Buhler Fiber To Yarn

Converting Supima Cotton Fibers Into Yarn Presented by Buhler Quality Yarns

From Fiber to Yarn

Where Quality Starts Why is Supima cotton a premium cotton? Pima accounts for only three percent of annual cotton production in the United States. Its fineness and longer staple length makes Pima a premium cotton fiber. It is used to spin finer count yarns, which can be knitted or woven into softer, finer and more luxurious fabrics. It is grown in select areas of the far West and Southwest U.S. where the cotton can benefit from a long growing season in a hot, dry climate. Pima cotton is grown almost exclusively on furrowed rows where growers can closely regulate irrigation and other inputs. Its production costs can vary in different states and regions, but it generally runs about the same as upland cotton costs in the same area. Ginning is more expensive because Pima cotton is roller-ginned, not saw-ginned like upland cotton. Pima is grown in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

What is Pima cotton? Pima cotton is a generic name for extra-long staple (ELS) cotton grown in the U.S., Australia, Peru and in very limited production in a few other locations around the world. Pima is from the gossypium barbadense species, compared to gossypium hirsutum to which upland cotton belongs. The primary differences between Pima (ELS growths) cotton and upland cotton are staple length and strength. In the U.S., cotton is considered to be ELS or Pima if it is an inch and 3/8 or longer. Its strength and uniformity measurements are also considerably higher than those of upland cotton.

USDA's U.S. Pima Production 2001/02 U.S. Pima Production Harvested Acres Average Yield Production States 2000 2001 2000 2001 2000 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona 4,900 7,500 705 928 7,200 14,600 New Mexico 4,100 5,200 539 969 4,600 103,050 Texas 16,000 16,500 930 969 31,000 33,750 California 144,000 239,000 1,154 1,283 346,300 638,750 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals 169,000 268,200 1,105 1,254 389,100 700,150 Production listed in 480-lb. bales Estimate released May 10, 2002 Note - The above data is from the Supima Association web site : www.supimacotton.com

The process of turning fiber into yarn.

1 1 2 Cotton Laydown Opening, Blending, and Cleaning • The cotton fibers must be opened, blended, and cleaned. • Bales of cotton are configured in a way for consistent characteristics of the cotton fiber. Unfortunately, nature does the grow the fibers same way every time. There are variabilities in fiber-to-fiber, bale-to-bale, and field-to-field. • To reduce these varabilities, special procedures and equipment are needed. • The pictures above displays the equipment typically used in cotton bale opening, blending, and cleaning. • The picture (1) shows how the cotton is introduced into the process. The bales are laid down in a particular mix and configuration. • Picture (2) shows the equipment which will further open, blend, and clean the cotton fibers.

3 4 Carding Pre-Drawing • Once the cotton fibers have been processed through the opening, blending, and cleaning equipment, the cotton fibers are individually cleaned, aligned, and formed into a card sliver with a certain weight per unit length. • Picture (3) displays the “carding” equipment used for this process. • The cotton fibers will be transformed into various shapes, sizes, and weights through out the fiber to yarn process. • Picture (4) shows the next step in the process which is called “Pre-Drawing.” The purpose of this process is to further align the cotton fibers and to blend the slivers into a more consistent specified weight and length.

5 6 Lapwinding Combing • The next step in the process is to further blend and align the cotton sliver from “Pre- Drawing” and convert the product into a package which can be presented to the “Combing” process. • This process is called “Lapwinding.” Picture (5) shows an example of the product which is produced at “Lapwinding.” • Picture (6) is a comber with the laps mounted above. On this particular machine, eight laps are introduced to the combing process. • Without this process, no cotton yarn can be considered “combed.” • The combing equipment will actually comb the shorter fibers and remaining organic leaf and stems particles (pepper trash) from the cotton fiber bundle presented to the comber in a lap form. • The comber will transform the 8 laps back to a sliver with a specific weight per length parameter. This allows for additional blending (8 laps to on sliver). • The product produced from this process is brighter, softer, and more delicate.

7 88 Roving Finished Drawing • The next step is to blend and align the the combed cotton sliver in the process called “Finished Drawing.” In the picture (7) you can see where a certain number of cans are placed behind the machine. Out the front, the product is one sliver which weighs a specified weight per unit length. • This is the most critical process by which the consistency of the yarn weight (Yarn Count) is determined. Now you know why there is so much blending in the processes leading up to this point. • The next picture (8)is that of a “Roving Machine.” Its purpose is to transform the “Finished Cotton Sliver” into a product which can be presented to the “Ring Spinning” machine. This product is called “Roving.” The “Roving” has certain weight per unit length parameter as well.

9 9 10 Ring Spinning Aisle Ring Spinning Drafting System • Picture (9) displays a Ring Spinning alley. Here you can see the Roving hung above the machine and processed into yarn. • The Roving is drafted (stretched) by a series of rolls. Each roll rotates at a different “rpm” ( one faster than the previous). This increasing speed of the rolls creates a drafting effect which reduces the weight of the roving (weight per unit length) to the approximate target weight of the yarn. • Twist is inserted on the fiber bundle at the time that it exits the last roller. The amount of twist inserted is determined by by various factors. Those factors are runability of the yarn in Spinning, runability of the yarn in the subsequent process, fabric strength required, and “look and feel” of fabric ( knitted or woven) which customer is trying to achieve. • Picture (10) shows the drafting system (rolls) by which the roving weight is reduced to the desire yarn weight.

12 12 11 Spinning Bobbins Winder • Once the yarn has been formed by adding twist, it is wound onto a bobbin for further processing. Picture (11) shows this product prior to transporting it to the “Winder.” • The ring spinning machine fills the bobbin with yarn. The yarn on the bobbin is still not suitable for knitting or weaving. This bobbin yarn must be transformed to a cone of yarn which has much more length wound onto it than the bobbin. • The next process is “Winding.” Winding takes the bobbins from the ring spinning machine and winds it to a cone. You can see this cone being formed on the winder machine by looking at the yellow arrow. • The yarn which is wound on the cone at the winder is cleared of major defects. These defects are in the form of “thick and thin” places along the yarn. We remove these defects so as to not create an objectionable defect in the fabric. The device which clear the defects cannot cut out every “thick or thin” place in the yarn. We controll the size and length of the defect to cut out.

13 14 13 Packing • Lastly, the finished cones are packed or placed in a container which is suitable for the customer. • There are various packing methods. The two most common are the cardboard cases and pallets. • The package type is determined whether the customer shipment is local or international, the amount of space available at the knitting or weaving site, and optimization of the cargo weight.

The Transformation To Cotton To Bale To Sliver From Seed To Roving To Yarn To Yarn Cone Woven or Knitted into fabrics

Just the beginning….. • The process of converting cotton fibers into yarns is more complicated than it may appear. The spinner must buy his cotton very selectively based on his market. • The quality of the yarn is directly proportionate to the fiber quality. Much like any other product, the raw material used determines the quality of the final product. The raw materials is usually the most expensive component of any product. • Attention to details and a passion for making the best quality yarns is the secret to being successful in a competitive market. • Now that you have the best quality yarn available in the market, our customers can focus on making the best quality fabric in the market. • The story continues …..

Buhler Fiber To Yarn

by David Sasso

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