maintenance work methods
5. Iron tap for bale packing
6. Label
Figure 4.33 Contaminants collected during ginning process
4.5.7 Effects of contamination

1. Contamination of cotton causes it to become sticky that creates
obstruction in rollers.
2. It causes wastage of dying material and requires extra efforts at
cleaning process that unnecessarily inflates cost.
3. Even after cleaning leftover embedded pieces of contamination in
yarn affect its quality and value.
4. Contaminants such as stones, metal pieces, etc… causes disturbance
to material flow especially in spinning preparatory process which
affects production as well as quality of the process.
5. Metal pieces tend to cause fire accident which leads to severe machine
and material loss.
6. Fabric appearance produced with contaminated yarn will be poor and
prone to rejection (Fig. 4.34)

Figure 4.34 Polypropylene contaminants in knitted fabric
7. Dyeing affinity of contamination is different from dyeing affinity of

fabric which leads to uneven fabric coloration.
4.5.8 Methods to eliminate contamination in cotton

Figure 4.35 shows the domains of foreign material removal systems and the
frequency of foreign material. It is obvious that the frequency of foreign
material increases considerably in the area of fine foreign matter (human
and animal hair, plastic fibres, fragments of strings, seed coat fragments). It
is evident that the type and frequency of foreign matter require an effective
system to combat this problem.
Figure 4.35 Methods to eliminate foreign material in cotton

and foreign material frequency

Over the years spinning mills used the following methods to eliminate
disturbing foreign matter in order to keep the defects within acceptable limits:
1. Cotton selection
2. Manual labour to pick foreign matter in cotton prior to the opening
3. Contamination removal devices prior to the card
4. Foreign fibre clearers in winding
5. Installation of ultraviolet (UV) lights in the packing and inspection
section
In some cases, especially in vertically integrated textile mills, the mending
of defects after finishing the fabric is also common practice, but only part of
the foreign fibres can be extracted.
4.5.8.1 Cotton selection

It makes sense in a spinning mill to know the growth areas with low foreign
material contamination. It must be the aim to order cotton from areas with a
low number of foreign material content to keep the risk of remaining foreign
fibres low and to improve the efficiency of the removal systems both human
and electronic. Further, they help to keep the number of foreign fibre cuts with
the clearer on a low level.
This is especially valid for end customers who ask for “zero foreign
fibres” as a mandatory requirement, and a significant premium is paid for
such a high value addition. If the premium which the spinner can realize is
not significant, choosing low contamination cotton can often lead to other
issues seriously affecting profit margins. This may be cotton with higher nep
content, higher short fibre content and higher cotton prices. Further, cotton
supply contracts in general do not include contamination level as a dispute
clause, with the result that losses cannot be recovered in case contamination
expectations are not met.
4.5.8.2 Manual labour

Spinning mills situated in countries where labour costs are comparatively
low employ large numbers of people to patrol the bale lay down and remove
contamination from bales before cotton is fed into the blow room line by the
bale opener as shown in Fig. 4.36.
A small number of spinning mills are able to manually check and remove
contamination from every bale of cotton before it is repacked and released
for processing in the mill. This manual sorting is either done directly from
the bale or the bale is first opened using a bale opener with a spiked lattice
to open the cotton prior to manual sorting. The cost for this manual cleaning
is estimated at 3.1 to 4.4 US cents per kg of lint depending on the level of
contamination

Figure 4.36 Manual removal of contamination in spinning mill
The number of people or the work load employed varies from mill to
mill and the end use. Estimates from spinning mills in China show between
1 person per 1 to 3 bales depending on the quality demand. Therefore, in an
average size spinning mill with 30,000 spindles the number of employees who
do these jobs vary from 60 to 180 people.
4.5.8.3 Contamination removal systems prior to the card

There are various contamination removal systems available today prior to the
card. In general such devices are important to eliminate the foreign matter of
a size greater than 1 sq cm to avoid further disintegration into finer fibres and
to increase cuts in the final inspection by the yarn clearers. However, such
systems do not help to fully meet the quality targets of the end user since the
size and the number of ejections makes it practically impossible to eliminate
the single foreign fibres which constitute the highest amount of disturbing
defects in the final yarn or fabric. Further, the location of the system and the
size of the tuft play a decisive role for the detection efficiency.
Removal systems in the blow room line focus on the bulk of the
contamination. Such systems have not been designed to detect and remove
small particles (in the range of several millimetres such as individual fibres).
The use of only yarn clearers can only be considered in the event of very
clean cotton. Normal cotton (such as Asian and African cotton) will contain so
much contamination that it cannot be removed without an excessive number
of clearer cuts i.e. without a loss of machine efficiency which cannot be
accepted.

Depending on the quality requirements one system in the blow room

line may, however, be sufficient particularly where manual picking is still
used during the opening process. In case of stringent requirements and of
heavily contaminated cotton both measures are recommended: The sorting
machine in the blow room will act as a coarse filter removing the bulk of the
contamination, the yarn clearer focusing on the remaining particles which can
be eliminated with an acceptable number of cuts.
Effective position of contamination clearer in blow room line
The degree of opening of the cotton tufts is the controlling parameter for selecting
the optimal position in the bow room line. The better the degree of opening, the
smaller the risk that contamination is hidden within the tufts. Experience shows
that a system at the beginning of the blow room line will detect only about 20%
of the particles which can be detected at the end of the line.
The degree of opening is important not only in respect to the detection
performance but also in respect to the loss of good fibres. If the cotton is not
well opened, larger cotton tufts will have to be removed. The loss of good
fibres at the beginning of the line is about 5 times higher than the loss at the
end of the blow room line (about 3–8 grams per removal cycle as compared
to 0.5–1.0 gram). In case of a system at the beginning of the line, it will be
necessary to reduce the loss of good fibres by subsequently manually sorting
the removed material.
Figure 4.37 Position of contamination clearer in blow room line

Blow room lines frequently start with one bale plucker and are afterwards
divided in two lines. In such cases two removal systems would be necessary at
the end of the line whereas only one system would be needed at the beginning
as shown in Fig. 4.37.
Contamination detection by optical means
All systems detect contamination by optical means. Yarn clearers and the
Sorter of Loptex use photo sensors and detect the contamination as being
darker than the cotton. Other sorting machines use colour cameras and
detect contamination as being different in colour. The difference in practical
performance is insignificant. Cameras, however, are more delicate and costly
(for repairs and replacements) and, if they fail, will cause a total breakdown of
the system. The default of a photo sensor will not lead to a total break down,
but only slightly reduce its performance. Since the photo sensors are arranged
on separate modules, the replacement will be easy and cost effective. In some
cases cameras will not monitor the fibre flow directly but only indirectly
through mirrors. Mirrors attract, however, dust and need to be cleaned.
The critical point, however, is that an optical sensor can only see what is
visible, meaning that it cannot detect contamination which is hidden within
the cotton tufts. To compensate this handicap most systems, use two optical
sensors each positioned at the opposite side of the pipe. This permits to detect
contamination which is located on the back of a cotton tuft. In most cases this
will be sufficient. However, if the opening of the raw material is poor, it can
happen that the contamination is hidden inside of the tuft contamination which
offers no contrast to the cotton i.e. colourless contamination or contamination
of the same shade. Unfortunately one of the most harmful contaminations,
namely packing material in polypropylene, comes in whitish shades which do
not offer a sufficient contrast to the raw material.
Contamination detection by ultrasonic means
Everyone knows the phenomena of echo. Louds will be reflected by a rock
wall. The degree of reflectance of acoustic waves depends on the surface
structure of the object in their path. It detects contamination independent of it
colour on the basis of its surface structure. Most contamination has a denser
surface structure than loose cotton tufts, in particular plastics. The sensor
consists of a number of emitters of ultrasonic therefore not hearable waves.
The receiver will receive waves which are reflected by the contamination
contained in loose cotton. If no contamination is present, the ultrasonic waves
will be absorbed in the absorber box located on the other side of the pipe.
Contamination detection with ejection by pneumatic valves
In case of the detection of a contamination being by the optical or the acoustical
system the electronic control will activate pneumatic valves. It will take into

account the transportation speed of the raw material and release the air blow
after the necessary delay. The number of valves which will be activated is
variable. It depends on the size of the detected contamination. The air blow
will be targeted since only the valves are activated which are located in front
of the passing contamination. The contamination will be deviated through an
opening in the pipes into the waste container of the machine.
Loptex Optosonic Sorter
Optical detection of colored contamination doubled with ultrasonic detection
of colourless material. The raw material will first be presented to the acoustic
sensor and thereafter to the optical sensor as shown in Fig. 4.38.
Figure 4.38 Loptex optosonic sorter
The acoustic sensor will emit ultrasound waves. A contamination with

compact surface structure like plastic will reflect these waves into the receiver.
The receiver will thereafter trigger the ejection device.
The optical sensor consists of standard fluorescent light tubes and custom
made photo sensors array. A colour contamination reflects less light to the
photo sensor array which thereafter will trigger the ejection device.

Only the pneumatic valves placed in front of the contamination will be

activated. The duct opposite the valves, presents an opening through which
the contamination is blown into the waste container.
Rieter’s Visionshield
Detecting module consist of two CCD line colour camera with associated
lighting system, rapid deflection system for ejecting the detected contaminants.
Twelve long-life fluorescent tubes arrangement in front and back side of tuft
for illumination. The CCD camera require small gap between the fluorescent
tubes for optimum illumination as shown in Fig. 4.39.
Figure 4.39 Rieter Visionshield (grey scale image)
Trutzschler’s Securomat
The dedusting function is taken on by a modified material separator (1) by
means of perforated plates. The dusty exhaust air is not led to a filter, as
would be usual, but is used to dispose of the foreign parts (2). This saves filter
capacity and all costs involved. Apart from the distribution flaps, the material
separator has no moving parts and thus distinguishes itself by low energy
consumption and is very easy to maintain. From the material separator, the
dedusted material gets into a reserve trunk (3).

Figure 4.40 Trutzschler Securomat
This reserve trunk represents a sufficiently large material buffer directly

in front of the cards and makes the continuous feeding of the cards much
easier. With varying production amounts, the delivery of the SCFO changes
and the preceding cleaner always works at an even production rate. The
feed mechanism (4) of the SECUROMAT SCFO feeds the material into the
working area of a needled opening roll (5) as shown in Fig. 4.40. This roll
guarantees an even, high opening of the cotton tufts. By the way, the fans
for feeding and material suction of the SECUROMAT SCFO as well as for
feeding the cards, which are driven by frequency-controlled motors, are “on-
board” the machine so that a compact design of the blow room installation can
be realized.

The surface of the rotating needle roll, which is covered with fibres, is
permanently monitored by a CCD colour line camera (7) with 2048 pixels per
line as shown in Fig. 4.41. Camera and lighting system (8) are accommodated
in a dust-tight room. The needle roll cover (9) can be easily removed to clean
the window.
An intelligent evaluation unit on the basis of a powerful computer
system detects all foreign particles which are different in colour from the
metallic background of the needle roll and the fibres transported on it that
is also pastel-colored, e.g. yellow, foreign particles, which would not give a
sufficient contrast against the background of a compact cotton tuft. Due to the
high opening of the fibre material and the good presentation of the objects on
the needle roll even tiny foreign particles can be safely detected.
Figure 4.41 (a) Compressed air nozzles with opening roll;

(b) CCD colour-line camera
The separation of the foreign parts is effected by means of 32 compressed

air nozzles (10) distributed over the total working width of 1600 mm, which
can be individually controlled by pneumatic valves, in fact exactly at the
point where a foreign part is located on the surface of the needle roll. The
compressed air stream aiming at the roll in a tangential direction is activated
for only a few milliseconds. Therefore, the consumption of compressed air
can be neglected even with high separation rates. This form of selectively
blowing out the foreign particles results in a minimal loss of good fibres of
only 1–2 grams of fibres per blow-out. A low good fibre loss is the necessary
precondition for adjusting a high sensitiveness and separating even tiny
foreign particles.

The waste disposal concept of the SECUROMAT SCFO can only be

called progressive. Instead of collecting the foreign parts and fibre tufts in a
separate container that must be manually emptied in regular time intervals,
the separated material of the SECUROMAT. SCFO can be directly fed to
the filter. Where this solution is not possible or is not desired because the
separated objects shall be examined later, a condenser on a stand with a
collecting container below can be delivered.
4.5.8.4 Foreign fibre clearers in winding

Foreign fibre clearers are by far the most efficient systems to solve the
contamination problems. Today in the rest of the world (excluding China)
over 75% of delivered clearers are with foreign fibre functionality. Since the
clearers are integrated in the automatic winder, they are in a position to make
the final inspection and monitor every millimetre of yarn. Further, the clearers
are today capable of detecting the finest defects not clearly visible to the naked
eye. This includes white and transparent polypropylene defects. The clearer
can replace each disturbing defect with a splice, thereby eliminating the defect
from the final package to the end user.
The foreign material removal systems prior to the card have little influence
on the cut rate of the clearers, because most of the foreign fibres which are
eliminated by the clearers cannot be recognized by systems prior to the card.
It also has to be taken into consideration that the automatic foreign material
elimination systems prior to the card eject a considerable amount of cotton
together with the foreign materials which must be separated manually from
the “real” foreign materials to keep the waste on a reasonable level. Table
4.23 shows the influence of remaining foreign fibres in yarns on subsequent
processing stages in the textile chain.
Table 4.23 Experience values / end breaks in beaming, weaving, knitting caused by
foreign matter
Process Benchmarks for end breaks End breaks caused by foreign matter
Beaming 0.2–0.3 per 10,00,000 meters Up to 50%
Weaving 1–2 per 1,00,000 picks Up to 50%
Knitting 1–2 per hour Up to 40%
Classification of foreign fibres with the USTER® QUANTUM 2

Uster Technologies has developed a classification matrix for foreign fibres.
This matrix is shown in Fig. 4.42.

Appearance
A4 B4 C4 D4 E4
30%
A3 B3 C3 D3 E3
20% F
A2 B21 B22 C2 D2 E2
10%
B13 B14 C12 D12 E12
no counts
7%
B11 B12 C11 D11 E11
5%
0 1.0 1.4 2.0 3.0 5.0 7.0 cm Length
Figure 4.42 Uster classification matrix for foreign fibres (grey scale image)
This matrix was developed in a similar way as Uster Technologies

designed the matrix for thick places and thin places. A considerable amount of
foreign fibres are located in the B1 class. Therefore, the B1 class (B11 to B14)
serves as a benchmark for recognizing the degree of contamination of the raw
material. The experience values are the given in Table 4.24.
Table 4.24 Benchmarks for foreign fibres
Yarn type Low degree of Heavily contaminated

contamination per 100 km per 100 km
Combed yarns, 100% cotton 10 150

Carded yarns, 100% cotton 20 300
Worsted yarns, 100% wool 20 100
Figure 4.43 shows an investigation for a large European knitter. It is a

comparison of foreign fibre content in yarns from the supplier with the least
contaminated and the most contaminated raw material.
4.5.8.5 Installation of ultraviolet (UV) lights in the packing and
inspection section
Installing Ultra Violet lights in the packing and inspection departments to
detect chemical/oily substances and foreign fibres such as polyester and other
synthetic manmade fibres and defective packages are rejected manually.

Figure 4.43 Foreign fibres shown in classification matrix, two yarn suppliers
4.5.9 Measures to reduce contamination

1. Introduction of standardized picking storage and marketing of raw
cotton.
2. Dissemination of awareness through mass media to the targeted
segment.
3. Cloth bags instead of jute and fabric must be provided by farmers and
ginning factory owners to pickers.
4. Cotton should be stored on clean and proper floors.
5. Metal body open trolleys should be used for quick transportation of
cotton from field to factories.
6. Sheds and platforms should be built properly in the market.
7. Bags should be opened by unsewing instead of cutting twine in to
small pieces.
8. Bags should not be beaten on heap. Instead it should be done separately
and obtained cotton should be cleaned properly to be added in heap.
9. Conveyers can greatly facilitate.
10. Plastic strips are used for strapping bales to avoid contamination by
rust.
11. Bale packing should be graded and create awareness to improve bale
packing.
4.6 References
1. Artzt P. (1985). Melliand Textilberichte, Influence of Various Card Clothing
Parameters on the Results Obtained in High-speed Carding on Cotton, E789-E796 /
701–712, English Edition.

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What are the different types of waste incurred in spinning mills?

What are the different types of waste incurred in spinning mills?

How is yarn realization calculated?

How is yarn realization calculated?

4

Control of wastes in spinning

4.1 Yarn realization

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

4.1.1 Method of yarn realization calculation

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

Yarn Realization YR (%) = (100 – (Wbr + Wk + Wh + Ws + Wg) – I)….

4.1.2 Norms for yarn realization and waste in different

Content Carded Combed MMF

Count 4–9 10–13 14–25 26–34 28–34 35–44 45–70 71–99 –

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

Table 4.2 Standards for yarn realization and waste%

Category Blow room Card Comber Ring Yarn

Type of waste Norms (%)

Lap bits 0.5

Card web 0.2

Sliver waste in drawing and fly frames 0.5

Comber preparatory and comber waste 1.0

Roving ends 0.3

Pneumafil and roller waste (ring frames) 2.0

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

4.1.3 Effect of fibre parameters on yarn realization

4.1.4 Records for estimating yarn realization and waste

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

Process control and yarn quality in spinning

Is obtained from Consists of Is recorded as

Cotton Stock in Process Product Invisible Doff Hank meter

Opening Closing Blow

Processed Noil Unaccounted Tare weights, Wrapping count,

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

4.1.5 Control of invisible loss

4.1.5.1 Reasons for invisible loss

4.1.5.2 Control measures for invisible loss

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

Normal moisture content in yarn:

4.1.6 Control of hard waste in spinning mill

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

condition and maintenance, and inappropriate work practices of operatives.

S. no. Department Good Average Poor

1 Conventional cone winding

2 Reeling 0.10 0.15 0.20

4 Ring doubling 0.05 0.08 0.10

5 Two-for-one twister 0.03 0.05 0.06

7 Open end spinning 0.01 0.02 0.03

8 Ring spinning 0.02 0.03 0.04

The incidence of hard waste in any process is influenced by the following

4.1.6.1 Control of hard waste in ring frame

© 2016 by Woodhead Publishing India Pvt. Ltd.

Table 4.5 Quality parameters to be checked in a ring cop

S. no. Parameter Standard Impact

1 Bobbin diameter Ring diameter: 3 mm • Cop content

2 Chase length Cop diameter × 1.2 Less chase:

3 Bobbin hardness 60–70° shore for Less hardness:

4 Winding and binding 2:1 to 3:1 Slough off

5 Bobbin empty (Top) 12 mm Lower setting at top:

Yarn Realization YR (%) = (100 – (Wbr + Wk + Wh + Ws + Wg) – I)….