National Textile University

B.Sc. Textile Engineering

Practical Lab Report / Spring-2020

Course Code: TE-3013

Course Title: Post Spinning Operations

Submitted To: Sir Muhammad Bilal

Practical No. 03
Title of Practical Study of yarn joining and starting of winding in case of
splicer equipped Match Coner.
Student Name Hafiz Muhammad Talha
Registration No. 17-NTU-0055
Semester / Section / 6th / A (spinning) / G1
Group
Date of Performance February 24, 2020

Date of lab report March 2, 2020

submission
Title:

Study of yarn joining and starting of winding in case of splicer equipped Match Coner.

Abstract:

This practical is designed to give a brief understanding of the splicing operation in autocone
winding machine. The process of splice formation was observed and functions of its different parts
were also observed. The spliced yarn has comparatively less strength and breaking elongation than
the parent yarn. The appearance of the spliced portion is of huge importance. The splice should be
as same to the parent yarn as possible. Also, the splice length and twisting time should also be
taken into consideration to increase the efficiency of the entire process.

Introduction:

In air splicing (commonly used in industrial hose manufacturing), yarn ends are inserted into a
splicing chamber (small air chamber) and then overlapped. A strong current of compressed air
introduces which entangles and intermingles the fibers, joining the two ends together. Multiple
air chambers are incorporated for specialty yarns, like aramids, where more than one point of the
yarn gets spliced and intermingled. While redundant, this process ensures the yarn maintains
sufficient strength.

Two methods were generally used to join the two yarn ends at the autocone. These are:

 Knot
 Splice

The former was used at manual winders but now high-speed automatic winders are equipped with
splicing unit. The quality of yarn suffers a lot if the two ends are joined through knot. This is
because the fact that the knot is clearly visible on the yarn surface and has dimensional problems.
Almost 30-60 % of the yarn breakages during weaving are due to these knots. While splicing
involves the process of intermingling the constituent fibers to make the joint reliable and
significantly less different in appearance and mechanical properties with respect to the parent yarn.
Although, the tensile strength of the knot is superior than that of the splice but the effectiveness of
the splice is dependent on the tensile strength of the yarn and its physical appearance.
Table 1: Pros & Cons of Splicing and Knotting

Splicing Knotting
 No tails remaining  Provides maximum level of
 Splice typically maintains at least strength
80 percent of yarn strength  Good option for woven materials or
 Doesn’t affect the overall materials where yarn diameter is
construction of the end product not critical
 No secondary material is  No equipment necessary
introduced to the process which  Resulting knot can be 2-3 times the
eliminates the risk of contaminate thickness of the yarn, which
exposure diminishes smoothness
 Different sized air chambers are  Knots usually have tails which can
needed for different types of yarn: get caught when running through
thin yarn needs a small chamber; small eyelets
thick yarn needs larger chamber
 Requires specialized equipment

Splicing Systems:

Generally, there are three commercially available splicing systems:

 Match Splicer
 Hot Splicer
 Water Splicer

The Match Splicer overlaps the yarn ends from package and bobbin side and twist them together
using compressed air without making a knot to splice them. The Match Splicer can splice a broad
range of natural and synthetic fibers from fine to coarse counts in the same time as that of a
mechanical knotter.

Hot Splicer is a device that uses hot compressed air for splicing. Wool fabrics become soft when
heated, making it easier to splice. While splicing worsted yarns, one needs to change settings, parts
and has to perform complicated adjustments, depending on the type of yarn. Hot Splicer requires
no such adjustments, thus dramatically reducing the maintenance time.

The Water Splicer is a device that uses water to splice two yarn ends. By mixing water particles
with the twisting air, it is possible to splice yarn that could otherwise not been spliced by an air
splicer. The splices that are created using the water splicer are stronger and more stable and the
use of water suppresses the hairiness of the splices.

Figure 1: Match Splicer

Sequence of Splicing:

Yarn take-in pushes the upper (from cone) and lower (from bobbin) yarn into the splicer using the
yarn guide levers, and then clamp them there. Then the upper and lower yarn cutters cut the ends
of the upper and lower yarn. The cut yarn ends are sucked into the untwisting pipe and are
untwisted there. Then the yarn guide lever is pushed in, until it comes in contact with the splice
length control lever (Ln), pulling the yarn end out of the untwisting pipe by the appropriate length
(Splice Length). While the yarn ends are out, they are held by the yarn holding lever, and a jet of
compressed air from the splicing nozzle tangles and twists the yarn ends together to complete the
splicing operation.
Figure 2: Parts of Splicing unit
Effect of Variables on the Properties of the Spliced yarn:

Following are various various variables that has considerable effect on the properties of the spliced
yarn. These are:

 Fibre Properties and Blend

 Yarn Fineness
 Yarn Twist
 Different Spinning Methods
 Opening Pressure
 Splicing Duration
 Splicing Length
 Splicing Chamber

Procedure:

The Retie pipe takes the yarn from the bobbin and the suction mouth takes the yarn from the cone
(package), then both yarns are presented to the splicing unit. Where the two ends of yarns are cut
and untwisted and then re-twisted after overlapping to join the two ends together through a splice.
The whole splicing unit and working sequence was observed.
Calculation & Table:

Splice Time = 9sec

Compressed air used to make a splice = 4-8 bar

Table 2: Splice Rating

Visual Appearance Rating of Spliced Portion

Rating Interpretation
1 Totally unacceptable
2 Margionally acceptable
3 Acceptable
4 Good
5 Same as parent yarn

Discussion:

To ensure yarn joins do not interrupt downstream processing, their quality characteristics must not
only include adequate tensile strength and elongation but also an excellent appearance. In the
perfect case, the diameter of a splice matches the yarn diameter. The quality spinner sets the largest
allowable yarn fault as the upper limit for the splice diameter. Splices must not be larger than the
cleared yarn faults. This illustrates the close relation between splice size and yarn clearing setting:
Only an "invisible" splice, a splice matching the yarn, allows a tight clearer setting otherwise small
yarn faults could possibly be replaced by larger splices.

Figure 3: Spliced yarn

The spliced yarn has comparatively less strength and breaking elongation than the parent yarn. The
appearance of the spliced portion is of huge importance. The splice should be as same to the parent
yarn as possible.
Ln liver is an important part of the splice zone. This is responsible for controlling the splice length.
The splice length is controlled by adjusting the position of the lever to get maximum strength and
best appearance of splice. The adjustment can be done from position 1 to 8 on the scale. Where 1
means longer splice length while 8 means shorter splice length. Mostly, shorter splice length is
preferred for coarse counts and longer splice length for fine counts.

Twist time is the duration of compressed air blast in seconds for splicing the yarn ends in the
twisting/splicing nozzle. This time affects the splice shape, appearance and strength. For coarse
counts more twisting time is preferred while less time is preferred for fine counts.

Conclusion:

The time and air pressure needed in air splicing are determined by fiber type and characteristics of
the yarn. Air spliced yarn produces a joint that in most cases will meet all requirements of the
parent yarn, both in regard to strength and appearance. This type of splicing can also be applied to
a large range of yarn types without a lot of equipment adjusting which results in greater winding
efficiencies.