A well concised and comprehended information about the bast fibres processing. The following material includes the processing of fibres from extraction to yarn formation.

1. FLAX AND JUTE YARN FORMATION
BY
DHANANJAY S. BAGHEL

2. FLAX
 Flax is a natural fibre.
 It is obtained from the
stem of the plants.
 It is a good source of
lightweight summer
clothing.

3. HARVESTING
RIPPLING
RETTING
Preparatory spinning involves the steps taken before the actual spinning of
flax fibres into yarn.
FLAX SPINNING PREPARATORY

4. HARVESTING
 To get the best quality fibre,
one harvests just after the flowers
have finished, but before the seeds
form.
 For moderate quality fibre, one can
wait until the seeds have formed,
then harvest the flax.
 Flax is harvested by pulling up by
the roots, it is then tied in sheaves
and stacked in stocks to dry.

5. RIPPLING
 The fibres after harvesting contain
flax seeds.
 These seeds need to be removed.
 The process of removing the seeds
from the fibres is called rippling.
 This is done using a needle studded
board called rippler.

6. RETTING
 This step breaks down the hard stem of the flax
making it easy to break away the unwanted parts
from the fibres.
 This can be done by
o Submerging the flax in water.
o Submerging it in running water.
o Laying it on the lawn exposing to dew.

7. BREAKING
SCUTCHING
HACKLING
SPREADING
DRAWING
SPINNING
It involves various devices, tools and machines to spin the flax
fibres into a yarn which includes:
SPINNING LINE

8. BREAKING
 Breaking is a process that
completely smashes the woody
core of the stems into tiny
fragments.
 It is done by an equipment called
break.
SCUTCHING
 Scutching is the process in
which the woody core is
peeled off from the stem.
 A scutcher and a knife is
used to do the same.

9. HACKLING
 The scutched flax are clinged together.
 Therefore they are separated by Hackling.
 Since opening of fibres take place in this process
hence it is called the carding process in Flax.

10. SPREADING
Spreading is a continuation of the carding (hackling)
process whereby the fine flax fibres are further drawn
out into a continuous and homogenized ribbon called
a sliver.

11. DRAWING
 Objectives:
 To impart uniformity.
 To increase fineness.

12. SPINNING
 Spinning consists in drawing the roving
down to the last degree of tenuity
desired, and twisting them into hard
cylindrical cords, which are called
yarns.
 The fibres are wetted before spinning
in water heated up to a temperature of
120 deg.
 Due to wetting it is observed that twice
the length can be spun.

13. JUTE
 Jute is a natural fibre.
 It is obtained from the stem of
the plants.
 Jute yarns are plied together
to make twines, ropes,
cordages, etc. as per
requirement and use.

14. CULTIVATION
RETTING
Preparatory spinning involves the steps taken before the
actual spinning of flax fibers into yarn.
JUTE SPINNING PREPARATORY

15. CULTIVATION
 The suitable climate for growing
jute is a warm and wet climate,
which is offered by the monsoon
climate during the fall season,
immediately followed by summer.
 When the plants are about 15-20
cm tall, they are harvested.
 The climatic conditions
requirements for jute cultivation
are:
o 70-100 degree F.
o 70%-90% relative
humidity.
o 2-3 inches of rainfall
weekly.

16. RETTING
 After harvesting, the jute stalks
are tied into bundles and
submerged in soft running water.
 The stalks stays submerged in
water for 20 days.
 When the jute stalk is well
retted, the stalk is grabbed in
bundles and hit with a long
wooden hammer to make the
fibre loose from the core.
 The extracted fibres is further
washed with fresh water and
allowed to dry on bamboo poles.

17. SPINNING LINE
SELECTIO
N
BATCHIN
G
SOFTENI
NG
CARDING
DRAWING
SPINNING
Jute Spinning line involves the following processes:

18. SELECTION
 The jute bales are opened to find out any defect and to
remove the defective portion from the morah by
experienced workers.
 The bales are assorted according to end use like
hessian weft, sacking wrap, sacking weft, etc.

19.  The process of adding oil and water emulsion on jute
batches is called as batching.
 The commonly used mineral oil is Jute batching oil (JBO), a
middle distillate produced by petroleum refineries.
BATCHING

20. SOFTENING
 The jute is flexed between two pair of rollers and is
made softer.
 Softening facilitates the
o Removal of loose dust and dirt
o Breaking of pieces of bark and stick making
them easier to remove at later stage.

21. CARDING
The primary objectives of jute carding are:
 To split the jute reeds longitudinally and break it
transversely.
 To convert the reeds of jute into a uniform fibrous
strand, sliver suitable for further processing.
 To clean, orient and attenuate the fibre to some extent.
 To randomize the fibres among themselves.

22. BREAKER CARD
In jute processing generally two carding machines are
used breaker and finisher and these are roller and clearer
type.

23. FINISHER CARD

24. DRAWING
The primary objectives of jute draw frame are:
 Drafting the finisher card slivers to count suitable for
feeding the spinning frame.
 Doubling the slivers to minimize the irregularities.
 Straightening and paralleling of the fibres along the
sliver axis.
Jute drawing frames are divided into two types, depending
on the mechanism of faller bars:
1. Push bar type
2. Spiral or Screw gill type

25. The differences between the push bar type draw frame
and spiral type draw frame are as shown in the Table
below:

26. SPINNING
 Now a days mostly ring spinning is used for fine count
yarns directly from slivers.
 The main objectives of spinning process are:
o Drafting
o Twisting
o Winding

27.  Depending upon the draft control, jute spinning frames can
be classified into following types:
1. Slip draft system
2. Apron draft system
3. V roller (groove) draft system

28.  Jute spinning frame inserts the twist by means of
overhung flyers, either two legged flyer or Baxter flyer,
suspended above the bobbins
Common Twist factors are: