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Indian Journal of Fibre & Textile Research

Vol. 23, June 1998, pp. 94-99

"

Rotor machine variables and yam structure: Part I-Influence of

machine variables on fibre disorder at rotor groove
S M Ishtiaquea &A K Saxenab
Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 110 016, India

Received 3 April 1997; revised received and accepted 13 January 1998

The proportion of curved fibre ends in forward and reverse directions increases with an increase in
opening roller speed, rotor speed and rotor diameter, and it is more in forward direction than in reverse
direction. With an increase in rotor speed, the coefficient of relative fibre parallelization first decreases
and then marginally increases, but with an increase in opening roller speed, it first increases and then -:
decreases.

Keywords: Coefficient of relative fibre parallelization, Curved fibre ends, Opening roller speed, Rotor
speed

1 Introduction fibre disorder at rotor groove by using factorial

The degree of fibre opening and the orientation design.
achieved between the opening roller and the exit of
the transport tube should be maintained, if not 2 Materials and Methods "f

improved, during the next journey of the fibre in Second drawn sliver of 100% polyester staple fi-
which it acquires the final position inside the rotor bre (fibre length, 38 mm; and fineness, 1.2 denier)
groove. At this point, the process offers the best of the hank 0.18 was used. A three-variable factorial
opportunity to assess the quality of fibre separation design proposed by Box and Behnken5 (Table 1)
and orientation as this may best be expected to be was used to study the influence of rotor speed, rotor
maintained in the spun yarn as well. Several diameter and opening roller speed on fibre disorder
researchersl-4 have found it more appropriate to
Table I--Box and Behnken design for three variables
investigate these properties in the fibre ring
deposited in the rotor groove, which would have -I
Experimental 00I-II I
-I-I
00-I
-II
X3 X20 -II
-I00I1I
-1 Xl Variable
9813
been otherwise 12 267II
14
45315 10 twisted into yarn
combination No. during nonnal
I ~.
spinning operation.
It is an established fact that the circumferential
speed of the rotor plays an important role at the final
stage of fibre assembly, which is a function of rotor
diameter and speed and plays a very important role
in conjunction with other associated parameters
during the process of yarn formation.
In the present work, an attempt has been made to
study the effect of rotor machine variables, viz. rotor
speed, rotor diameter and opening roller speed, on
.).~
a Present address: Northern India Textile Research Associa-
tion, Ghaziabad.
b Present address; Pasupati Fabrics Ltd, Kosikalan, Mathura.

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ISHTIAQUE & SAXENA: ROTOR MACHINE VARIABLES AND YARN STRUCTURE: PART I 95

Table 2-Actual values ofvariables corresponding to coded

levels

7000
Variable 46 56
09000
60,000
76,000 5000
36
44,000 Coded level
-1
ed (Xl)' rpm
nun

at rotor groove. The actual values of the variables

corresponding to the coded levels are shown in
Table 2. For each combination, 100 rings from the
rotor groove were collected.
1.1 Measurement of Fibre Orientation E
Q.
...
Lindley's technique6 was used to study the fibre ..
o
orientation in the ring of rotor groove. The UJ
UJ
proportion of curved fibre ends (p) and the ll.
1Il
coefficient of relative fibre parallelization (Krp) a:
suggested by Leont'eva7 were calculated from the ~ 7000
equations given below: oa:
...J

E '"

p=--xIOO z
E+N z
UJ
ll.
o
Krp =(1- C+N+E
C ) x 100
where C is the weight of combed out fibres; E, the
weight of fibre ends projecting over the line of cut
after combing; and N, the weight of sliver
proportion clamped tmder the cutting plate after
combing.

~'-
3 Results and Discussion
It is observed from Figs 1-4 and Tables 3 and 4
that the proportion of curved fibre ends (p) and the
coefficient of relative fibre parallelization (K;p) have
significant effect of rotor machine variables. The
value of p in forward and reverse directions
increases with an increase in opening roller speed,
rotor speed and rotor diameter, but it is more in 76000

forward direction. The value of Kq, decreases with

increase in rotor speed up to 65700 rpm and then
increases marginally with further increase in rotor
speed, but with an increase in opening roller speed,
it first increases up to 6600 rpm opening roller speed
Fig. I-Effec:t of opening roller speed, rotor speed and rotor
diameter on the proportion of curved fibre ends in forward
direction [rotor diameter: (al36 mm, (b) 46 nun, and (c) 56
nun]

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96 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 1998

-.:'
9000

~
0
....J 5000 \
IA1.---1
r-..... \ ~
I b/1I 41·00
SOOOI .......•...
.......•... ~ I 40·00 , 00 u~_1 I \
..J
0-
...
EZ
uJ
UJ....J
a..
VI
ua..J
a::
uJ
a::
J

~~~OO

5000
60000 76000 44000
RVTOR SPEED, rpm ROTOR

Fig. 2-Effect of opening roller speed, rotor speed and rotor Fig. 3-Effect of opening roller speed, rotor speed and rotor ).
diameter on the proportion of curved fibre ends in reverse diameter on the coefficient of relative fibre parallelization in
direction [rotor diameter: (a) 36 mm, (b) 46 mm, and (c) 56 forward direction [rotor diameter: (a) 36 mm, (b) 46 mm, and
mm] (c) 56 mmJ

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 ~'---

ISHTIAQUE & SAXENA: ROTOR MACHINE VARIABLES AND YARN STRUCTURE: PART 1 97

"• _.~ "\.r

----10 .I4x2 13 parameters
of
x23
I45x22 "
zrelative
oIII
a..
UJ
UJ
Forward
42.904
10.173
42.851
9.205
9.855
41.467
40.709
8.164
13.689
9.353
41.418
43.274
44.029
41.547
11.089
10.980
12.172
44.499
42.063
8.058
10.081
9.819
8.991
11.619
9.140
47.006
38.733
36.953
8.827
48.121
39.317
12.346
Reverse
10.186
13.054
14.386
9.277
40.929
37.165
13.170
11.326
10.169
44.398
41.228
42.829
42.958
37.648
10.952
11.628
12.448
8.937
39.443
Forward
41.045
44.586
38.045
39.963
39.052
45.559
11.035
9.587
41.327 2fibre
%
00Proportion
"'r.&.. fibreends 0.957
Coefficient of relative
Correlation
of 0.944
0.905
0.778
coefficient
curved
42.9-1.46x,-I.I05x2-
equation (p)
parallelization
Response
9.84+0.79x,+0.57x2 surface
41.404-1.27x,-1.198x2-
I0.552+0.86x,+0.6
(K..,)
I Experimental
fibreReverse
parallelization
-3.53x23 "OO~ 9000~ ______________
~~ ~
fibre
Fibre 1514
Forward
ends
Proportion
orientation
Table
parameter
of curved orientation
4---Response Table 3-Experimental
surface
+1.7315x3 parameters results for
equations for various various fibre orientation
fibre

~.m)

and then decreases. This trend is valid for both

forward and reverse directions. The value of Krp
decreases with increase in rotor diameter up to 53.23
5000 mm and then slightly increases with further increase
44000 76000 in rotor diameter.
It is observed that the value of p is more in
forward direction than in reverse direction and vice-
Fig. 4--Effect of opening roller speed, rotor speed and rotor
diameter on the coefficient of relative fibre parallelization in versa in case of the value of Krp. This may be mainly
reverse direction [rotor diameter: (a) 36 mm, (b) 46 mm, and due to the following two reasons:
(c) 56 rom] - Fibres may get hooked during their passage

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II~ 1,1 IIH~I,t.1 I 111,1,11' l!!j~_:.... I I~ I ill jj I "II II

98 INDIAN J. FIBRE TEXT. RES., JUNE 1998

through the transport channel because of their - Higher opening roller speed also causes fibre
coming into contact with the inner surface of budding!! . This will ultimately increase the ..•.

transport tube. In this case, fibres are likely to
get buckled at any front end along their length.
- The high speed with which the opening roller
teeth act on the fibres causes some of them to
buckle at their front end immediately in the form
of hook around teeth and subsequently pulls
them in hooked configuration. If at this stage the
fibre is released from the feed nip, it will be
carried forward to stripping point in a hooked
state. In this mode, most of the fibres will get
hooked at their leading end.
Moreover, the brushing action, which the trailing
ends of the fibres experience when they are released
from the feed nip and passed through the fibre
beared held at the nip, will definitely be helpful in
reducing the trailing hooks. Dyson and Behzadan8
observed the presence of many hooked fibres on the
surface of opening roller using high speed
photography. Several other research workers9.10 have
also studied the state of fibre in rotor fibre ring and
found that fibres in the rotor ring remained in
hooked, looped and entangled configurations. But in
our study, the difference in forward and reverse
directions for the value of
insignifi"cant at the level of 5%.
3.1 Effect of Opening Roller Speed on p and
With the increase in opening roller speed, the
value of p increases in both forward and reverse
directions while that of Krp first increases and then
decreases, the effect being more prominent towards
higher opening roller speed. This could be due to the
following reasons:
- Due to the high centrifugal force at higher
opening roller speeds, the fibres are thrown at a
much higher velocity against the wall of
transport tube.
- With the increase in opening roller speed, the
ratio of velocity of air flow and circumferential
speed of the opening roller reduces. Thus, there
is a reduction in stripping draft.
- With the increase in opening roller surface speed,
the speed of air stream associated with the
opening roller also increases which may lead to
strong turbulence at the stripping zone due to the
proportion of curved fibre ends.
- At higher opening roller speed, the chances of
fibre breakages increase due to more stress on
fibres. The moment fibre breaks, the broken
ends may get rolled up and form either trailing
or leading hook or both.
The increase in the value of Krp up to a certain
opening roller speed may be due to the better
opening and individualization of fibres. At lower
opening roller speed, there is smooth flow of the
fibres through the transport tube, which results in
better parallelization of fibres at rotor groove and is
responsible for improvement. But at higher opening
roller speed, there are more chances of collision of
fibres to the inner wall of the transport tube, which
deteriorates the parallelization of fibres at rotor
groove.
3.2 Effect of Rotor Speed on p and Krp
With the increase in rotor speed, the value of p
increases in both forward and reverse directions.
The value of Krp in forward direction decreases up to
65,700 rpm rotor speed and then marginally
Krp is statistically increases with further increase in rotor speed. In "
reverse direction, the value of Krp invariably
decreases with an increase in rotor speed. This may
Krp be caused due to:
- As the rotor speed increases at a particular
opening roller speed, the feed rate of sliver also
increases correspondingly which reduces the
opening action of fibre owing to less number of
beats per unit length. This results in less opening
of fibres and fibres are transferred to rotor
groove in the form of small tufts and thus
1-
causing fibre disorder at rotor groove.
- As the fibres touch the rotor surface, which
moves at a higher speed than fibre, it drags the
trailing ends of the fibres at faster rate and may
form either trailing hook or buckling at trailing
end or both.
- At higher centrifugal force, fibre straightening at
rotor groove improves and thus increases the
value of Krp.
3.3 Effect of Rotor Diameter on p and Krp )0

interaction between sucked air and associated air On increasing rotor diameter, the value of p
stream. increases, whereas in case of Krp the effect is more

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 ISHTIAQUE & SAXENA: ROTOR MACHINE VARIABLES AND YARN STRUCfURE:
prominent in 36-46 rom rotor diameter range than in
,; 46-56 nun. This trend can be explained on the basis
that at small rotor diameter, the curvature of fibre at
rotor groove is more which has more tendency to
buckle the fibres. On the other hand, an increase in
rotor diameter increases the centrifugal force which
improves the fibre straightening at rotor groove.
4 Conclusions
4.1 The proportion of curved fibre ends in
forward and reverse direction increases with an
increase in opening roller speed, rotor speed and
rotor diameter.
4.2 The value of p is more in forward direction
than in reverse direction.
4.3 With the increase in rotor speed, the
coefficient of relative fibre parallelization (Krp)
initially decreases and then marginally increases, but
with the increase in opening roller speed, Krp first
increases and then decreases. This trend is valid for
both forward and reverse directions.
4.4 The effect of 36-46 rom rotor diameter on Krp
l'
"~
PART I 99
is more prominent as compared to that of 46-56 rom
rotor diameter.
4.5 On correlating the fibre disorder with yarn
characteristics, it is observed that due to increase in
the value of p and decrease in the value of Krp with
the change in machine variables, yarn characteristics
deteriorate.
References
1 Schenck A & Heidenreich H M, Text Prax Int, 33 (1978)
377.
2 Barella A, Vigo] P, Tura S M & Castro L, Text Prax Int, 34
(1979) 1341.
3 Keller A, Text Month, (10) (1972) 60.
4 Ishtiaque S M & Neeraj Sharma, Text Asia, (II) (1990) 46.
5 Box G E P & Behnken D W, Technometrics, 2 (1960) 455.
6 LindsleyC H, Text ResJ, 21 (1951) 39.
7 Leont'eva I S, Tech Text Ind USSR, (2) (1964) 57.
8 Dyson E & Behzadan H, The yarn revolution (The Textile
Institute,Manch~er), 1976.
9 Singh V P, Twist characteristics in open-end spun yarns,
Ph.D thesis, The University of Leeds, 1980.
10 Chattopadhyay&SarkarS,lndianJTextRes, II (1986) 19.
11 Artzt P & Bauch A, Int Text Bull, Spinning, (I) (1977) 97.