How to select good cotton for making better apparel??

INTRODUCTION:

 In Textile Industry, cotton plays a major roll due to its nature origin and market demand.We dicuss briefly the cotton characters and its impact on yarn quality and productivity .

COTTON VARIETIES:

 PROMINANT INDIAN VARIETIES:

#LRA

#MECH

#RCH

#S-4

#S-6

#BUNNY

#MCU5

#DCH

#SUVIN

FEW FORIEGN ORIGIN:

#BOLA/BOLA-S

#KABA/KABA-S

#MAMBO/MAMBO-S

#JULI/JULI-S

#ALTO

#PIMA

#GIZA

COTTON CHARACTERS:

#Length(mm)

# Strength(g/tex)

#Micronaire

#Maturity

#SFC

#+b(Yellowness)

#Rd(Reflectance)

#Colour grade

#Trash

#SCI(Spinning Consistancy Index)

#Contamination

Cotton Selection Methods:

Cotton is selected based on the count we spin.

For counts 20s to 30s :

Mills are prefering cotton with length 27.5 mm to 28.5mm;Strength 21 to 22 gtex;Mic 4.0 to 4.40

For counts 34s to 40s

The cotton length preferred is 28.5 to 29.5mm;Strength 22 to 23 gtex;Mic:3.8 to 4.40

For counts 60s - 80s:

 Length is 32 mm to 34 mm ;Strength 24 and above Mic 3.0 to 3.8

For warp application of 60s & above ,the use of DCH cotton with min 20% to required % is must to assure warping quality.

Yellow cotton if found high in cotton,the yarn strength will be affected.

Contamination level per bale if found below 3 to 4, it is good.

+b level 7.5 to 10.0 OK.

Colour grade:21-31 OK

SCI:Above 140 is good.

COTTON CHARACTERS AFFECTING YARN PARAMETERS:

YARN STRENGTH:

Yarn strength is determined by

Cotton length,Strength,Micronaire value and Maturity Coeff

YARN REALIZATION:

Yarn realization is affected by Trash level in cotton,SFC and Maturity Coeff.

YARN U% & IMPERFECTION:

It is determined by Neps/gram,SFC,MIC and Maturity Coeff.

Selected number of Mills are giving more importance to cotton selection.The cotton selection is done by

#Spot selection

#Sample approval

#Checking and approval after receiving at Mills

#Getting test report from Supplier and approval

Few Mills are sending their experienced cotton officers to cotton ginners' spot and select cotton.

Many Mills select cotton based on samples and test reports .

If the required quality is not met,some Mills reject the particular lot and some Mills negotiate for allowance.

Those who are giving importance to cotton quality,get yarn quality and achieve standard productivity and establish name in Markets.

Managements not giving importance to raw material quality rarely achieve required Quality and Productivity.

90% of the yarn quality and productivity depends on raw material quality for good set up Mills.

For the balance percentage achievements, Mills have to depend on process parameter,machine condition and technicians and labour skill level.

Once the raw material quality is not upto the mark,the inferior cotton quality itself will contribute negative impacts on yarn quality and productivity.

If we want to manage the yarn quality with the inferior cotton quality,we have to reduce productivity level and yarn realization which will directly affect the profitability of the Mill.

COTTON VARIETIES & THEIR SPINNABILITY:

S-6 cotton is best suitable for hosiery counts upto 40s.

Yarn realization will be good,imperfection will be low and can get optimum productivity.

MCU5 and Bunny cotton is suitable for counts above 40s and upto 60s.

The disadvantage is, contamination in MCU5 and Bunny.Mills should persuade the Ginners to control contamination in ginning itself.Manuel contamination picking and adding contamination clearers in Blow room will help to produce low contamination yarn.

For warping quality with CSP above 3000,Mills need to use 20 to 25% DCH32 to spin 60sCW and still higher % for 80s CW.

With suction compact,Mills are achieving required CSP without adding DCH 32 in 60s CW.

With African cotton,we can get the yarn realization 5 % higher than Indian cotton for counts ranging from 20s to 40s,because of its lower trash level.

The cotton trash level must be below 1% . 

CONCLUSION:

Good cotton gives good yarn,good Buyer and good profit.