In the production of hydroentangled nonwovens (spunlacing), the heart of the process is the injector. This critical component is responsible for generating the high-speed water jets which cause the actual fiber entanglement. The result of several years of refinement based on customer feedback and actual operation, the neXjet Injector from Andritz Perfojet represents state-of-the-art technology.
Before the advent of hydroentanglement (spunlacing), nonwoven webs were mechanically bonded with needles, chemically bonded or thermally bonded to give strength to the fiber web. Spunlacing was developed to enable nonwoven producers to create lighter weight fabrics (less than 100 gsm with fine fibers less than 3.3 dtex) using high-pressure “water needles” to bond the web of loose fibers in order to provide fabric integrity. Softness, drape, conformability and relatively high strength are the major characteristics that have created a demand for spunlace nonwovens.
The hydroentanglement process was developed in the U.S. in the 1960s. A pioneer in that field was DuPont, which decided to make its patents available in the public domain in the 1980s. Since that time, the process has been further developed to become more efficient and affordable by technology suppliers such as Andritz Perfojet.
Andritz has had considerable success in the Asian market. In the past several months, several Andritz spunlace lines have been sold in China. In January, the company completed an agreement with Hangzhou Pengtu, a Chinese nonwovens producer, to supply a new line which will begin operation—with a working width of 3.6 meters—in the third quarter of 2017. The scope of supply includes the delivery of an Andritz neXline spunlace eXcelle line with two TT cards, which is now the new standard in China for high-capacity production of wipes.
The new nonwovens line will have an annual capacity of 20,000 tons for the production of spunlace fabrics from 30-80 gsm. A Jetlace Essentiel hydroentanglement unit and a neXdry through-air dryer are also part of the order.
Post time: Aug-26-2024