ROOM-TEMPERATURE REGAIN RATES FOR COTTON LINT MOISTURE

Equipment and techniques were developed to study cotton moisture absorption and desorption rates. The equipment worked well and provided valuable insight into the moisture-time relationships for cotton lint. The moisture data was transformed and found to fit a theoretical, exponential decay function. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to fit the value of the coefficients in the theoretical equation. The equation can be used, with equilibrium moisture content values, to predict the time rate of change of moisture content of cotton lint. The equation applies to small samples of lint (similar in size to the lint from one lock of seed cotton) found in an air stream with a small relative velocity (0.04 m/s) at temperatures between 12 and 26-degrees-C.