AirJet Spinning

Perspectives for the future

TENCEL® at 20
New Orleans, December 5th, 2012

Hans Leitner
Project Manager Special Projects
Business Unit Fibers

1
Content of the presentation

„ Ideas supporting developments

„ Benefits / Limitations of established spinning systems

„ Requirements for new spinning technologies

„ Air Jet Spinning – the latest development in spinning technology

„ Current and new applications of AirJet spun yarns

„ The market prospects of AirJet spinning

2
Economy & Developments
„ Developments are driven by the idea to offer products which
¨ are better in quality than established products
¨ offer characteristics not known to date
¨ could be produced more economically
„ There is no difference between the textile industry and any other
industry
„ To become a commercial success developments have to match
quality and / or production standards of established products
„ Developments must have advantages compared to established
products (better quality, better wear properties, lower price …) to
become attractive for the final customer

3
Economy & Developments
„ Any development regardless if it is related to fiber, to yarn or fabric
production will be crosschecked against parameters and
characteristics known from established fibers, yarns, fabrics or
processing technologies

„ Characteristics of ringspun yarns / fabrics are the quality targets, which

have to be matched by any new spinning system

„ Production costs of ringspinning are the benchmark a new spinning

system has to match

4
Ringspinning
Benefits & Limitations
„ Ringspinning without any doubt sets the targets for any new spinning
system in terms of flexibility, yarn quality, the count range which could
be spun and last but not least for the productivity

„ Ringspinning has its limitations in terms of

„ Productivity ¨ Spindle speed, traveller speed, total draft,
yarn package weight…..
„ Processing costs ¨ Add. costs for the roving and winding process
„ Spinning triangle ¨ The reason for yarn hairiness and one of the
sources for weakplaces in the yarns
„ Spinning tension ¨ Could create add. limitations when fibers
sensitive to thermal stress are processed…

5
Rotorspinning
Benefits & Limitations
„ Rotorspinning has reduced processing costs by eliminating the roving
process, the integration of winding & quality control into the spinning
process and a significantly increased productivity. Automatic piecing
and doffing have established automation in yarn production….

„ Rotorspinning has its limitations in

„ Yarn structure ¨ Which is the reason for the significant lower
strength, the characteristic fabric touch and the
limited count range compared to ringspun yarns
„ Processing speed ¨ Limited for synthetics or blends with synthetic
fibers compared to cotton or man made fibers
¨ Depending on the rotor diameter / length of fiber

6
New Spinning Systems
Basic Requirements
„ Market research predicts that global fiber consumption will reach
~ 100 Mio tons per year by 2020 and further growth is expected*
¨ We expect that the annual fiber production / consumption will
grow by 30 Mio to within 10 years

„ The market for spun yarns will predominantly grow in the segment of
fibers with characteristics similar to cotton (fineness and staple length)
¨ Developments of new spinning systems will concentrate on this segment
or will try to find alternatives to the established methods of yarn production
¨ Concepts like the Uniplex System from DuPont and SSM are working on a
single step technology to transfer filaments into yarn with spun yarn
appearance
* Source: Allen Terhaar / Kevin Latner – Leadership in Cotton is about more then Size

7
Global Yarn Production - Estimate

6
Yarn Market
Mio t/year

0
3 6 12 18 24 30 40 50 60 80 100 120 140

Yarn count Ne
Source – Textilmaschinenfabrik Rieter

8
New Spinning Systems
Basic Requirements
„ Yarn structure has to be similar to those of ringspun yarns
„ Yarn strength and elongation should be as close as possible to the
figures known from ringspun yarns
„ High flexibility related to the fibers processed
¨ Processing of 100 % cotton, man made fibers, blends of cotton with man
made or synthetic fibers (should be) has to be possible

„ Productivity per spinning position has to be higher than the one known
from established spinning systems
„ The count range of a new spinning system should be similar to those
of ringspinning

9
Spinning Limits
Cotton Type Spinning
150
100 fibers - OE
140
75 fibers - Air Jet
130
120 65 fibers - Air Jet
110 55 fibers - Ring
100
Yarn count - Ne

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1,7 dtex 1,3 dtex 1,0 dtex 0,8 dtex

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New Spinning Systems
Basic Requirements

„ Spinning tension has to be as low as possible to avoid thermal stress

to minimize the chance that synthetic fibers / yarns get damaged by
excessive heat during processing
„ Yarn hairiness should be improved compared to ringspun yarns
¨ extremely important for yarns dedicated to knit applications
„ Winding process and quality control must be integrated in the
spinning process
„ Automatic piecing and doffing is a must

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New Spinning Systems - Conclusions

„ A spinning system which overcomes the limitations of established

systems will become extremely important for the yarn production in the
future

„ Of all the new spinning systems launched in the last 25 years AirJet
Spinning technologies like the Murata MVS system or the Rieter
Com4®Jet system J 10 / J 20 meet most of the requirements listed
¨ The first AirJet Spinning system sold in significant numbers was the MJS
system of Murata launched in 1981, followed by the MVS system in 1997

12
New Spinning Systems
AirJet Spinning
Murata offers the MVS type 870,
Rieter the Com4®jet J 20

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AirJet Spinning
Market Introduction

„ Like for any new spinning technology it took several years to establish
the AirJet Spinning technology due to
¨ differences in the yarn structure and yarn characteristics
¨ differences in the touch of fabrics based on AirJet spun yarns
¨ reservations of the customers towards fabrics based on a new
technology
¨ a lower variety of fibers, which could be processed, made it
difficult at first for the AirJet technology to become accepted

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Characteristic of Yarns Spun with
Different Spinning Systems
Open End - Rotor Air - Jet Air- Jet Ring Ring
2-Nozzles (MJS) Vortex (MVS) conventional Compact

15
Todays Situation – AirJet Spinning
„ The AirJet spinning technology is well established for the production of
cellulosic fibers like Lenzing Viscose, Lenzing Modal®, TENCEL® and
blends
¨ Sales figures of Murata and Rieter confirm that AirJet spinning can be
considered as an established spinning technology

¨ At present more than 1000 AirJet spinning machines (generation MVS 861 /
870 and J10 / J20) are installed globally. Information from the market indicate
that at least 300 Air Jet machines are sold annually

¨ Based on production figures for Lenzing Viscose we can calculate that 100
AirJet spinning machines (100 spinning positions) produce about 41.000 to
of yarns / year of Ne 30/1

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AirJet Spinning
Current Applications
VI. 참여업체 완제품 샘플 : S&D FABRIC

ECOSIL MODAL
40’s
S&D 848MO

ECOSIL MODAL 40’s +

20D
S&D 949MO

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AirJet Spinning
Current Applications - Knits
„ Due to parameters like a
¨ low hairiness
¨ much less fiber lint during further processing
¨ an improved pilling performance
¨ a reduced spirality
¨ an extremely even fabric appearance
„ Air Jet spun yarns are meanwhile well established for the
production of knitted fabrics
„ MicroModal® or Tencel®Micro fibers will expand the spinning limits of
the AirJet technology and are improving the softness of AirJet spun
yarns / fabrics significantly

18
AirJet Spinning
Extended Applications – Wovens

„ Until today AirJet spun yarns are only used to a small extent for the
production of woven fabrics
¨ Results of woven developments,
¨ comments made by customers,
¨ fabric developments / fabrics available on the market
are a clear indication that AirJet spun yarns have as well a potential
to become important for the production of woven fabrics
„ To get a better understanding of the possibilities to use AirJet spun
yarns for woven applications we have run and we are still running a
number of developments

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AirJet Spinning - Wovens
„ Supported by yarns from different customers and spun inhouse
Lenzing has made woven developments based on AirJet spun yarns
in counts between Ne 14/1 and Ne 80/1
„ One of these tests was made to see if a fabric dedicated to a technical
enduse made out of AirJet spun TENCEL® yarns can match the
strength of a fabric based on ringspun combed cotton – Mako* type
¨ Fabric construction – twill 2/1, Ne 20 x 20, density 98 x 67,3

„ The strength of the AirJet spun fabric is significantly higher than the
strength of the fabric based on combed cotton

(*)Mako cotton, Egyptian extra-long staple cotton, from the name of Mako bey, in whose garden Jumel discovered a cultivar of this cotton

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AirJet Spinning – Woven
Technical Fabric
Fabric strength woven - comparison 100% Cotton vs. 100% Tencel
1550 100 % Cotton - OE 100 % Combed Cotton - Mako
1450 100 % Tencel Standard - AJ
1350
1250
1150
1050
950
[N]

850
750
650
550
450
350
250
Breaking strength warp [N] Breaking strength weft [N]

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AirJet Spinning - Wovens
„ By joint developments with customers shirting fabrics have been
realised in yarn counts up to Ne 60/1 out of TENCEL®Micro and
TENCEL®/Cotton
¨ This project was started with plain weave constructions like 150 x 115
¨ The strength of the TENCEL®Micro yarns in Ne 60/1 reached ~ 21 cN/tex
(tested at 20 seconds/break)
„ Workwear and Corporatewear fabrics based on AirJet spun TENCEL®/
Polyester blends have been developed and launched
¨ To create fabrics of superior quality we have started these developments
with two plyed AirJet spun yarns in Ne 41/2 in plain weave, twill and
broken twill and constructions like 94 x 71 and 94 x 94
¨ Some quality figures of these fabrics are demonstrated at the next pages

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AirJet Spinning - Woven
Workwear

Workwear - TENCEL® /Polyester

Blend ratio 50/50
Fabric weight 180 g/m²
Weave 3/1 twill

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 AirJet Spinning - Woven
Corporate Wear
30
Ne 41 TENCEL®/Polyester

25 Ne 41/2 TENCEL®/Polyester

20

15

10

0
Thin - 50%

Thick + 50%

Elongation %
Neps + 200%

Neps + 280%
Uster CV%

CV% cN/tex

Elongation
cN/tex

CV%
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AirJet Spinning - Woven
Corporate Wear
Fabric comparison - Breaking strength
1000
Plain weave Broken Twill
950

900

850

800
[N]

750

700

650

600

550

500
Breaking strength warp [N] Breaking strength weft [N]

25
AirJet Spinning - Woven
Corporate Wear
Fabric comparison - Abrasion resistance - Martindale
45000
Plain weave Broken Twill
40000

35000

30000

25000
Cycles

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
Martindale - undamaged Martindale - till hole formation

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AirJet Spinning
Current Applications

„ At present AirJet spun yarns are spun in counts between Ne 14/1 and
Ne 50/1
„ In line with the global yarn production, "traditional" counts like Ne 30/1
and Ne 40/1 are the most important counts spun on AirJet systems

„ Until today the majority of the Airjet spun yarns are used for the
production of circular knits
¨ Alternative applications for AirJet spun yarns could be flat knits, seamless
fabrics (yarns based on Microfibers)
¨ Basic trials with AirJet spun yarns have been made with warp knitting

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 Global Spinning Capacity
Installed spindles and short staple yarn production 2010
100% Ring spinning (global)
240 mn installed spindles (not all operative) – producing ~26 mio t of yarns
spindles / rotors / airjet
Global Repartition of

~ 35 mn
spindles ~ 120 mn
producing spindles
7‐8 mn to producing
coarse yarns ~ 13 mn to of 
50% medium count yarns
~ 85 mn spindles producing
~ 5 mn to of fine count yarns
OE spinning
~ 9 mn rotors
(40 mn spi. equiv.)
producing Airjet spinning (MJS / MVS / J10 + J20)
10 mn to of yarn4.2 mn spindle equivalent
Producing 0.5 mn to of yarns

Yarn
0%
Count
12 24 36 48 60 200 [Ne]

Future Trend of AJ Source: Gherzi estimates

Source: ITMF, Gherzi
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AirJet Spinning
Perspectives – Additional Applications
„ To expand the market of AirJet yarns significantly we consider it of
extreme importance to explore the use of AirJet spun yarns in woven
fabrics.
¨ Quality arguments accepted in knits (eg. the improved pilling
behaviour) are valid as well for woven fabrics

„ The high strength of TENCEL® fibers will help to overcome one of the
limitations of AirJet spun yarns, the lower strength compared to
ringspun yarns.
¨ TENCEL®Micro yarns in Ne 100/1 have been the finest AirJet spun
yarns which we have used to realise woven developments

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AirJet Spinning
Perspectives – Spinning Limits
„ During spinning tests in 2011/ 2012 with 100 % MicroModal® Air
(0,8 dtex) on AirJet spinning machines we have reached yarn counts
significantly finer than Ne 100/1
„ Trials like that confirm that the technical limits of the AirJet Spinning
technology should be evaluated further in much more details to answer
questions like
¨ Will it be possible to spin AirJet yarns with less than 70 fibers / cross
section / yarn at industrial conditions and with excellent quality figures?
¨ Which fibers would be the best to spin fine AirJet yarns economically?
¨ Fibers like TENCEL® (Micro) will strongly support the further expansion of
the AirJet spinning technology especially for woven fabrics

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AirJet Spinning
Perspectives – Fibers processed
„ Development of the AirJet Spinning technology has to fine tune the
process to be able to spin 100 % Cotton (if possible carded cotton) and
100 % Polyester
¨ Processing of carded cotton on the AirJet system has been declared top
priority by one of the machine manufacturers

„ Processing of fiber blends can be considered as established

¨ Spinning limits for blended yarns have to be evaluated individually depending
on the characteristics of the blending partner and the final application
¨ AirJet spun yarns based on blends like Viscose / Polyester, TENCEL® /
Polyester, Lenzing Modal® / Cotton, Lenzing Modal® / Silk and even blends
with linen are offered commercially

31
Global Yarn Production – related to
Individual Fibers
N° 2010 [´000 t and ´000 SE]
14’000 t
100% CO carded
62’000 SE
1

4’000 t
2 Blend CO carded /PES
22’000 SE
3 Blend CO carded /CV 500t – 400 SE
4’000 t
4 100% CO combed 37’000 SE

5 Blend CO combed/PES 4’000 t
27’000 SE
6 Blend CO combed/CV 700t – 5‘600 SE

7 100% Synthetic‐PES SF Yarn 7’000  t
68’000 SE
8 100% CV Yarn 1’500 t – 13‘000 SE
9 Blend PES/CV‐Yarn 1’500 t – 13’000 SE 
4 18-20 40 60 200
Total Spun Yarns 36’000 t 13’000 t 21’000 t 1’000 t
Total SE ~250’000 SE ~40’000 SE ~173’000 SE ~27’000 SE

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Source: Gherzi estimates
AirJet Spinning
Perspectives – Fabric Quality
„ Quality arguments like
¨ the low yarn hairiness
¨ combined with an improved pilling performance of knitted and
woven fabrics
¨ the significantly reduced development of fiber lint during fabric
processing
have been (and will still be) of help to establish the AirJet Spinning
technology in a much larger way than it is established today

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AirJet Spinning
Perspectives – Fabric Quality

„ Variations of the machine settings (processing speed and air pressure)

will allow the production of fabrics with modified touch (crisper hand,
softer hand…)
„ Processing of Microfibers will offer the possibility to create soft(er)
fabrics
„ A significant better visual regularity and appearance of Airjet spun
fabrics – knits or wovens – will become a quality argument

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 Fabric Eveness
Ringspun – AirJet Spun Yarn

TENCEL® Micro LF 0,9 / 34

carded at C60,
Siro spun, Ne 40/1

TENCEL® Micro LF 0,9 /34

carded at C60,
AirJet yarn, Ne 40/1

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AirJet Spinning
Perspectives - Summary
„ Lenzing is convinced that AirJet spinning systems will win a significant
share for the production of spun yarns in future
„ Our commitment for the AirJet spinning technlogy is based on the
following reasons
¨ The expected increase in the production of synthetic and man
made cellulosic fibers to meet the growing demand for fibers
¨ An expansion of the applications eg. into woven fabrics
¨ A global trend towards yarns in finer counts (Ne 40 and finer…)
¨ The quality advantages for fabrics out of AirJet spun yarns
¨ Comments made by customers about the commercial and
technical potential of the AirJet technology.…

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 Thank you very much
for your attention!

37
Break till 11:20