Assessing the Quality of Four Naturally Colored Cottons

Abstract

Small quantities of four cottons with distinctive hues ranging from light tan to cinnamon and green, grown by the University of Arizona, are converted into sliver and spun into both ring and rotor yarns using industrial-scale equipment. Fiber and yarn tests are performed in order to compare the cottons, and the yarns are inserted into a woven fabric as filling yarns. There is evidence that shade varies with Micronaire value. The weakest, shortest cotton is the dark cinnamon type, which provides the weakest, least regular yarns. The strongest cotton is the champagne variety, which is also the longest and coarsest of the four types evaluated. The strongest, most regular yarns are provided by the green cotton. Light cinnamon and champagne cottons produce yarns of similar tensile and regularity properties.