Dye package the quality pre-requisite for yarn dyeing Of the different processes for applying colour to textile

e products, yarn dyeing is a standard procedure boasting a number of advantages. The fact that it can be integrated into various textile process sequences and has hardly any limits with regard to yarn, emphasises the versatility of package dyeing. Economic factors often weigh heaviest. Package dyeing with its relatively small number of process stages, involves correspondingly low costs. Considering the speed of response to market demands, textile manufacturers benefit from the high flexibility of the process. The choice of dyeing technology is driven by the needs of market, which are: dyeing accuracy The dyed batch has to conform to the standard. response speed The importance of this requirement varies according to the field of application. dyeing consistency Has to be ensured within a package, within a batch and from one batch to the other. quality The dyed yarn package has to unwind well in downstream operations and waste has to be avoided. The following article examines the importance of choosing the most appropriate winding technology in order to achieve the highest quality while maintaining optimum cost efficiency. Economy of the yarn dyeing process

fig.1:

Distribution of costs in the yarn dyeing process

The total costs of yarn dyeing vary between 1.5 and 7 US$/kg, depending on yarn and package quality, dye stuff and colour. Darker colours are more expensive than lighter colours. These costs include man power, electricity, dye stuff and other additives, building and depreciation costs. Figure 1 shows that the share of the winding costs are only minor. They distribute between 5 and 10 % of the overall dyeing costs. On the other hand the dye package quality has an affect of up to 30 % on the dyeing costs: capacity of dyeing machine DIGICONE winding allows an increase of density of approx. 15 % compared to random winding. This gives a proportional increase of the dyeing equipment. consumption of dye stuff and additives

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A regularity of + 2.5 % of the density within the package and from package to package allows to work with lower amount of dye stuff and especially of additives improving the regularity of the dye distribution. dye stuff circulation A stable package build-up allows higher circulation of the dye stuff without generating channels. This increases the dye evenness and allows the reduction of the dyeing time. contact time with dye stuff A very even distribution of the density within the packages and from package to package reduces the necessary minimum contact time as the dye stuff can penetrate the package evenly. amount of re-dyes An optimum package performance supports a good dyeing quality, which reduces the amount of re-dyes.

Experiences in various dye houses have shown that the appropriate package formation had an influence on the overall dyeing costs which was up to 6 times higher than the winding costs. Taking into regard that the depreciation is only 30 % of the winding costs we have a pay back period for high tech winders like SSM machines of less than half a year in comparison to cheap technology. Requirements on a dye package According to the above mentioned influences on the dyeing process following requirements on the dye package can be listed: density The dye stuff penetrates the packages as a liquid. Areas with higher density will be by-passed. To compensate this effect the contact time of the dye stuff has to be increased to improve the evenness of the dyeing. The regularity within a package and from package to package has to be in a range of + 2.5 %. Ribbons where the density can increase about 50 to 100 % have to be avoided. In regard to the capacity of the dyeing equipment, the density should be as high as possible. outer diameter To get an optimum flow through the stack of dye packages the outer diameter has to be very accurate. Variations should be within + 0.5 mm. shape Cylindrical packages are the optimum packages for dyeing due to various reasons. With cylindrical packages an optimum packing of the dyeing vessel can be achieved. Additionally the cylindrical packages have an even flow resistant over the length of the axis which make it much easier to achieve an even distribution of the dye stuff. The sides of the packages have to be straight to ensure an optimum sealing between the packages to avoid by-passing of the dye stuff. pressing To increase the density often the dye packages are pressed. By pressing the packages the layers of yarn are moved relatively to each other. This leads to higher hairiness of the yarn and to very poor take-off behaviour. Better is to wind directly the desired density and to avoid the pressing at all. SSM DIGICONE technology allows 15 20 % higher density directly in the wound package without pressing. Influences on the package build-up Looking at the requirements on the dye packages it can be seen that the density is by far the most important property which has to be controlled through the whole package build-up as

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well as from package to package. The most important parameters for the density are following (fig. 2): crossing angle With increasing crossing angle the density becomes lower. The reason for that lies in the fact that the number of thread crossings increases. distance between threads of a layer With smaller distances between the neighboured yarns of a layer the yarn can be stored more compact in the package. The density increases. thread tension during winding With an increasing thread tension during winding the density becomes higher. This effect depends very much on the yarn properties. As more elasticity the yarn has as higher is the influence of the thread tension. back pressure on package during winding Also with higher pressure of the package against the pressure roll the density can be increased. This only works with yarns having a high volume and thus can be compressed.

fig. 2: Influences on the package density The first two parameters are only geometric parameters which are not only influenced by the basic setting of the machine but also by the type of winding which has been chosen. Crossing angle and distance between the threads of a layer are strictly connected to each other by a function of the diameter. So depending on the type of winding only one parameter can be kept constant over a package travel. Fig. 3 shows the different types of winding: random winding Random winding works with a constant crossing angle over the whole package. This is realised by a constant winding speed and a constant traverse speed. Usually this is the type of winding of friction driven winders. The main problem with this type of winding is, that at certain diameters the ratio between the double strokes and the circumference is a whole number thus leading to one thread layer directly on or beside the next one, the so-called ribbons or patterns. In this area the density of the package can increase by 100 %. Ribbon breaking devices reduce this effect but spread it over a bigger area. This strong increase of the density appears only in a very small area but generates problems during dyeing as the dye stuff also has to penetrate fully these areas. precision winding In precision winding the number of revolutions of the package and the traverse work with a constant ratio. This is realised with winders having a direct drive for the package. The advantage of the precision winding is that the distance between the

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threads is constant over the whole package. Therefore the crossing angle decreases with increasing diameter. The density on the outside is higher than on the inside. Thus the stability of the package is relative low. These packages have to be handled with care otherwise the outer layers tend to fall off. DIGICONE winding To combine the advantages of a random wound package with those of a precision wound package Schweiter invented in the 1970s the DIGICONE winding. With this winding the ratio between double strokes and number of revolutions is kept constant . for a certain diameter range. The crossing angle varies only in a range of + 1 With this type of winding it is possible to avoid any areas of patterns with the extreme increase of the density. Also the density does not change over the package diameter. The package stays in stable structure.

fig. 3: Types of winding Ribbon areas in packages doe not only disturb the dyeing process due to the tremendously higher density but they also generate problems in the downstream processes. As the threads lie parallel without crossing points or only 1 or 2 crossing points they tend to catch the neighboured thread during take-off. This leads to tension peaks as shown in fig. 4. To avoid thread breaks in this case, the unwinding speed has to be reduced by several hundreds meter per minute.

fig. 4: Thread tension during unwinding

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One of the most important parameters for the density is the winding tension. With most of the existing winding equipment only a limited or even no control of the winding tension is possible. During the winding this leads to varying density in dyeing packages or not uniform bobbins for end-use. The most common kinds of thread tension variations coming from the feeder package are: variations due to the diameter of the feeder package variations due to the traverse of the feeder package tension peaks due to clamped layers of the feeder package SSM has developed the new digitensTM (fig. 5) to provide the customer the full control over the winding tension independent of the quality of the supply material or the chosen winding speed. The active working digitensTM system does not only allow to monitor the winding tension and give an controlled increase to the winding tension but also allows to reduce the tension thus leading to higher production speeds and efficiency of the equipment.

fig. 5: Influence of digtensTM on the thread tension Choice of the optimum package

fig. 6: Which package is the best? For an optimum use of the dyeing equipment nowadays the cylindrical shape is state-of-theart. Compared to conical packages the use of the space is more than 10 % higher. Comparing the density without pressing between DIGICONE winding and random winding Klaus Meier 5/6 04.01.2007

another 15 % can be gained. As the take-off behaviour of the DIGICONE winding is much better, the conical shape is not necessary at all. The advantages of DIGICONE winding for the dyeing process can be summarised as follows: Higher density gives a higher capacity to the dyeing equipment without any pressing. Additionally as more yarn can be packed on the packages the knot free length is 15 % higher and less packages have to be handled per lot. The density is very even within the package so that shorter dyeing cycles are possible. Less additives are required and the dyeing quality improves. The absence of ribbon areas ensures higher re-winding speeds are can even make the re-winding process unnecessary. Choice of the equipment Traditionally the focus of the technological competence of SSM lies in the area of winding technologies. The efficiency of each production step where yarn is processed depends strongly on the quality of the supply bobbin. To achieve a top performance it is very important to know the requirements of the downstream processes to optimise the build-up of the bobbin accordingly. The result is a variety of bobbin formats and machines for their production. All these machines have in common SSMs philosophy that the machine is a tool enabling the customer to produce valuable products. The machines are striking due to their ergonomic and attractive design. But they also ensure first class efficiency and flexibility, based on the unique preciflexTM technology and the concept of the individual single position drives. The market as well as every single customer are in the centre of all activities of SSM. The Supply of hardware and software nowadays is not sufficient to benefit of the full potential of the machines. Technology centres and test rooms in Europe and in Asia, supported by a global network of local service stations, ensure an optimum productivity of the machines over a long term period.

fig. 7: SSM TW2-W preciflexTM precision package winder for dye packages and re-winding

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