Air Jet Spinning

Air Jet Spinning
Yarn manufacture using the air jet primarily produces fascinated yarns using the false twist principle. Hence, we discuss about the principle of false twisting
before going into actual air jet spinning.
False Twisting
Figure 1 demonstrates the principle of operation of false twisting. If a fiber strand A is held firmly at two spaced points by clamps K1and K2 and is twisted
somewhere between them, this strand always takes up the same number of turns of twist before and after the twist element (T). However, these turns
have opposing directions of twist, which are represented in the example in Figure 1A as Z-twist on the right and S-twist on the left. If the clamps are
replaced by rotating cylinders (Z1 and Z2 in Figure 1B) and the yarn is allowed to pass through the cylinders while twist is being imparted, the result is
governed by the false-twist law and is different from the case of the stationary yarns, as previously assumed. A moving yarn entering the section (b)
already has turns of twist imparted in section (a). In the example illustrated (B), there are turns of Z twist.
As the twist element is generating turns of S twist in the left hand section, this simply means that each turn of the Z twist imparted in the first section (a)
is canceled by a turn of S twist imparted in the second section (b). The fiber strand thus never has any twist between the twisting element and the
delivery cylinder. In a false-twist assembly, turns of twist are present only between the feed cylinders and the twisting element. This principle is exploited,
for instance, in false-twist texturing.
Figure 1 : Principle of False Twisting

Fasciated Yarn through False Twisting:
The idealized structure of the fascinated yarn, as shown in Figure 2 consists of parallel fibres held together by wrapper fibres. The wrapper and
core fibres are composed of same staple fibre material. Since there is no real twist in the core, this type of yarn structures facilitate high production rates.
Figure 2 : Idealized Structure of Fasciated Yarn

Figure 3 demonstrates the principle involved in the production of fascinated yarn using the false twisting method.
Figure 3 : Principle of Production of Fasciated Yarn through False Twisting.

As already explained, the fibres upstream of the false twister have twist which gets cancelled with opposite twist once it passes the false twister leading to
no twist downstream of the false twister. If there are enough edge fibres in the feed fibrous assembly, then these edge fibres do not get twisted with the
core fibres upstream of the false twister. Hence, as the core fibres get untwisted after the false twister, these wrappers which had no twist earlier, get
wrapped around the core fibres. This produces fascinated yarn structure. These types of yarn structures were first promoted by DuPont. Figure 4 shows
the schematic of the DuPont system which did not get commercial success.
Figure 4 : DuPont System of Air Jet Spinning

Murata MJS System:
Figure 5 shows a schematic of a Murata MJS double nozzle air jet spinning system. The feed material is a draw frame sliver fed from a can (1) which is
passed to a drafting arrangement (2), where it is attenuated by a draft in the range of 100 - 200. The fiber strand delivered then proceeds to two air jets
(3 and 4) arranged directly after the drafting arrangement. The second jet (4) is the actual false-twist element. The air vortex generated in this jet, with an
angular velocity of more than 2 million rpm, twists the strand as it passes through so that the strand rotates along a screw-thread path in the jet,
achieving rotation speeds of about 250 000 rpm. The compressed air reaches the speed of sound when entering the central canal of the false-twist
element. Since the axial forces are very low during this rotation, only low tensions arise in the yarn.
Figure 5 : Two nozzle air-jet spinning principle (Murata MJS)
The ability of the vortex to impart torque is so high that the turns of twist in the yarn run back to the drafting arrangement. The fiber strand is therefore
accelerated practically to full rotation speed as soon as it leaves the front roller. The edge fibers which ultimately bind the yarn together by becoming
wrapping fibers are in a minority. For process reasons, they do not exceed about 5% of the total yarn mass. These edge fibers exhibit relatively few turns
of twist in the same direction as the false-twisted core fibers or can even be slightly twisted in the opposite direction. This is partly ensured by causing the
strand to emerge from the nip line in a broadly spread form, but mainly by generating in the first jet (3) a vortex with an opposite direction of rotation to
the vortex in the second jet (4).
This first vortex is in fact weaker in intensity than the second and cannot really affect the core fibers, but can grasp the edge fibers projecting from the
strand at one end. Since the first vortex acts against the twist direction generated by the second jet, it prevents the edge fibers from being twisted into the
core or even twists them in the opposite direction around the core fibers. As the strand runs through the second jet, the following occurs.
The turns of twist generated by the jet (4) are canceled in accordance with the false-twist law. The core fibers, i.e. the vast majority, no longer exhibit any
twist; these fibers are arranged in parallel. On the other hand, the edge fibers (which previously exhibited no twist, relatively little twist, or even twist in
the opposite direction) receive twist in the direction imparted by the jet (4), as determined by the law of false twist; they are therefore wound around the
parallel fiber strand. They bind the body of fibers together and ensure coherence.
A twist diagram prepared by Dr. H. Stalder demonstrates this twisting procedure (see Figure 6).
Figure 6 : The distribution of twist in the running

fiber strand
The resulting bundled staple-fiber yarn passes from the take-off rollers (6 in Figure 5) through a yarn-suction device (7) and an electronic yarn clearer (8)
before being wound onto a cross-wound package (9). The two nozzle air-jet spinning system represents a very interesting process, which has already been
introduced into practical operation with some success.
Yarn strength
Figure 7 : Disposition of Edge fibres in Fasciated Yarn.

The tenacity of the fascinated yarns spun with air jet depend on the yarn count. The coarser yarns are weaker than the finer yarns for the same fibre type.
Contrary to the expectation, yarns produced with finer fibres show lower tenacity compared to the yarns produced with coarser fibres.
The reason for the above observations is that the strength of the fascinated yarns is derived from the amount of wrapper fibres and the intensity of
wrapping. The edge fibres are the ones which ultimately get converted into wrapper fibres. The number of edge fibres are limited to the surface of the yarn
and are independent of the number of fibres in the core as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 8 : Extend of Wrapping in Fine and Coarse Yarns
In case of finer fibres, the number of core fibres increase but the edge fibres remain constant. This leads to reduction in the proportion of edge fibres,
which in turn reduces the lateral stress brought in by the wrapper fibres. This results in decrease in yarn strength. Again in case of coarser yarns, in
addition to having lesser proportion of wrapper fibres, the intensity of wrapping also less as shown in Figure 8 as compared to finer yarns.
Sources :
 W. Klein, “Technology of Short Staple Spinning”, The Textile Institute, Manual of Textile Technology, All volumes.
 Carl A. Lawrence , “ Fundamentals of Spun Yarn Technology”, CRC Publications, 2003.
 P.R. Lord, Hand Book of Yarn Production : Science, Technology and Economics, Tailor and Francis, 2003.
 Eric Oxtoby, “Spun Yarn Technology”, Butterworths, 1987.
 NCUTE publications on Yarn Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Air Jet Spinning

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Air Jet Spinning

Figure 1 : Principle of False Twisting

Figure 2 : Idealized Structure of Fasciated Yarn

Figure 3 : Principle of Production of Fasciated Yarn through False Twisting.

Figure 4 : DuPont System of Air Jet Spinning

Figure 6 : The distribution of twist in the running

Figure 7 : Disposition of Edge fibres in Fasciated Yarn.

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