Project Number: 6435-44000-069-09
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Dec 22, 2006
End Date: Sep 30, 2009

Objective:
This is a component of a Cooperative Agreement funded by Cotton Incorporated. The objective of this Specific Cooperative Agreement is to develop new or improved methods for accurate and rapid determination of cotton fiber length distribution. The new method should address at least one of the following issues: reducing fiber breakage in testing, new sampling method, new measuring technology, or more accurate measurement of cotton short fiber content. The Agreement will be reviewed for possible extension in 2007.

Approach:
The High Volume Instrument (HVI) current used for cotton classification determinates fiber length by testing a tapered fiber beard. A major shortcoming of the tapered-beard method is that a random portion of each fiber is held inside the clamp and therefore not measured by the instrument. This reduces the accuracy, especially for measuring shorter fibers. Various innovative ways will be explored to reduce the average and variation of the hidden length to improve the accuracy of length measurement. The Advance Fiber Information System (AFIS) instrument is widely used in fiber research. AFIS individualizes fibers to measure their length. During this process, it introduces fiber breakage and discards most fibers. Modifications will be made on the AFIS fiber individualizing mechanism to reduce fiber breakage and increase the ratio of fiber measured.