Online Colour change now a reality for Fiber Extrusion

Online Colour change now a reality for Fiber Extrusion

Colour and additive technology innovators ColorMatrix are declaring an end to downtime for color changing in fiber extrusion. This follows their development of a new injection and dispersion system for dosing their liquid additive formulations into the polymer melt stream for fiber extrusion.

This important new development means that by adding color online, post-extrusion, without the need for time-consuming machine stops or messy colour changes, there are significant savings to be made in both production downtime and product wastage for synthetic fiber and filament producers. The system also has the potential for multiple color production from one extruder head giving further production efficiencies.

The fact that injection and mixing of the liquid additive takes place after extrusion also means that extruder settings no longer need adjustment when switching between additives. The elimination of extruder 'slip' with liquid additives at high addition rates is a further advantage to this new method of coloring fiber. Depending on the requirement, the system can be retro-fitted on existing extrusion lines as well as installed on new extrusion lines.

ColorMatrix demonstrated their innovative online color change technology at the last ITMA exhibition. Declan Nealon, Extrusion specialist at ColorMatrix said: "Being able to show colours being matched, adjusted and made ready for production in a live demonstration led to a great deal of interest at the exhibition. We are now in development trials with a number of major fiber producers and results are showing exceptional dispersion of our liquid additives."

The system, which is being developed in collaboration with Extrusion specialists FET, represents a step change on how synthetic textiles can be colored and is a result of an intensive development program. It is believed that this is the first time that specialists in both liquid color and extrusion have worked so closely together to deliver an innovative package for melt injection and dispersion of liquid additives.