Vectran™ is a manufactured fiber used to make specialty fabric and typically only those with a specific product application know much about it. This multifilament yarn is spun from a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and is the only commercially available melt-spun LCP fiber in the world. Vectran™ fiber presents exceptional strength and rigidity because the material is five times stronger than steel and ten times stronger than aluminum. There are no real alternatives when it comes to working with Vectran™ as the qualities it brings to the table are distinctive and highly beneficial.

When yarn used in a wire and cable application prevents access of water and moisture to the critical elements - it is considered to be waterblocking. This feature is also known as water swellable or water absorbent. There are also various treatments that can be applied to a yarn to enhance its waterblocking characteristics. The most important function is that the yarn absorbs or blocks water in a way that stops water from causing damage to your product.

In part one of this series, I talked about how to understand polyester pricing swings and why rising costs and a dynamic market has thrust the industry into a volatile time. In part two, I touched on understanding market, spot and indexed pricing. In this post, I’ll focus on index formulas, particularly once a supplier and client decide to index a price, what does it look like? In general, designing a simple index formula is the best strategy. The difficult part is agreeing to the finer details up front. Both parties must carefully consider the following aspects.

DuraFiber Technologies, (formerly Performance Fibers), submitted a WARN notice on July 13, 2017 announcing steps to prepare for the possible closure of their U.S. plants in Salisbury, Shelby, and Winnsboro. 

In part one of Service Thread’s blog series on polyester yarn pricing, I discussed the reason for the unpredictable cost swings with polyester yarn pricing. In addition to understanding the global dynamics that effect these swings, it is also important to understand the pricing strategies used.

I’ve been in the industrial yarn business for 21 years and haven’t seen anything quite like the current polyester pricing situation. If you buy or sell synthetic yarns, I’m sure that you feel the same way. The fast pace of the modern business environment has impacted every market’s volatility, even the very mature ones (read “old textile businesses”).

Synthetic yarns like nylon and polyester are typically known for their high shrinkage rate. In order to permanently set the physical properties of these materials after extrusion, they are stretched or drawn at elevated temperatures under tension during the manufacturing process, also known as heat setting. When stretched under these elevated temperatures, changes in physical properties happen and the crystallinity of these synthetic yarns is modified. The general physical properties of the thread or yarn can be adjusted by selecting the specific conditions under which the yarn is drawn, bringing the desired property changes to the material. Heat setting also stabilizes the yarn for future exposure to heat.

If your top thread is shredding or coming apart while sewing, this could indicate a common issue with the process. When the sewing machine pushes the needle through the material, it grabs the thread with a hook (or “looper”), while the needle rises back up. If there is a problem with this step it causes the thread to peel back, shred, break, flake, or not even get caught at all.

Until the 1940s, there were no standardized size designations for home or industrial needles; each manufacturer chose the sizing system they liked best and there were over 40 systems of sizing in use.