Wolfram Sll / Gabriela Peters

September 1999
SE 556

Application Report
Determination of the trash and dust
content in yarns with the USTER

TESTER 4-SX

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 2 (15)

Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................ 3
2 Measuring principle of the optoelectronic OI sensor ............ 3
2.1 Technical measurement characteristics....................................... 4
2.2 Evaluation possibilities................................................................. 5
3 Definition of optoelectronically determined quality
parameters .................................................................................. 5
4 Information gain through measurement of trash and
dust particles .............................................................................. 6
4.1 Determination of trash and dust in raw cotton and in
intermediate products................................................................... 6
4.2 Determination of trash and dust in yarn....................................... 7
4.3 Influence of trash and dust on subsequent production
processes..................................................................................... 8
4.4 Effect of trash and dust on the wear of machine parts................. 9
5 Examples of different contaminants in yarn.......................... 10
6 Initial findings from practical applications ............................ 11
6.1 Comparison of trash and dust measurements of yarns with
different noil percentages........................................................... 11
6.2 Comparison of rotor yarns with different clearing
efficiencies of the OE spin boxes............................................... 12
6.3 Influence of the winding speed on the trash and dust
content of carded ring yarns....................................................... 13
7 Summary and outlook ............................................................. 15




Copyright 2005 by Uster Technologies
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re-
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veronesi\TT\Schulung_Dokumente\Off-line\Uster Tester 4\Sales Literatur\ englisch\PUBL_UT4SX_OI-e.doc

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 3 (15)

1 Introduction

With the application of chemicals in todays cotton harvesting methods, it is
possible to defoliate the cotton plants and open the bolls which are still
closed at the same time. However, the use of such chemicals also means
that the harvest is limited to a short period and therefore requires a precise
planning and scheduling of the harvesting process. This explains why fully
automatic harvesting machines are often used today. These machines
permit a time-saving harvest of the cotton plants and a simultaneous re-
moval (spindle picking) of stalks and remaining pieces of leaves. Another
automatic harvesting method (stripper) produces a yield of only 1/3 of cot-
ton compared with 2/3 of stalks, pieces of leaves and sand, which subse-
quently have to be removed in a very aggressive ginning process. It is a
proven fact that the time-consuming manual harvest of cotton, which is still
used with high-quality, long-staple cotton, actually stands out through a
lower contamination of the raw cotton. This means that less aggressive
clearer settings are needed in the subsequent ginning process, because
the hand-picking is aimed specifically at harvesting only cotton bolls, so
there is no need for cleaning out pieces of leaves and stalk. With all har-
vesting methods, however, the cotton seed, together with the fibers, always
gets into the ginning plant where it is broken up into trash and seed-coat
fragments. This means that ginned cotton is always contaminated with
trash and dust particles and that an intensive cleaning is only possible in
the spinning mill.

The introduction of the USTER

AFIS made a reproducible determination of

the trash and dust particles of raw cotton and of intermediate products at
the various production stages possible for the first time. It has been shown
in many publications that knowing the trash and dust content in the spin-
ning process provides a great variety of information with regard to the ma-
chine settings, the wear of machine parts and the quality of the finished
fabric. Until now, a reproducible, automatic determination of the trash and
dust particles in yarns has not been commercially available on the textile
market. With the USTER

TESTER 4-SX, Uster Technologies now offers

two new optoelectronic sensors. The OI (Optical - Impurities) sensor de-
tects trash and dust particles in yarns and determines their number and
size. The OM (Optical - Multifunctional) sensor, on the other hand, deter-
mines the yarn diameter, the fine structure and the roundness of yarns
among other parameters.



2 Measuring principle of the optoelectronic
OI sensor

The measuring principle of the OI sensor is based on the image of the yarn
body surface on a linear array opto-ASIC. The yarn passes through a
hemispherical, white testing space. This space is illuminated by blue light-
emitting diodes mounted on the hemisphere. Blue light is most suitable for
the detection of trash particles, because it produces a strong contrast be-
tween the trash particles and the yarn.

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 4 (15)

Opto-ASIC
Light-emitting diodes
Lens
White hemisphere
Measuring slot

Fig. 1
Measuring principle of the
OI sensor



2.1 Technical measurement characteristics

In the first place, the measuring method determines the number of trash
and dust particles on the yarn surface. The OI sensor is not designed for
the detection of foreign fibers and of hidden, spun-in black hair in the area
of worsted yarn spinning. At this point, however, it should be considered
that foreign fibers are seldom-occurring events and are not detected in rou-
tine laboratory testing on the USTER

TESTER 4-SX.

The measuring method determines the mean area of the trash and dust
particles. From that, the USTER

TESTER 4-SX calculates the mean parti-

cle size in micrometers. The system detects particle sizes from 100 to 1750
m. Like other USTER

instruments, the USTER

TESTER 4-SX is based

on the definition of trash and dust particles of the International Textile
Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). Fig. 2 below shows a dimensional com-
parison of the minimum and maximum sizes of the trash and dust particles
to be detected in relation to the yarn diameter of a cotton yarn with a count
of 20 tex (Ne 30, Nm 50) as well as the limiting size of trash and dust.

Yarn 20tex (Ne 30, Nm 50)
Max. size: 1750 m Min. size: 100 m
Trash > 500 m Dust

500 m
500 m

Fig. 2
Dimensional comparison of
trash/dust and yarn

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 5 (15)

The USTER

TESTER 4-SX permits a fully automatic testing of the quality

parameters up to a testing speed of 400 m/min. In addition, the OI sensor
provides reproducible measurement values independent of the testing
speed.



2.2 Evaluation possibilities

With the yarn measurement, the new OI sensor provides the following addi-
tional quality data:

Determination of the number of trash particles per kilometer (1000 me-
ters) and gram

Determination of the mean trash size in m

Determination of the number of dust particles per kilometer (1000 me-
ters) and gram

Determination of the mean dust size in m

Display of the number and size of trash and dust particles in a histo-
gram

The number of trash and dust particles, like the number of imperfections
(thin, thick places and neps), has traditionally been defined per kilometer
(1000 meters). The unit per gram has been included to allow an immedi-
ate comparison of the trash and dust particle results with those of the
USTER

AFIS.



3 Definition of optoelectronically determined
quality parameters

Table 1 provides an overview of the quality parameters measured with the
OI sensor:

Designation Unit Definition
Trash count 1/km Number of trash particles per kilometer of yarn
Trash count spec. 1/g Number of trash particles (>500 m) per gram
Mean trash size m Mean size of all detected trash particles
Dust count 1/km Number of dust particles per kilometer of yarn
Dust count spec. 1/g Number of dust particles (<500 m) per gram
Mean dust size m Mean size of all detected dust particles
Table 1
Definition of measure-
ment parameters


USTER

TESTER 4-SX 6 (15)

4 Information gain through measurement of trash
and dust particles

4.1 Determination of trash and dust in raw cotton and in
intermediate products

With the various, presently available testing methods, the determination of
trash and dust particles is still limited to fiber testing. Especially cotton
spinning mills, but also many classing offices and laboratories of the textile
machine industry, use HVI installations (High Volume Instrument) for the
determination and classification of the trash content. This testing system
also uses different sensors to measure other important quality parameters
such as micronaire, color, tensile properties (force, elongation) and fiber
length distribution.

A very important quality aspect, besides the information about the contami-
nation of the raw cotton, is the knowledge of the variation of the contamina-
tion level in the entire spinning process. Fig. 3 shows the variation of the
trash content in the preparation process of a combed ring yarn. The dia-
gram clearly shows that, in absolute terms, most of the trash is removed at
the card but it also shows that the combing process, depending on the noil
percentage, has a considerable influence of the cleanliness of the mate-
rial.
1


0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Raw cotton Card mat Card sliver Comber lap Roving
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Neps / g
Trash and
Dust / g
Neps / g
Trash and
Dust / g

Fig. 3
Process analysis in the
spinning process

With the USTER

AFIS, the user is now in a position to carry out a process

control with regard to the variation of fiber parameters such as the fiber
length and the nep and trash content. The monitoring of these quality pa-
rameters permits a specific control of the different production machines with
regard to the correct clearing and draft settings, the wear of parts and the
clearing efficiency of the individual process stages.

1
M.Frey, U.Schneider: Possibilities of removing seed fragments with adherent fibers in the spinning mill, Melliand Textile Reports 5/89

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 7 (15)

An increase of the nep content after the carding process without a change
of the raw material or the machine settings, for example, can be an indica-
tion of a worn card clothing which requires a regrinding or even a replace-
ment of the card clothing. With such process control possibilities, it is quite
obvious that an optimization of the maintenance intervals can prevent a
possible production of substandard quality and, in the end, represents an
efficient possibility of saving costs (Fig. 4).

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Neps/g limit value
after grinding
week
Neps per gram [AFIS]

Fig. 4
Process control at the card
2



4.2 Determination of trash and dust in yarn

So what is the added benefit we can expect from determining the trash and
dust particles in yarn? With the introduction of the optoelectronic OI sensor
for the measurement of contaminants with the USTER

TESTER 4-SX, it is
possible for the first time to obtain information with routine laboratory tests
about the trash and dust content in yarns together with the other quality
parameters. With the existing capacitive sensor, it was not possible to dis-
tinguish between neps and trash particles. The OI sensor, on the other
hand, identifies trash and dust as separate objects. Seed-coat fragments
are also counted as trash or dust depending on the size.

An important advantage of the determination of the trash and dust particles
at the very end of the spinning process is the objective assessment of the
clearing efficiency with regard to vegetable remains in yarn. In practice, this
means that the cotton is purchased according to the usual criteria, i.e. the
cotton is assessed and selected according to quality standards of the class-
ing office. At the same time, this quality assessment is the most important
factor for the pricing of raw cotton.


2
USTER NEWS BULLETIN No. 38, page 20, M. Frey, R. Furter, R. Meier, W. Schneiter, Ed. White, Uster Technologies

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 8 (15)

After the raw material has been defined, the clearer settings in the spinning
preparation and the machine settings in the spinning mill are specified ac-
cordingly. Once they have been defined, the settings are usually left un-
changed. With a certain statistical variation, a constant quality will set in
with regard to the trash and dust content in the yarn provided no changes
have been made in the production process or the respective raw material. If
these requirements are fulfilled and the trash and dust content in yarn in-
creases, then this would indicate a fault in the production process and re-
quire an examination of the entire spinning process with the help of suitable
fiber testing instruments, but especially with the USTER

AFIS (Fig. 5). The

main advantage of controlling the trash and dust content in the yarn is the
immense time saving, because a quality control of the yarn at the end of
the process is standard procedure in modern spinning mills. In addition, the
USTER

TESTER 4-SX permits an automatic monitoring of the measure-

ment values with defined warning and control limits and therefore ensures a
continuous monitoring of the test data.

1
10
100
1000
10000
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Trash count Dust count
Limit value Limi t value
Days
Trash / Dust per km [UT4 OI]
Trash
Dust
Process control by means of fiber
testing equipment has to

Fig. 5
Increase of the trash and
dust content in yarn



4.3 Influence of trash and dust on subsequent production
processes

A high trash content in yarn will also have an effect on the subsequent pro-
duction processes. The information on the trash content in a yarn, for ex-
ample, is very helpful for a possible subsequent scouring process. At this
finishing stage, vegetable contaminants are removed from yarns or from
fabrics with the help of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and supporting chemicals
at a temperature of 98C. If the degree of contamination is known, it is pos-
sible to control this process by adjusting the concentration and duration
accordingly.


USTER

TESTER 4-SX 9 (15)

Extensive tests with the USTER

TENSOJET have also shown that trash

particles and seed-coat fragments in yarn can cause dangerous weak
places. Fig. 6 shows the different reasons for the 69 weak places detected
in a rotor yarn of 100% cotton (20 tex, Nm50, Ne30), which have been de-
termined in a test series of two million breaks. The weak places have a
mean specific tensile strength of 7.4 cN/tex (min. 2.8 cN/tex, max. 9 cN/tex)
and a mean elongation of 3.7% (min. 1.89 %; max. 6%). Because of the
special yarn construction of OE rotor yarns, with the twist being applied
from the inside to the outside, there is a danger that trash particles disturb
the twist application and, as a result, causing weak places.

Reasons for isolated weak places of OE rotor-spun
100% combed cotton, 20 tex (Nm 50,Ne 30)
Seed-coat fragments
7%
Trash
16%
Thick places
9%
Thin places
57%
Neps
1%
Foreign fibers
6%
Spinning starter
4%

Fig. 6
Reasons for weak places
3




4.4 Effect of trash and dust on the wear of machine parts

The following section raises some issues which cannot yet be backed up
with examples, because this would require a continuous observation over
very long periods. However, they serve as a basis for discussion and show
possible application areas which can be opened up by a trash and dust
measurement of yarn.

It should be possible to show, for example, that there is a connection be-
tween the dust content and the wear of machine parts at friction and deflec-
tion points of the subsequent production process. This would apply in par-
ticular to the needle wear on knitting machines and the wear of yarn guide
elements at deflection points in the weaving or warping areas. An increased
dust content will certainly result in accelerated wear of the production parts
in the spinning process.


3
A.Weber: Analysis of weak places with capacitive and optical sensors on the USTER

TENSOJET, dissertation SS95, Fachhochschule fr

Technik und Wirtschaft, Reutlingen

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 10 (15)

A high dust content also has an effect on the service life of the delivery
nozzle in the spin box of the OE rotor spinning machine, the ring traveler at
the ring spinning machine and the yarn guide elements in the winding area.



5 Examples of different contaminants in yarn

The following pictures show different examples of seed-coat fragments
(Fig. 7) and trash particles (Fig. 8) which, among other contaminants, can
be detected with the OI sensor of the USTER

TESTER 4-SX. Seed-coat

fragments are always accompanied by dozens or even hundreds of fibers,
while trash particles are not attached to fibers.



Fig. 7
Seed-coat fragments



Fig. 8
Trash particles








USTER

TESTER 4-SX 11 (15)

6 Initial findings from practical applications

6.1 Comparison of trash and dust measurements of yarns
with different noil percentages

Table 2 shows a comparison of two ring yarns which were spun with differ-
ent noil percentages. For the calculation of the percentage decrease of
imperfections, trash and dust particles, the yarn with the lower noil percent-
age was taken as 100%.

Combing efficiency
Thin
-40%
/km
Thin
-50%
/km
Thick
+35%
/km
Thick
+50%
/km
Neps
+140%
/km
Neps
+200%
/km
Neps
+280%
/km
Trash
>0.5 mm
/km
Dust
<0.5 mm
/km
Noil percentage
10%
160.3 4.5 813.3 130.8 1125 250.5 44.8 5.1 557.5
Noil percentage
20%
65.6 1 318.9 26.4 320.5 55.1 7 1.3 186.4
Deviation in % -58% -77% -61% -80% -72% -78% -84% -75% -67%
Mean deviation in % -67.5% -70.5% -78% -71%

Table 2 Comparison of the imperfections and the trash and dust content of two yarns


This example illustrates that the removal of imperfections and of trash and
dust particles can be controlled very specifically by adjusting the combing
process, whereby the reductions in the individual classes show similar per-
centages. The following illustrations Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 show the histograms
of the trash and dust distribution of the two yarns.


Fig. 9
Distribution of trash and
dust with a noil percentage
of 10%


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TESTER 4-SX 12 (15)

Fig. 10
Distribution of trash and
dust with a noil percentage
of 20%

The two diagrams show clearly how the overall level of trash and dust could
in fact be lowered considerably by increasing the noil percentage. The de-
termination of an optimum noil percentage shall not be dealt with at this
point.



6.2 Comparison of rotor yarns with different clearing effi-
ciencies of the OE spin boxes

The following example compares four drawframe slivers and the respective
yarns spun by two spinning mills which produce similar yarn counts. In Fig.
11, the trash content of the slivers is compared with the trash content of the
yarns. The comparison of the drawframe slivers 1 and 3 of the two spinning
mills shows a higher trash content for A, whereas the differences in the
second sliver quality are quite small. In each case, the clearing efficiency of
the OE spin box of the spinning mill A with regard to the trash removal is
better than that of the spinning mill B.

Comparison of finisherdrawframe sliver and
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Spinning mill A Spinning mill B

Fig. 11
Trash content in sliver and
yarn

USTER

TESTER 4-SX 13 (15)

The comparison also shows a noticeable difference in the dust content of
the two drawframe slivers. With an optimum clearer setting of the spin
boxes of spinning mill A, it was possible to achieve a dust reduction of 81%
in the yarn 105 tex (Ne 5.6; Nm 9.5) and 87% in the yarn with 87 tex (Ne
6.75; Nm 11.5). The spinning mill B, on the other hand, produces a draw-
frame sliver with about half the dust content compared with spinning mill A.
In the subsequent spinning process, however, the high quality of this draw-
frame sliver with regard to a reduced dust content can only be utilized to a
limited extent. As shown very clearly in Fig. 12, the dust content of yarn B is
50 to 78% higher than that of yarn A. This example illustrates how the de-
gree of contamination of yarns can vary according to the clearing efficiency
of the OE spin box.

Comparison of finisher drawframe sliver to yarn
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Spinni ng mill A Spinni ng mill B

Fig. 12
Dust content in sliver and
yarn



6.3 Influence of the winding speed on the trash and dust
content of carded ring yarns

An additional trial series was carried out to examine the influence of the
winding speed on the trash and dust content of carded yarns, which were
wound at different speeds and then tested with the UT4. The results are
shown in the following diagrams. With regard to the trash content (Fig.13)
of ring yarns, one would assume that a reduction in the trash content could
be expected, on the one hand, through the spinning process and, on the
other hand, through the subsequent winding process. In the case of a wind-
ing speed of 1200 m/min, the two yarns show a trash reduction of 50%. In
absolute terms, however, the trash reduction of yarn B is much higher than
that of yarn A. The reason for this is the different structure of the trash par-
ticles such as seed-coat fragments and pure trash particles with no fibers
attached.



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TESTER 4-SX 14 (15)

A comparison of these structures leads to the conclusion that loose trash
particles are more likely to be thrown out in the winding process than seed-
coat fragments, which are more strongly tied into the yarn body by the at-
tached fibers.

Influence of the winding speed
Trash/km
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 m/min 800 m/min 1000 m/min 1200 m/min 1400 m/min 1600 m/min
Yarn A Ne 30
Yarn B Ne 30
Bobbin

Fig. 13
Influence of the winding
speed on the trash content


Fig. 14 shows the reduction in the number of dust particles resulting from
the winding process. A comparison of the dust content of the bobbins,
again at the winding speed of 1200 m/min, results in a calculated reduction
of about 30%.

Influence of winding speed
Dust/km
0
300
600
900
1200
1500
1800
0 m/min 800 m/min 1000 m/min 1200 m/min 1400 m/min 1600 m/min
Yarn A Ne 30
Yarn B Ne 30
Bobbin
Fig. 14
Influence of the winding
speed on the dust content




USTER

TESTER 4-SX 15 (15)

Up to a winding speed of 1200 m/min, there are no differences with regard
to the yarn evenness, the imperfections and the tensile properties. A loss of
quality in the yarn evenness, imperfections and tensile properties can be
observed only at winding speeds of 1400 m/min and up. The yarn hairiness
increases with every winding process.



7 Summary and outlook

With the installation of the OI (Optical - Impurities) sensor in the USTER

TESTER 4-SX, Uster Technologies has completed the quality assessment
of a yarn. In addition to the known quality parameters such as evenness,
imperfections, hairiness and yarn count and the new parameters such as
yarn diameter and its variation as well as the yarn roundness, the fourth
generation of the USTER

TESTER is now capable of determining addi-

tional important parameters of the yarn quality. All quality parameters can
be determined simultaneously at testing speeds of up to 400 m/min on the
same piece of yarn. The activation of all five sensors results in an enor-
mous saving of time and work for the spinning mill. The initial trials have
shown that there are a number of possible applications for the OI sensor. It
could be shown, for example, that the spin boxes of an OE rotor machine
can have a considerable influence on the clearing of trash and dust. In ad-
dition, and against all expectations, it turned out that, with regard to trash
and dust, the winding process has cleaning effect on the yarn, because a
high winding speed results in a reduction of the trash and dust content.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to select just any high winding speed be-
cause of the other quality parameters involved. It is to be expected that
additional advantages and application areas will be discovered in the fu-
ture. Finally, it should be added that the OI sensor, in line with Fiber to
Fabric engineering, is an important step into the new millennium.















































Uster Technologies AG
CH-8610 Uster / Switzerland

Telephone +41 43 366 36 36
Telefax +41 43 366 36 37

sales@uster.com
www.uster.com