The objects of Carding:

i) To carry further the process of fibre opening to a state of individual fibres;

Blending: There are two types of blend irregularity:

(i) Irregularity that is governed by the variation in the proportion of fibres in the cross-
section of the yarn (longitudinal) and
(ii) Irregularity due to the arrangement of fibres across the cross section of yarn.

In carding, blending results due to partial transfer of fibres from the cylinder to doffer. On an
average, a fibre gets around cylinder four to eight times before it is transferred to the doffer. This
causes blending of fibres along the axis of the web or of the sliver, and scarcely across the web.

Card clothing: The types of clothing’s are used for the flat card viz. flexible (stapled fillet) and
rigid (metallic saw tooth wire). The cylinder and doffer in modern cards are equipped with
metallic clothing only. The tapered shape of wire teeth permits easy transfer of fibres from the
cylinder and the doffer. The metallic clothing ensures better working; low nep generation and
less waste besides higher productivity. The flat clothing, however, is either flexible or semi rigid.

The wires particulars which influence the carding process are wire width, wire point density,
tooth angle, wire cross-section, pitch, wire height and surface friction. The sharpness of wire
points is obviously a critical factor that determines the performance of any carding element in
terms of fibre individualization and reduction of nep level.

Flat wire:
The clothing for flats, also called flat tops, has not undergone major changes in terms of its basic
design over the years. The flats can be mounted with flexible, semi-rigid or rigid clothing.
However semi-rigid clothing are generally preferred. In this type of clothing, flat or round wire
are fixed in a foundation, that is less flexible than the conventional flexible clothing. The flat
wires are not formed with a knee, but the round wire may have one. The wires are so deeply in
the foundation that their bending is very restricted, This limited flexibility enables close setting
between the cylinder and the flats and at the same time provides a gentler action compared to the
rigid clothing. The rigid clothing, on the other hand, reduces the flat strips but is likely to damage
the fibres especially those which are more difficult to separate. The flat speed in high production
card is generally higher to maintain quality at increased throughput.

Wire point density is generally in the range of 40-65 PPSC for synthetic. However present day
tops have much higher density. In tops used for cotton, the vale could be as high as 85. The wire
height of top has not changed much and remains between 7.5 and 8.5 mm. The wire angle has
also remained unchanged and lies between 70⁰ and 80⁰. The flat top wire for semi-rigid tops is
generally rectangular with the length facing the material.

Cylinder Wire: A typical profile of the metallic wire used for clothing cylinder and doffer is
shown in Fig. The important specification of the wire is as follows:

P: tooth Pitch, A:- Front angle, B- Back angle, a1: base width, a2:- Tooth thickness at the root,
a3:- tooth thickness at the tip, H:- Overall height, H1:- Depth of the tooth, H2:- Height of the
base. The tooth pitch and the base width determine the wire pint density. The tooth apex
angle, angle ‘A’ minus angle B, and the tooth thickness at the top, a3, define the sharpness of
the wire point.

Over the yeas cylinder wire has undergone the maximum change in terms of wire profile,
dimension, wire angles, metallurgy and tolerances. The cylinder wires are manufactured under
extremely close tolerances.

Wire angle:- For a given type of wire, the front angle determines the intensity of carding action
as well as the coefficient of fibre transfer to doffer. A more acute cylinder wire provides a
better holding power and hence more intensive opening of fibres. This however reduces the
transfer coefficient due to high retaining power of the cylinder wires. The front angle A is,
therefore, kept between 75⁰ -80⁰ for manmade fibres, greater angle for coarser and small for
finer fibres. This angle is more acute for cotton. The cylinder speed also influences the choice of
wire angle. The angle can be more acute for higher speeds. For carding cotton at higher cylinder
speeds, recommends wire angle as acute as 65⁰.

Wire height: Over the years the cylinder wire height has been continuously decreased to
increase the transfer and hence reduce the cylinder load. The wire height, which was constant
at 2.8-3.2 mm for a long time, has now been brought down to 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm for short
staple carding.

Wire tip: The land area of wire tip of cylinder is an important factor. In the past, a land area of
0.3- 0.4 mm2 was essential for obtaining serrations that contributed extensively to carding
quality. After leveling the wires, a deep grinding with a 60’s grit grinding stone etched
pronounced serrations on the land. However today, with microprocessor controlled precision
profiling, the latest generation cards are equipped with land area of 0.01 mm 2 to give good
penetration into a fibre aggregate and therefore results in a more effective action.

Wire point density: The number of teeth per unit of wire and the rib thickness determine the
wire point density. The rib thickness, which in earlier days considered very fine at 0.8 mm, is
down to 0.4 mm. The extra thin wire makes it possible to have wire point density to as high as
170 PPSC. For carding of manmade fibres, however the PPSI is generally between 110 to 130
PPSC.

Licker-in Wire:

Wire Angle:

Wire Point density:

Point Sharpness:

Doffer Wire:

HIGH PRODUCTION CARDING: The advent of high production carding can be attributed toa
number of technological and engineering improvements. Some of these are:

(i) The licker-in area has been redesigned. The opening at the feed end of licker-in has
been augmented to deal with the increased throughput. Comb bars or combing
segment are positioned below the licker-in.
(ii) Pre- and post carding stationary flat segments have been provided for enhanced
carding action.
(iii) The wire has been made sharper by reducing the land ara or the width of the wire tips,
for both the licker-in and the cylinder.
(iv) The cylinder speed has been significantly raised to as high as 450-550 rpm
(v) The licker-in speed has been enhanced from 450-600 rpm to 800-1300 rpm. The
higher speeds do not only help in better fibre opening but also preventing loading of
licker-in.
(vi) Apron doffing or other devices have been provided to condense the web at the
earliest. This reduces the free length of web, which otherwise may rupture due to
strong air current generated at high delivery speed.
(vii) Autolevelling systems now control the long term irregularity in the sliver.
(viii) The profile and metallurgy of cylinder and doffer has been optimized to augment the
transfer of fibres from cylinder to doffer. This reduces the cylinder load and prevents
excessive nep generation.
Flax Carding: Flax tow from processes such as scotching and hackling are passed through
carding process. The two is finer and shorter from each succeeding process prior to carding. To
cater for this variable three carding arrangements are possible:

(1) A breaker card and a separate finisher card for dirty matted scotching tow.
(2) A breaker-finisher card, or
(3) A finisher card for good hackling tow. It is most common in use.

Tow may consist of a combination of single ultimates and some fine bundles which have been
stripped from the fine fibres, fibre strand torn from the line more or less intact, plus dirt, and
naps which have been formed in the earlier processes. In addition to the general objectives of
carding, the flax carding process aims to split the fibre bundles to form fine structures which can
then be treated as fibres.

The roller arrangement of a flax breaker-finisher card is shown in Fig.. This particular machine
arrangement is described as a down striking, seven-pair, full-circular card with double doffers.
This means that the cylinder pins move downwards at the point of feed, there are seven sets of
workers and strippers (in addition to the feed stripper), the full circumference of the cylinder is
utilized, with the two doffer which are used to remove the fibres from the cylinder mounted
above the feed point.

The tin rollers mounted with the first three sets of workers and strippers underneath the cylinder
help the striper to pick up long fibres otherwise might be lost.

The web of fibres removed by each doffer is divided into three equal widths to form three slivers,
each about 75 mm wide. The corresponding slivers from the top and bottom delivery rollers are
combined and the three slivers thus formed are doubled to feed a roller drafting drawing head
with a draft of about 2, before being delivered into a can as a single sliver of about 6 to 12 ktex.

Jute Carding: In addition to the general objective of carding, the jute carding process is
intended to break the jute reeds into separate ‘fibres’. The ‘fibres’ may be composed of single,
branched, or intermeshed structures. Reduction of ‘fibre’ diameter can only be achieved at the
cost of reduced fibre length, and a point is reached at which a considerable length reduction
would be the price paid for a modest reduction of diameter.

The ‘fibre’ length of a carded jute sliver is very variable, with a small number of long fibre, and
a large number of short fibre.

Usually two cards are used; a breaker card followed by a ‘finisher’ card. Jute cards are described
in a similar manner to that used for flex card: up or down striking; number of pair of workers and
strippers;m full- and half circular; and number of dofferes.

Breaker cards are usually down striking and half circular because bits of bark, stick, and small
fibres fall down from the point of feed. The delivered sliver is usually about 60 to 90 ktex. About
half of all the work done on jute ‘fibre’ to make it spinnable takes place at the beaker card.
Spinnable jute ‘fibres’ range from about 1 to 5 tex, with a mean of about 2 tex.

Finisher cards, are usually down striking and full circular and delivery a sliver of about 90 ktex;
the main function of the finisher card is to clean the ‘fibre’ The general roller arrangements of
jute breaker and finisher cards are shown in Figs.

The arrangement of rollers on a woolen card: The basic arrangement of rollers on one part of
a woolen or a worsted card is shown in Fig although the actual number of worker or stripper may
differ. Fibres are subjected to working sections between the swift each respective worker.
Stripping action taks place between each worker/ stripper and each stripper/swift interface.

The proportion of fibres collected by a worker is called the ‘collecting power’ and is usually
expressed as a percentage. Given the same settings between a swift and each of its workers, the
collecting power of each succeeding worker is less than that of its predecessors. However, the
worker collecting power can be increased as the worker is set closer to the swift, giving better
nep removal and hence a closer setting of each subsequent worker to swift compared to the
previous worker can help to equalize the collecting power of each worker. Within limits the
worker collecting power increases considerably as the worker speed is raised. On the other hand
the fibres are then returned to the swift at closer intervals which may reduce the mixing effect.
Slower worker speeds are associated with increased mixing power and mixing power of the part
be better if equally spaced workers are run at different surface speeds. Increased mixing power is
associated with better product levelness.

The collecting power of workers can range from 60% on the first worker to 30% on the last
worker on a swift and a lower collecting power has been found to be associated with shorter fibre
length.

A greater worker collecting power will increase the deay factor, that is the average length of time
which is spent by a fibre after being fed onto a swift until it is removed by the doffer. . Increased
doffer collecting power will reduce the delay factorand hence the mixing power. Delay factor
can also be determined for a combination of swifts, for a two-swift combination delay factor
range from 80 to 150 seconds.

The paths of fibres passing through a card can vary from the extreme of a single passage from
feed to doffer without passing round any worker, to a complex path leading round each worker a
large number of times, and repeat passages underneath the swift before doffing finally takes
place.

In modern wool carding with rigid metallic wire clothing the formation of neps at high rates of
production is minimized by; ensuring roller concentricity to permit accurate and close settings;
sharp wire, the inclusion of fancy roller, and as high a doffer speed as is possible.
Worsted Carding: Worsted cards frequently have atleat two parts of the type shown in Figure
and they have further additional rollers. The web of fibres delivered by the first doffer of worsted
card usually is conveyed to the following swift by using an angle stripper roler which strips the
fibres from the first doffer, and in turn is striped by the second swift. In this way the flow of
partially parallelized fibres is not interrupted.

The fibres on a worsted card are