Two procedures for assaying samples of lint cotton for their microdust content are described. Both techniques involve the ultrasonic washing of small cotton tufts in a methanol bath. Dust particles dispersed in the methanol may be either collected onto membrane filters for weighing or fed directly into a Coulter counter for measuring the particle-size distribution and total volume concentration. Both approaches show correlations between measured concentrations and residues of open-end spinning rotor dust produced from lots of the same cotton tested. These techniques also show promise for predicting concentrations of airborne dust in a model card room in which previously tested cottons are processed.
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