As stranding equipment becomes faster, the roll of the binder yarn in the stranding process has become critical. Couple this with the move towards dry cables to reduce weight, promote cleaner installation in the field and reduce production costs, and water blocking yarns enter the picture. This is the reason why the American company Fil-Tec has developed a family of water blocking binder yarns that are designed to optimise the speed of new and older equipment. The company provides the industry with a binder yarn that runs very clean and cuts down on dusting problems significantly. Fil-Tec's water swellable binder and core (wrap around the GRP) yarns offer the following benefits:
- Extends life of bearings and other moving parts of the equipment;
- Less downtime due to mechanical maintenance related to SAP dust problems;
- Less clean up time;
- Cleaner working environment for the operator.
The company also produces a water swellable binder featuring a higher yield, which means lower cost per kilometre of cable produced. It also produces a package that offers excellent integrity and balance; it can run at speeds of 5,000rpm without unwanted vibration and more metres per package can be manufactured which means longer runs without a break and a more efficient stranding process overall. In addition, Fil-Tec offers various swell factors. This affords design engineers the flexibility to choose the size yarn and swell factor that best suits the cable.
Furthermore, Fil-Tec has recently introduced its new series of water swellable binder yarns, the M110 WS family (1000 Denier), that is available in 5X, 10X, 25X, 45X, 55X and 65X absorption capacities and in a variety of colours, such as blue, black, green, orange, red, yellow, among others. Coloured binder yarns can serve to identify cable constructions, size or application.
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