STARLETplus: New generation of ring traveller

Spinning aggressive fibres is no longer limited thanks to the specific characteristics of STARLETplus travellers, writes Dr Ing Birgit Joana Pedimonte.

The latest trend to synthetic fibre production such as viscose, PES or dyed fibres places high demands on the manufacturers of technological components. The increase of synthetic fibre production as well as the demand of higher service life of the components without any constraint in quality has considerably influenced the market.

Abrasive wear at yarn/traveller passage

In the field of synthetic yarn production one heavily affected technological component is the ring traveller which is, besides the conventional ring/traveller wear, strongly compromised by the chemical aggression of the fibres at the yarn passage.

When compared to the «state of the art» wear occurring at the ring/traveller contact area, the manufacturing of synthetic yarn has brought to light a new aspect of the wear mechanisms which demands new solutions in order to meet the requirements of the customers.

Figure 1 shows an example of the abrasive wear of synthetic fibres like Viscose on a STARLET traveller with a characteristic notch formation at the yarn/ traveller passage.

Analysis of individual wear mechanisms

Starting from this motivation, Bräcker is constantly focused on the optimization and adaption of the components to the needs. Besides the permanent exchange of experience and knowledge between product application, research and development as well as production which is a mainstay of the company, Bräcker permanently evaluates the latest technologies in research and development. With regard to the «synthetic fibre issue» a unique accelerated lifetime tester has been designed and built, which allows the simulation of the wear phenomena at the traveller/yarn interface.

Applying realistic spinning parameters enables an extremely precise analysis of the individual wear mechanisms as a function of the traveller finish and the yarn parameters; respectively. Subsequent optimization of the components enables to significantly reduce the abrasive wear of the components in order to fulfil the requirements that are in precise accordance with the demands from product application.

The traveller for challenging spinning

The latest novelty of Bräcker regarding the described limitations is the STARLETplus traveller which shows high potential due to enhanced life in various spinning mill trials performed in different countries. Figure 2 shows the lifetime of STARLETplus traveller in direct comparison to competitor’s product for various fibre materials, fibre counts as well as spindle speeds.

The article is authored by Dr Ing Birgit Joana Pedimonte, Engineer (Product Development), Bracker.