QUALITY PERFORMANCE OF AFRICAN COTTONS

摘要

Cotton fiber represents about 50% of the cost of yarn and there is a direct correlation between the specific quality characteristics of fiber and yarn. The importance attached to lint quality by international spinners has risen in recent years. The main challenge for cotton is to compete with chemical fibers, mainly polyester, on both price and quality. Chemical fibers are generally easier to process, more versatile, and stronger than cotton fiber. Additionally, modern textile industry machinery requires the same characteristics of cleanliness and homogeneity from cotton fiber as those offered by chemical fibers. As a result, certain quality attributes have assumed increasing importance in recent years, alongside conventional parameters. Traditionally, the price of cotton was largely determined by staple length, grade, color and micronaire. Those factors are still the major determinants of price, but spinners today are also interested in other fiber properties that affect the quality of their yarnsand the efficiency at which they produce those yarns: strength, uniformity, maturity, fineness, elongation, neps, short fiber content, spinning performance, dyeing ability and cleanliness. All else being equal, spinners pay a higher price for longer, finer, and stronger cotton lint that is white, bright, and fully mature.