On September 12th, my interior design ---- class went on a field trip to Texas Tech’s Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute. “FBRI occupies 110,000 square feet of space allowing researchers to conduct testing and evaluation from the raw fiber stage through the finished textile product” (“Fiber and biopolymer,”). While the primary purpose of the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute is research, we were able to see the different production processes involved in turning raw cotton fibers into yarn and then into fabric. The section of the tour that I found most interesting and informative was the creation of yarn.
We were first taken to the warehouse where the cotton arrives in a very unusable form. Short fibers and long fibers are mixed together along with trash, dirt, leaves and other unwanted things. This mixture is also compressed for transportation purposes. We were then taken to the first room that contained a series of machines that open up the cotton fibers and filter out the trash and unwanted short fibers. The clean long fibers are then moved to a second series of machines that are located in a separate room for a process called carding. This is a secondary cleaning process that further removes short fibers and trash. A small percent of cotton fibers are then also combed which “provides more extensive cleaning than is provided by the card” (Wakelyn). Both of these steps ultimately leave behind the long cotton fibers, “collect[ing] [them] into a rope-like form called a “sliver”” and put the sliver in a container allowing for its transfer to the next set of machines (Wakelyn).
The man giving us the tour showed us that the fibers in the sliver are crimped and wavy and not exactly parallel to each other. He explained that these are unwanted properties so a process called drawing is required in order to produce a good quality yarn. We were shown a drawing machine which uses heavy rollers to do several things to the slivers. The machine takes several containers of slivers and blends them together while flattening and straightening the fibers and putting in a slight twist (Wakelyn). This creates a single sliver that is thinner, longer and more even throughout the length. The sliver can then either be used in open-end spinning or go through a procedure called roving. Roving again reduces the weight of a sliver and adds additional twist and “the product is now called a roving” (Wakelyn). The roving is also transferred onto a bobbin so it can be used for ring spinning.
Spinning is the process that adds a final amount of twist and a final reduction of weight producing the yarn. There are two different types of spinning and both use different machines. “Currently, over 85% of the world’s yarn is produced on ring-spinning frames” (Wakelyn). The class and I were first taken to the room where ring spinning takes place. With ring spinning the machines produce yarn from a roving, taking it off the bobbin and passing it through small rollers that add the final twist. These yarns are too short to be used in knitting or weaving and must be taken to another machine that binds together the short yarns producing a single continuous yarn of the desired length. After being shown ring spinning we were led into another room containing a single large machine. It was explained that a very small amount of yarn is created through open-end spinning. This type of spinning uses high-speed rotors and is much more efficient than ring spinning. With open-end spinning the sliver is fed directly into the machine which eliminates the need of roving. The yarn is also directly “wound onto packages ready for use in fabric formation” eliminating yet another step that is required for ring spinning (“Open-end spinning,”). However, the yarn produced is not the same quality as the yarn produced through ring spinning which is why ring spinning is still the most prevalent. “Rotor spun yarns are more even, somewhat weaker and have a harsher feel than ring spun yarns” (“Open-end spinning,”).
It was very fascinating to see all the machines and processes required to take cotton from a raw form and end up with a piece of fabric. In all, the trip to the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute was very educating. I learned a lot about the production of yarn that will be useful in the context of using different fabrics.
WORKS CITED
Fiber and biopolymer research institute. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/fbri/overview.php
Open-end spinning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.textileschool.com/School/Spinning/RotorSpinning.aspx
Wakelyn, P. J. (n.d.). Cotton yarn manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/safework_bookshelf/english?content&nd=857171055
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