In a textile plant, tubes appear at every stage of the yarn line. But the same tube is not used at every stage. This article looks at the relationship between yarn type and tube selection.
What is a yarn tube?
A yarn tube is the cylindrical paperboard body onto which the yarn produced is wound. It carries the yarn during winding, holds the shape of the package as it moves to the next process, and takes the load throughout storage and shipping.
Textile tube is the broader name for the same product, covering those used for fabric as well. A fabric tube, as the name suggests, is for rolls of fabric: produced in much larger diameters and lengths.
The yarn production chain and tubes
Synthetic yarn production broadly follows this sequence:
- Melt spinning — the polymer is melted, extruded through spinnerets, filaments are formed
- POY — partially oriented yarn, the first winding takes place here
- Texturing or drawing — the POY is processed
- DTY or FDY — the finished yarn
- Twisting, heat-setting, transfer — additional stages where required
There is a tube at every winding point, and conditions differ at each.
Tubes by stage
POY tubes
Package weights are relatively high, and packages may wait in storage before entering the texturing process. Wall strength and moisture resistance therefore come to the fore.
DTY tubes
At the texturing output the yarn is wound at high speed. The tube is expected to hold its roundness throughout winding and to have a surface smooth enough not to damage the first layers.
FDY tubes
Fully drawn yarn is ready for direct use. Winding conditions are close to those for POY, and tube selection follows similar reasoning.
BCF and carpet yarn tubes
Carpet yarn is worked at coarse counts and is bulky. Because winding tension and full package weight are high, the thickest-walled tubes are used at this stage.
Open-end tubes
In open-end spinning the yarn is wound directly onto the package. Tubes commonly used at this stage in the industry are around 42 mm inner diameter and 170 mm in length; the ends may be produced either curled or cut.
Natural and synthetic yarns
With yarns spun from staple fibre such as cotton or acrylic, winding tension generally differs from that of synthetic filament. Their moisture behaviour also differs, so storage conditions change too.
On the tube side, this affects the choice of wall thickness and length.
Four questions that decide the selection
Whatever the yarn, tube selection lies in the answers to four questions:
- What is the spindle diameter of the machine? This sets the inner diameter
- What is the winding width? This sets the length
- How heavy will the full package be? This sets the wall thickness
- How long and where will the package wait? This sets the expectation for moisture resistance
A selection made without knowing these four rests on guesswork and usually ends in deformation.
At Kafkas Masura
We manufacture paperboard tubes for DTY, POY, and carpet and knitting yarns. Inner diameter, length and wall thickness are determined together with you, according to your machine, yarn type and full package weight.
Simply share the dimensions of your current tube or details of your machine.