The Nonwovens Institute at North Carolina State University (NWI) and Hills, Inc of West Melbourne, Florida, have announced the delivery of a Hills LBS-300 at NWI.
The LBS-300 is said to be a versatile and compact machine (with a footprint of approximately 5 ft by 5 ft, with an elevation of ~8ft) that is designed for the research and development of raw materials and extrusion processes related to filament, fibre and nonwoven products. The design allows the LBS-300 to be quickly and easily adapted to practically any fibre extrusion process. A base LBS-300 unit extrudes, quenches and winds undrawn fibres, utilising as few as ~8 grams of polymer chips. However, the LBS-300 at NWI is supplied with many optional LBS attachments for conversion to numerous additional extrusion processes. Such options delivered with the machine include: multifilament spinnerets with orifices to produce the following external fibre cross sections – solid round, hollow round and trilobal, according to NWI.
The machine can also offer multifilament bicomponent fibre spinning with metering/distribution plates to produce the following internal fibre cross sections – sheath/core, side-by-side, tipped trilobal, 16 segmented pie, 36 islands in the sea and blocking plate assemblies for reducing spin holes. Additional features include monofilament extrusion capabilities, an aspirator for high speed stretching of spun fibres adjustable spinning heights, high temperatures extrusion, special materials accommodation and a special design to accommodate use of existing NWI equipment for making fully orientated yarns.
The LBS-300 is described as ‘an exceptional tool for research and development’ which has been confirmed as its main use at NWI, but in the hands of the institute it will be an effective educational tool for training NWI students and industry personnel in fibre extrusion and meltspun nonwovens fabric production.
Hills and NWI have said they intend to expand their cooperation by adding even more features to the LBS as future needs arise.
