Spin rotors
Thread fibres are blown into spin rotors which
rotate at around 20,000 rpm and have traditionally
been produced from heavy cobalt steel. There are
two issues with this component: weight and resistance
to wear. The use of lightweight aluminium
rotors coated with Keronite enables higher spin
speeds and faster throughput without the high
rates of wear typical expected with such high
speed passage of the fibres. Seven times more
wear resistant than hard anodising, Keronite provides
an effective solution.
Shuttles
Shuttles are traditionally manufactured from stainless
steel, but soft, abrasive synthetic thread running
across the surface soon wears a groove in the
metal. This can be overcome by using aluminium
shuttles coated with Keronite, as this surface
is harder than that of tool steel. An added benefit
is the fact that worn components can be reprocessed
and recycled making this an extremely cost-efficient
and sustainable option. When a worn component
is reintroduced to the Keronite process, the plasma
immediately forms on the damaged area as it will
naturally seek the area of least resistivity.
The plasma them heals the damaged area until the
Keronite layer reaches the same thickness as that
of the surrounding material. This feature enables
manufacturers to reduce downtime through planned
maintenance and reduce costs through refurbishment.
Other moving parts
Keronite can enhance the performance of a variety
of lightweight moving parts used in traditional
textile machinery. One such example is a component
of a “Sumo Drive” whereby an aluminium
drive wheel reciprocates back wards and forwards
at high speed, moving a perforated carbon fibre
belt which in turn passes a shuttle weaving device
through the cloth. The aluminium wheel is severely
cut away to reduce weight to a minimum for maximum
speed. The aggressive carbon fibre belt wears
away the teeth around the rim of the wheel at
an unacceptably high rate. This is easily overcome
by applying a layer of wear resistant Keronite
ceramic but as the surface is so hard, the wear
problem is transferred to the carbon fibre belt
unless the teeth of the wheel are also coated
with PTFE to reduce abrasion.
Thread guides, nozzles, tensioners…
There are many textile parts currently produced
in expensive ceramic materials that could be replaced
at a fraction of the cost with aluminium coated
with Keronite to give a hard surface with all
the durability of zirconia and alumina ceramic.
These include parts such as thread guides, pigtails,
nozzles and comb guides.
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