Abstract
The paper is reporting an extensive experimental investigation to optimize the processing of microfibers on a flat top card. Carding parameters, type of fiber finish and their interactions were studied in terms of their impact on web quality. The web quality was determined by assessing the nep content and fiber breakage due to carding. Statistical analyses of the data indicate that fiber finish and processing parameters can be selected to minimize neps and fiber breakage during carding. Furthermore the investigation showed that there is a strong correlation between the incidents of neps and the increase in short fiber content during carding. An additional finding of this study is that the generation of neps was not uniform across the width of the carded web and is influenced by fiber load measured on the doffer in the cross machine direction.