Application of tuft disentanglement model in taker-in part of a cotton card

In the early stage, we established a tuft disentanglement model considering the interaction between fibers. In the disentanglement model, the fiber was assumed to be a multi-rigid chain model, with only friction between fibers. However, this model can only simulate the frictional mechanical response of fibers under a single carding action without evaluating the carding results. This paper applies the disentanglement model to the taker-in part of the carding machine, where one end of the tufts is continuously carded as the other end is gripped. Also, the effect of the carding parameters, such as the gauge between the feed roller and the taker-in and the speed of the taker-in, on disentanglement was studied based on the carding results, which are evaluated by the weight percentage of carded tufts. The simulation results showed that the higher taker-in speed and the smaller gauge can reduce the weight percentage of tufts after carding, which means better carding results. Similar trends were observed in the experiments, which verified the rationality of the simulation of tuft disentanglement for the taker-in part. Future work would apply the model to emphasize the frictional mechanical behaviors of fibrous materials involving fiber interactions given a specific scene during spinning.