The MDTA 4 processes raw cotton from the bale, tufts before carding, or card- and draw-frame slivers. It provides data relating to impurities – such as neps, seed-coat neps, trash, dust, and fibre fragment content. Finally, as an additional feature, the instrument can be used to determine the stickiness of raw cotton. It can be combined with the CLIF system for precise analysis of the number and size of impurities.

When applied to man-made fibres (e.g. polyester staple fibres, PSF), the instrument can be used to sort out impurities such as fused fibres and other imperfections.

Based on the well-proved MDTA 3 model, MDTA 4 now offers in addition a measurement of the length of individual fibres floating in an air stream.

By processing the cleaned ring-shaped fibre strand provided, an OE yarn for further analysis can be produced, e.g. for the measurement of evenness, hairiness, tensile strength, and elongation. When using a blend with chemical fibres instead of pure cotton, even blended yarns can be spun on laboratory scale.