Cotton Processing : Fiber to Fabric

COTTON, cool, soft, comfortable, the principal clothing fiber of the world. Its production is one of the major factors in world prosperity and economic stability.Cotton's popularity stems from the fiber's inherent benefits, such as tactile comfort (that is, a sensation of softness when touching cotton fabric), and an unsurpassed ability to accept and retain color. Cotton is a seasonless fiber--cool in the summer, insulating in the winter. It "breathes" and therefore keeps body moisture away from the skin. It launders beautifully.Its beauty and natural comfort make the world a better place. Can you imagine a world without cotton? It's often the first fiber we touch when we are born into the world… and it stays with us throughout our lives. Consumer demand clearly shows that people want cotton in their lives all year long because the comfort and strength that cotton provides is empowering.There is nothing fake about cotton. Cotton feels wonderful against your skin and we believe it is the healthiest of all fibers. Life can be hard, but cotton makes our lives easier. What would we do without cotton? Since cotton wrinkles, polyester was added to give it wash and wear properties for a busy world. In recent times, the consumer determined that polyester, although easier to care for, took away the cool from cotton and also added a "pilling" effect to cotton/polyester blends. Consumers now often request "100% Cotton".

cotton is known as for its friendly properties with environment and human body. Cotton is a natural fibre and donot have any hazardess effect as comparison to polyester.

Properties of the cotton
1.Cotton is entirely made up of cellulose.
2.It can also withstand high temperatures in water and tumble drying and remarkably can be bent as many as 50,000 times before breaking point.
3.It is soft and comfortable.
4.It absorbs perspiration quickly.
5.It has good colour retention.
6.It is also strong and durable.
7.It is very versatile, stable chemically, resistant to alkalis.
8.It is of moderate cost.
9.It is sunlight resistant. Handle is soft, cool to the touch.
10.Cotton has an incredible ability to absorb moisture up to 27 times its own weight in water.
Processing of Cotton
Textile – Fibre to Fabric Processing
Textile Raw Materials and Their Conversion Into Yarns; (The Study of the Raw Materials and the Technology of the Spinning Process) a Text-Book
1.Cultivation of cotton
How a cotton plant grows
2.Chemistry of cotton

Cotton is cellulose fiber. Cotton consists typically of 88-96% cellulose. A single molecule of cellulose consists of chain of millions of glucose molecules. Cellulose is natural polymer (C6H10O5)n. It is a polysaccharide. Glucose is a chemical compound in which C (carbon), H (hydrogen),and O (oxygen) are bounded together by covalent bonds (chemical bond).

physical and chemical properties of cotton
3.Ginning

The cotton gin is where cotton fiber is separated from the cotton seed.

Ginning and classing

Grades of cotton

Processability of cotton

Ginning process

The first step in the ginning process is when the cotton is vacuumed into tubes that carry it to a dryer to reduce moisture and improve the fiber quality. Then it runs through cleaning equipment to remove leaf trash, sticks and other foreign matter.

Ginning is accomplished by one of two methods. Cotton varieties with shorter staple or fiber length are ginned with saw gins. This process involves the use of circular saws that grip the fibers and pull them through narrow slots.
Cotton ginning Basics
Fiber quality aspects of cotton ginnning
Ginning machinery
Cotton ginning process video 1
cotton ginning video
4.Spinning
Mixing
Practice of Cotton Fibre Selection for Optimum Mixing
Cotton Mixing
Blow room
Process parameters in Blow Room
Carding
The blow room only opens the row material to flock whereas the card opens the flock into individual fibers. During this individualization process, coarse trash particles are removed in the licker-in zone and fine trash particles/ dust sucked away. The sheet of carded fibers is removed through a funnel into a loose rope like strand called a sliver.
PROCESS PARAMETERS IN CARDING
Combing
Combing process serves to improve the row material in production of medium, medium to fine and fine yarns. This in turn reflects into better yarn evenness, strength, cleanliness, smoothness and visual appearance. In the wool system, combed sliver is used to make worsted yarn, while cards sliver is used for woolen yarn. In cotton system, the term combed cotton applies to the yarn mad from combed sliver. The function of comber is:

• To eliminate pre-determine quantity of short fiber.
• To eliminate remaining impurities.
• To eliminate large proportion of naps.
• To form a sliver of maximum possible evenness.
Process parameters in combing
Drawing

The task of drawing process is to improve evenness over short, medium and especially long term level by straightening and paralyzing the fiber. In addition to this it also for blending of different fibers (Blending of Polyester / Cotton, Polyester / Viscose, Polyester / Wool Etc.) The drawing frame contains several pairs of rollers that rotate at successively faster speed. As the slivers pass through, they are further drawn out and lengthened, to the point where they may be five to six times as long as they were originally. In this process 4 to 8 carded or combed slivers are fed to the drafting arrangement.
Process parameters in Drawing
Roving

The main function of the roving is to attenuate the sliver. In this process draw frame sliver is fed to the drafting arrangement, which attenuate the sliver with a draft of between 5-20. The delivered strand is too thin to hold, which is strengthened by imparting twist immediately at the exit form the drafting arrangement. The twisted (rove) is finally wound on the bobbin, so that it is easy to transport to next process, stored and crelled on ring frame.
Process parameters in Speed frame
Ring Spinning
Spinning Machines (Machine Technology)
Air jet spinning
A spinning system in which yarn is made by wrapping fibers around a core stream of fibers using compressed air.
Air Jet Spinning of Cotton Yarns :- Read here
Compact Spinning
Ring spinning technology : Development in drafting system
open end spinning
Rotor spinning technology
PROCESS PARAMETER IN SPINNING
Production Technology and Applications of Nu-Torque™ Singles Ring Yarns
FAQ cotton spinning
5.Weaving
Basics of Weaving-1
Basics of Weaving -2
Basics of weaving-3
Basics of Weaving -4
The Weaving Book: Patterns and Ideas
Learning to Weave
 6.Knitting
A short history of knitting

Introduction to knitting
V-Bed machine technology
Circular machine technology
Warp knitting machine technology
V-Bed machine fabric structure and patterning
Circular knitting fabric structures and patterning
Yarn tension, cam forces and robbing back
Quality control in v-bed knitting
Graphical representation of warp knitted structures
Graphical representation of weft knitted structures
Quality control in circular knitting
Positive feeding on v-bed machines
Weft knitting quality control
Glossary
Advances in Knitting Technology

Knitting Technology: A Comprehensive Handbook and Practical Guide to Modern Day Principles and Practices
7.Dyeing and finishing
The dyeing of cotton in high-temperature dyeing machines (Technical circulars)
8.Applications : applications of cotton
10. All about cotton

Read About Cotton processing
1.Field to Fabric
2.Process of making cotton cloth
3.Process of.making Cotton Textiles step by step in brief
4. Cotton Textile Processing :-Sustainable solutions for a better future
5.Cotton manufacturing :-An article from 1900s
6.Story of cotton :- Step by step from seed to your wardrobe
7.Organic Cotton Manufacturing
8.Growing cotton : History and cultivation
9. Ring spinning Vs Compact spinning
10. Developments in Spinning
Manual: Sizing, Pretreatment, and Dyeing of Cellulosic Fibres
Dyeing of cellulosic fibres and related processesNew Spinning Systems (Manual of Textile Technology)