Journal of the Textile Institute Transactions

ISSN: 1944-7027 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/jtit20

A Cause of Irregularity in Roller Drafting

P. Grosberg , P. A. Smith & K. Yoshikawa

To cite this article: P. Grosberg , P. A. Smith & K. Yoshikawa (1962) A Cause of Irregularity
in Roller Drafting, Journal of the Textile Institute Transactions, 53:11, T533-T536, DOI:
10.1080/19447026208659902

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19447026208659902

Published online: 05 Dec 2008.

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 Letters to the Editt^r T533

Terylene yarn, the ridges or buckled regions behasing like small prisms and
giving rise to sharp transverse refraction reflection lines. In connection with
this aspect, it was obser\ed that the visibility of the lines is aperture-sensitive;
they are more visible when the convergence ofthe incident light is reduced,
and this follows if optical effects of the nature described, rather than voids
or fissures, are the origin of the markings. Examination by polarized light
shows that the molecular structure in the ends is not entirely aligned along
the fibre ; this is to be expected in a buckled structure and could lead to more
complex optical phenomena as Terylene fibres are strongly birefringent.
This suggestion that recovery effects are involved is based on the general
appearance of the broken ends, the buckled or undulating nature of the
filament structure and past experience with recover) effects^. The mushroom-
headed type of break, particularly the unusual f\^rms as illustrated by Figure 2.
is clearly the product of recovery.
Considering the general nature ofthe phenomena, it would appear that,
in Terylene yarn, transverse markings can occur as a result of rapid recovery
from extension.
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S. C. SiMMENS

REFERENCES
» R. J. E. Cumberbirch. J. Dlugosz, and J. E. Ford. J, Text. inst.. 1961, 52, T513.
- J. Molcaard. / . Sci. Itmrum., 1960. 37, 210.
' G. E. Chadwick and S. C. Simmens. J. Text. Inst.. 1961. 52, T40.

Cotton Silk and Man-made Fibres Research Association. 9.4.1962

Shirley Institute.
Didshur>.
Manchester. 20.

A Cause of Irregularity in Roller Drafting

It has been suggested that one cause of irregularity in roller-drafted
yarns and slivers is the motion ofthe undrafted sliver in the drafting zone^--^.
An increase of the drafting force will cause the undrafted sli\er to stretch,
thereby dragging additional fibres into the front-roller nip. \\ hen the drafting
force decreases, the elastic forces in the sliver will cause it to draw back from
the front-roller nip. so that fewer fibres will be gripped.
An experiment has been described^ which showed conciusi\ely that,
under the conditions of the experiment, this effect was important. The
weakness of this experiment was, however, that there was no form of fibre
control in the drafting zone and. also, the drafts used were rather high. Both
these conditions will tend to exaggerate the effect being discussed so that it is
still not clear whether the effect is important in normal processing. The
experiments described in this letter were designed to find out how important
the effect might be in conventional worsted spinning on the Bradford system.
It was planned to measure the variability ofthe drafting force by making
measurements on a normal spinning frame. The effect of this variation could
then be assessed by measuring the extension ofthe sliver in the drafting field
caused by this range of forces. It is then possible to estimate the effect this
movement would have on the spun yarn.
 T534 Transactions
Expcrimciilal Details
The experiments were done on a range of rovings produced by blending
nylon and Terylene wilh 64s quality wool. The details are shown in Table I.
Table I
Roving Weight Spinning
Group No. Blend dr/40 yd g/m Drafl
I All wool 9 043 6
2 25" n nylon 75",, wool 9 043 6
3 50'*,, nylon 50'*,, wool 9 043 6
4 25'*„ Terylene 75 **„ wool 3 013 7
5 50'*,, Terylene 50 "o wool 3 013 7

In each group, rovings were produced in about eight different twists

ranging IVom 60"o to about 180% ofthe normal twist.
The drafting force was measured on a normal spinning frame by a probe
which pressed down on the roving between the first and second carriers
causing it to be depressed 0-1 in. The force on the probe was measured by a
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capacity strain gauge, which permitted a maximum vertical movement of

0-001 in. This movement will have a negligible effect on the roving. The
method has been discussed in more detail elsewhere'. The drafting force was
recorded by an intermediate-speed pen recorder ; in order to produce a
satisfactory trace, it was found necessary to reduce the amplitude ofthe high-
frequency oscillations by including a filter consisting of a 2 (^F condenser and
a 150K ii resistor. The effect of this filter will be discussed later.
The variability of drafting force was determined by finding the maximum
and minimum values in a 12-second period. This corresponds with the time
to produce 2*50 m of yarn. It is interesting to note that, during this time,
several peaks and troughs of almost the same value normally occurred, so
that the range is not much affected by the time interval chosen.
The extensibility ofthe roving was determined by extending the specimens
in a special extension meter designed by Brook'*. In this, it was possible
to use an extension speed equal to the drafting speed (20 cm/sec). The first
specimens were taken from the drafting zone and were carefully transferred
to the extension meter, avoiding any disturbance to the fibres ; the position
ofthe clamps was made to correspond to the position ofthe roller nips. The
results were disappointing, because it was found that the breaking load
was only a tenth of the normal drafting force, so that no estimate of the
extensibility under drafting conditions could be obtained. There appear to
be two reasons for this difference. First, the twist in the roving was allowed
to redistribute itself, so moving into the thinnest portion ofthe roving, where
it would have little effect. Secondly, in the extensometer, the front beard is
pulled out in one sudden movement, whereas, in drafting, a series of front
beards are being removed continuously. Since this difference is fundamental
to the method, it was decided to try another approach.
The specimens now used were undrafted roving, giving a breaking load
several times larger than the drafting force. The extension of this roving
occurring between the maximum and minimum drafting forces measured
previously, was now determined from the rising portion of the load-extension
curve.
It is felt that this measurement provides the best experimental method of
determining the extensibility ofthe drafted roving, though it will provide a
low estimate. Considering the roving in the drafting zone, the half nearest
 Letters to the Editor T535

the back rollers will have almost as many fibres and almost the same
twist as undrafted roving and so will have similar extension properties :
but the half nearest the front rollers will have far fewer fibres and is in a less
compact state owing to the loss of twist ; so that it would be far more extensible
for the same change of force. Thus, our experiment errs on the side of under-
estimating the effect under discussion.
The extension during drafting could now be calculated by allowing for
the difference between the spinning ratch and the specimen length.
The effect of the carriers and tumblers is ignored here since experiments
seemed to show that the insertion of tumblers had a very small effect on the
transfer of drafting force from the front to the back rollers, though it did
have a big effect on the drafting force itself, by altering the twist distribution.
The results of these measurements are shown in Table II.

Table

Roving Maximum Minimum Elongation No. of

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Twist Force Force Additional

l.p.i. g g mm Fibres Gripped
Group 1
111 120 50 1-54 26
1-27 145 50 2-24 38
1-55 180 50 1 95 32
1 72 232 41 2-72 46
1-87 210 50 2-86 48
2 06 285 53 310 52
Group 2
0-89 264 60 1-92 30
100 337 77 1 95 30
112 324 76 1 46 23
1 28 395 85 1 92 30
1-44 475 107 1-81 28
1-65 550 145 1-85 29
1-86 600 157 1-87 29
2-06 610 120 2-12 33
Group 3
I 28 630 125 I 90 29
Group 4
1 01 41 18 1-18 51
1 24 59 27 0-71 31
1-57 68 32 0-78 3-5
1-90 9! 36 071 3-1
213 155 36 1-29 5-6
2-51 136 36 0-98 4-2
2-75 209 68 1-39 6-0
3 20 191 64 1-29 5-6
3-50 273 64 1-72 7-4
Group 5
098 45 23 0-87 34
1-25 109 32 0-99 3-9
1-59 109 32 115 4-5
I 91 254 55 2-36 9-3
214 250 41 1-45 5-7
246 200 86 1-29 51
2-80 263 69 0-80 3-2

Averaging these results for the five groups, it is possible to calculate the effect
that this will have on the yarn irregularity, assuming that the standard
deviation is one-sixth ofthe ranee.
 T536 Transactions

In considering the results in Table 111 it should be noted that the value
of a^. has been underestimated for two reasons. As mentioned before, the
extensibility was measured on undrafted roving and so tends to be too small.
Also, thedrafting force was measured after passing through a filter (150Kii and
2 \iF). This would be expected to reduce the amplitude of variations caused
by the drafting wave (frequency about 1 cycle/sec) by about a half. Lower
frequencies would be reduced proportionately less. The over-all reduction
may be between 10 and 20%.

Table III

No. of Fibres
Group in Yarn OR
A Ia
1 163 12-8 7-3 1 15 1-57 1 42
2 177 13 3 4-8 1 07 1 36 1 50
3 195 140 4-8 1 06 1 34 1-41
4 44 6-6 081 101 M2 1 39
5 45 67 0-83 1 01 112 1-39
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OR is the standard deviation of number of fibres expected in a random (ideal) yarn.

OE is the standard deviation of number of fibres caused by roving extension as calculated
from the experiments.
Io is the index of irregularity calculated from OR and OE assuming no correlation between
them.
/j is the index of irregularity calculated from OR and OE assuming full positive correlation
between theni.
/a is the actual index of irregularity measured on the yarn.

Keeping this in mind, it can be seen from Table III that the value of a^
is in 3 cases of the same order of magnitude as the standard deviation due to
the random placing of the fibres. There is no simple method of seeing whether
the actual index of irregularity could be due solely to the random positioning
of the fibres plus the elastic extension, since it can be seen that there is a
considerable difference between the index of irregularity calculated from a^
and <7j^ if we assume there is no correlation between these two or if we assume
full positive correlation. In addition, as a^ has been underestimated to a
considerable extent, ail that can be said at the moment is that the sliver
movement has an efifect so large that it must often have a significant efifect on
the yarn irregularity produced in Bradford worsted spinning. In addition,
it has been shown^ that this factor will get more serious as the draft increases
so that it is highly probable that it is the elasticity of the roving which prevents
high drafting on the Bradford System.

REFERENCES
* L. J. R. Postle. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds, 1955.
« P. Grosberg. J. Text. Inst., 1958, 49, T493.
» P. Grosberg. J. Text. Inst., 1961, 52, T91.
* P. A. Smith. Paper to be published shortly.
^ G. Brook and M. Hannah. J. Text. Inst., 1955, 46, P23.
Department of Textile Industries, P. GROSBERG
The University,
Leeds 2. P. A. SMITH
K. YOSHIKAWA
22.5.1962