Friday 23 September 2016

Effect of temperature and relative humidity on processing of cotton and man-made fibers in roving section

 Abstract:

Environment factors are always important in any type of natural, mechanical, chemical, physical and industrial process. Environment always influence each and every process happening in this world either natural or un-natural. Environment factors (temperature, air, dust, impurities, particles, moisture content, weather, etc.) effect different processes in different ways.
Industrial processes are also effected by environment depending upon the type of process, materials and methods, machines used and end product. Textile industries are also effected by environmental factors especially by temperature and relative humidity. These factors effect each department in different way according to its process and material. Initial step of textile industry so called spinning is also effected and environmental factors are controlled in each and every stage of spinning, otherwise quality is deteriorated and results in unbalanced production.
Temperature and humidity has a great influence on every stage of spinning. Roving section is also influenced and effects are obvious in end product. Here effects of temperature and relative humidity on roving section of spinning are explained with respect to type of material.

1         Introduction:

Temperature and relative humidity are the two most important environmental factors which has a great influence on textile processes including spinning processes. These two parameters effect spinning from bale storage to yarn winding section. Each and every process from bale storage to winding section is effected by temperature and humidity. Temperature and relative humidity are explained below:

1.1       What is Temperature?

Temperature has different definitions according to different fields and contexts. “In an industrial context, temperature is the hotness or coldness intensity of air in any environment where process machines and related equipment are kept and it is called ambient temperature.”
Temperature is measured by different type of instruments and methods according to environment where it is measured, mostly thermometer is used for temperature measurement. It is measured in three units, but the spinning department of textiles measure it in degree Fahrenheit (oF).

1.2      What is relative humidity?

Humidity is simply the amount of water vapors in atmospheric air. “Relative Humidity is a measure of the amount of moisture in the air compared with the amount of moisture the air can hold.”
Relative humidity is expressed as a percentage of how much moisture the air could possibly hold at the temperature it happens when you measure it. It can change when either the temperature or the amount of water vapor changes. It is inversely proportional to temperature and measured by psychrometer and hygrograph in percentage.

1.3      What is roving?

Roving is an intermediate shape of material between sliver and yarn to easily draft it to yarn. Roving is made at roving frame also called simplex. It is only used in ring spinning technique and is effected by environmental factors in different ways due to its complex structure and feeble material.

2         Influence of temperature and relative humidity at roving:

Temperature alone does not have a great effect on the fibers and machine. However the temperature dictates the amount of moisture the air will hold in suspension and, therefore, temperature and humidity must be considered together. Effects on machine and fiber material at roving section are:

2.1      Effects on machine (Roving frame):

Not only fiber material but machine is also effected by moisture content and temperature in atmosphere. Machine is influenced as:

2.1.1      Erosion of machine parts:

A decrease in temperature and increase in relative humidity results in rusting and erosion of machine parts such as gears, driving shafts and bottom drafting rollers. So 50-60% relative humidity is maintained at roving frame with 75-80OF temperature.

2.1.2      Dust and fly Stickiness:

Dust and fly stickiness increases with increase in moisture content and decrease in temperature. Dust and small particles present in air stick with machine parts due to high relative humidity and cause problems in machine operations. This results in unbalanced process and quality deterioration.

2.1.3      Pneumatically loaded drafting system:

Modern simplex machines came with pneumatically loaded top rollers which has a lot of technological advantages. This system needs continuous air supply while running of machine to put 150-300N pressure on top rollers of drafting system. It is ensured that the air used for this process is completely dry having relative humidity nearly zero to put proper pressure with 100-110OF temperature.

2.1.4      Machine heat-up and wear & tear:

Machine gets heat up in high temperature and low humidity because of 1500rpm high operating speed. Due to high temperature atmosphere gets dry, parts are heated up and results in more wear and tear of machine, which will result in more maintenance costs.

2.1.5      Machine life:

Increase in wear and tear, machine heating and dust stickiness at high temperatures and dry air (low humidity) results in a decrease in machine life. So, optimum level of both temperature and humidity is required and mostly set in between 50-60% relative humidity and 75-80OF temperature.

2.1.6      Condensation of moisture:

Increase of relative humidity in the post carding stages up to the spindle point should be gradual. Any sudden increase of relative humidity may lead to condensation of moisture on the drafting rollers, cots and aprons, which will prove counterproductive.

2.2      Effects on processing material:

Major impact of relative humidity and temperature is on fiber material which is processed to convert from sliver to roving. Natural and man-made fibers are differently affected by environment. So temperature and relative humidity influences on material depends upon material type. Fiber materials at roving frame are affected by environment as:

2.2.1      Fiber Cohesion:

Fiber cohesion in roving increases with increase in humidity and decrease in temperature for both cotton and man-made fibers. Due to more cohesion in fibers, roving strength increases and ultimately results in low ends down rate.

2.2.2      Fibers stickiness:

In a high relative humidity atmosphere, fibers start to stick with drafting rollers and number of fibers in roving cross section are decreases due to which mass variation increases. This results in poor drafting and quality deterioration. Both cotton and man-made behave same in this case.

2.2.3      Moisture regain of fibers:

Moisture regain of cotton fibers increases in high relative humidity environment with low temperature. Due to more moisture regain, cotton fibers could swell and directly deteriorate the quality. Man-made fibers such as polyester has very low moisture regain and thus the impact of temperature and relative humidity on moisture regain of man-made fibers is very low.

2.2.4      Fibers pliability:

In order to facilitate drafting on the roving frames fibers must be pliable which requires increase of moisture content of fibers for which, temperature is gradually reduced in these preparatory stages and relative humidity gradually increased.

2.2.5      Static Electricity:

Dry materials create more friction and are more prone to static electricity. Higher humidity reduces static problems and makes materials more manageable enabling more efficient production.
Static electricity arises in low relative humidity when fibers and different simplex parts (drafting rollers, flyer cap, hollow leg, presser arm) rub together, creating an electrical charge within or on the material. Such electrical charges (static electric shock) typically leak away to earth (electrical conducting material), resulting in spark.
Static electricity is produced according to material charge as cotton is neutral but man-made polyester has negative charge.

2.2.6      Roving strength:

Rovings with low moisture content are weaker, thinner, more brittle and less elastic. These all problems originate from high atmospheric temperature and low relative humidity.
Cotton strength increases with increase in relative humidity. Polyester is nearly unaffected. But in man-made fibers viscose strength goes down with increase in relative humidity.

2.2.7      Elongation:

Elongation percentage goes up with increased relative humidity for almost all textile fibers. With increase in relative humidity and low temperature, the resultant roving is more flexible, elastic and less prone to breakage.

2.2.8      Hairiness:

Friction of fibers with machine surfaces is reduced in high relative humidity due to which hairiness of roving is reduced and fibers stick together. Man-made fibers already show low hairiness because of long length of fibers and they are nearly unaffected in this case.

2.2.9      Weight, cost & Production:

Moisture content of natural fibers (cotton) is gradually increased from blow room to winding section to increase yarn weight and balance the costs and expenses. So an optimum moisture content should be gained by fibers at roving to reach 8.5% standard of cotton. At roving, about 6.5% moisture regain of cotton is achieved by providing enough relative humidity.
In case of man-made fibers except viscose and rayon, weight of all the man-made fibers is unaffected because of low moisture regain.

5         Conclusion:

After all above discussion and explanation, we concluded that ambient conditions are much important in spinning and these should be controlled to an optimum level in each section of spinning. Temperature and relative humidity has a great influence on simplex machine and roving material. So atmospheric conditions especially temperature and relative humidity should be controlled according to type of material and end product properties.
The natural fibers are highly sensitive to the conditions of the ambient air; they are hydroscopic, so that the moisture present, whether expressed as moisture content or regain depends to temperature. The mechanical properties of fibers and roving depend upon the humidity and temperature.
Man-made fibers are less sensitive to the ambient air conditions except a few types.

1 comment: