Fibre Yield
Low-grade flax residue separated during mechanical processing provides the secondary material known commercially as scutching tow, which consists of short broken filaments and woody debris rejected from the primary line of long line preparation. Chinese mills receive this residual matter in compressed bales for carding and blending prior to spinning coarser yarns destined for heavy utility fabrics. Production registers record the incoming mass separately from superior line flax because processing losses differ significantly during hackling.
Quality control teams grade the incoming mass by measuring residual shive content and average staple length rather than tensile strength, because the short fibers cannot support the high draft ratios required for fine luxury sheeting. Mill operators apply buyer acceptance criteria that permit higher impurity limits than those accepted for warp yarns, protecting the spinning machinery from excessive abrasion while maintaining profitability across lower market tiers.
Carding Yield
Mechanical preparation requires heavy cylinder speeds to tear apart tangled clumps, generating high dust levels that operators suppress through localized water misting systems. Subsequent drafting frames align the remaining parallel segments into a continuous sliver, establishing uniform weight per unit length before the roving stage draws the material thinner. Output parameters dictate that excessive short content leads to irregular yarn diameter, causing weak spots that break under the tension of industrial looms.
Technical supervisors inspect the sliver web visually on the feed table, rejecting batches containing excessive woody particles before the material reaches the roving bobbins.
Yarn Yield
Spinning frames twist the prepared roving into single yarn packages that undergo rigorous laboratory testing for breaking load and hairiness before final weaving approval. Finished fabric inspection grades the woven product on a point system that penalizes slubs, knots and missing picks originating from inferior preparation stages. Export documentation certifies the fabric grade independently from the raw material classification, ensuring foreign buyers receive goods matching agreed commercial specifications without ambiguity.
Settlement protocols rely on these certified test reports to resolve price adjustments when deliveries fall outside acceptable density tolerances.
