Cottonscope to use CSIRO's fibre testing device
10/03/2010
Australia-based fibre testing equipment company Cottonscope is to use a new fibre maturity testing device.
It has been granted the license to use an instrument developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s Cotton Research Unit, with support from the Cotton Research Development Corporation (CRDC) and the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC. The device is designed to improve the quality of fibre produced by Australian cotton growers and yarn quality in overseas spinning. It automatically measures cotton maturity, directly and accurately, in around 25 seconds."A fast, accurate and direct measurement of cotton fibre maturity has been sought by the industry for decades," says the Cotton Research Unit's leader, Stuart Gordon.
"In 2001, CSIRO took up the challenge to create and test a new prototype instrument for the industry. The team built several prototypes and put them through some rigorous trials to verify consistency of performance and results."
These trials were followed by 'real-life' tests in which the instrument’s results were used to measure when a crop was mature enough for harvest, thereby allowing for predictions of the ‘textile consequences’ of immature fibre on neps (small fibre knots associated with immature fibre that cause cotton yarn and fabric quality to be downgraded) and dye uptake in fabric generated from in-field and ginning practices. "Cottonscope will also be valuable in the spinning mill where it will enable more accurate prediction of nep creation, dye uptake and overall quality control when cotton bales are laid down for processing at the mill,” Dr Gordon says.
"Of further benefit is the instrument's ability to monitor the maturity and fineness of various cotton breeds to assist in the selection of better cotton varieties for the production of high quality fabric."
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