REPORT

In-plant training
(May 14​th​, 2018 – June 14​th​, 2018)

AADITHIYASEKARAN G 
KAVIYA S M 
N RASHMI 
(B.TECH CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, AMRITA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING) 
 
 
SRF LIMITED – TECHNICAL TEXTILES BUSINESS

MANALI, CHENNAI – 600068

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
 
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to ​Human Resource ​Department for
providing us an opportunity to do our internship in SRF Limited.

We sincerely thank ​Mr. Ashok Malhotra for his guidance and encouragement in
carrying out this internship work. We also wish to express my gratitude to the
officials and other staff members of SRF Limited who rendered their help during
the period of our work.

We also thank “​Amrita School of Engineering​” for providing us the opportunity

to embark on this work.

 
 
 
 
 
  
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S No. Title Page No.
1. ABOUT SRF LTD 4
2. INTRODUCTION TO THE RAW MATERIAL 65
3. POLYMERIZATION 6-16
3.1 Lactam melting
3.2 Lactam preparation
3.3 Polymerization
3.4 Extraction
3.5 Solid state polymerization (SSP)
3.6 Recovery
4 SPINNING 16-17
4.1 Chip feeding
4.2 Spinning and quenching
4.3 Drawing and take winding
5 TWISTING AND WEAVING 17-18
6 DIPPING 18-20
7 QUALITY ASSURANCE 21-22
8 INDUSTRIAL YARN BUSINESS 23-24

1. ​ABOUT SRF LTD

SRF, Sri Ram Fibers limited was established in 1970 by DCM limited. It is a
multi-national entity; whose premiere focus is on the manufacture of nylon cord
fibers for tires. Its first manufacturing plant was setup in Manali, near Chennai, in
1973. Over the years the company diversified its products into technical textiles,
engineering plastics, chemicals and packaging films. SRF has today grown into a
global enterprise with operations in 3 countries.

SRF Limited was listed in the 2011 Asia's Best under a Billion lists by Forbes
magazine.
 2. ​INTRODUCTION TO THE RAW
MATERIAL
The initial raw material for the process is Caprolactam (CPL), an organic
compound with the formula of (CH​2​)​5​C(O)NH. Caprolactam occurs as white
hygroscopic flakes or a crystal with a distinctive odor and is a lactam (a cyclic
amide) of caproic acid. This is the material used to make nylon-6 chips through the
polymerization process. It is being sourced from CPH, GSFC and Zaklady, BASF
and FACT.

Molecular formula: C​6​H​11​NO

Molecular Weight: 113.16
g/mol Relative density: 1.02

Boiling point: 267˚ C

Melting point: 69-70˚ C
3. ​POLYMERIZATION

3.1 ​LACTAM MELTING

The virgin lactam is being received in 25 kgs plastic bags or paper bags. The bags
are dusted and wiped to remove the foreign particles that might add to the
impurities. The bags are then fed into the dis-integrator through the throwing inlet
and crushed. The crushed lactam is now introduced into the lactam melter, which
has steam coils 70​±​5 ​°C
​ . The molten lactam is passed through a strainer, which
removes macro particles, which is then passed onto to two filters of specification of
20 and 10 microns respectively. After the filtration of the micro particles, the
molten lactam is sent to the lactam storage tank (NPL). The molten lactam is kept
under constant circulation (between the melter and the lactam storage tank), so that
the homogeneity of the virgin lactam is maintained at high degree. To reduce the
wastage of the lactam during the charging in the form of lactam vapor from the
dis-integrator, a vapor suction hood is installed on top of the dis-integrator. In this
the lactam vapors are being sucked onto the blower and delivered to the scrubber
which is also installed besides the dis-integrator. The scrubber is recovery
equipment. This absorbs the lactam vapor and by the process of condensation it
converts the lactam into the crude form. The crude lactam from the scrubber is sent
to the monomer recovery section.
3.2 ​LACTAM PREPARATION

After being pumped from the lactam storage tank (NPL), the virgin lactam is
mixed with DM water, lactam from monomer recovery process and
de-polymerization process, and blended in a static mixer. The whole process of
lactam preparation is maintained under N​2 blanketing for inert atmosphere, setting
the flow rate of the N​2 at the range of 30-40 litres per minute. The lactam if left
with oxygen will oxidize and will present itself with a yellow tint. Therefore, the
lactam now is deoxidized before being sent to any further process. Now, the lactam
from the mixed pure lactam tank (MPL) is made to pass through series of filters to
remove the impurities. From there the lactam is sent to the de-oxy unit. The
de-oxygenation takes place in an evaporator under vacuum of 500 mmHg. From
now on all the vessels which handle the lactam will be blanketed with nitrogen.
The deoxygenated lactam is pumped from the bottom of the evaporator to the inlet
of first poly through pre-heater by which the temperature is increased nearly to
reaction temperature of 135​±5 ​°​C.

3.3 ​POLYMERIZATION

3.3.1 ​INTRODUCTION TO POLYMERIZATION PROCESS

Polymerization of Caprolactam is a step growth or ring opening polymerization.

The reaction proceeds in three stages:

1. ​Initiation​: The Lactam ring is split open by the free radical of the catalyst.
CO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH + H​2​O COOH-(CH​2​)​5​-NH​2​ (Amino Caproic Acid)

2. Poly-addition

COOH-(CH​2​)​5​-NH​2​ + CO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH
(COOH-(CH​2​)​5​-NHCO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH​2)m+1

(Adduct)

3. Poly-condensation

(COOH-(CH​2​)​5​-NHCO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH​2)m+ (COOH-(CH​2​)​5​-NHCO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH​2)n
(​-CO-(CH​2​)​5​-NHCO-(CH​2​)​5​-NH-)m+n+
H​2​O

3.3.2 ​FIRST POLYMERIZATION

The lactam from the pre-heater enters the first poly reactor. The lactam mixture is
heated in the reactor which consists of a jacket containing Dow-therm oil of
temperature 270 ​°​C which is in-turn heated by a Santo-therm re-boiler
[Santo-therm oil] at a temperature of 350 ​°​C. The jacket temperature of this reactor
269-271.5 ​°​C, which is controlled by temperature indicating control system (TICS)
and the jacket pressure is 0.5 kg/cm​2​, which is controlled by pressure indicating
control system (PICS). An endothermic reaction occurs in the 1​st poly reactor. The
water evaporated at the top of the 1​st poly is condensed by the condenser. The
condensed water is sent to concentration process for lactam recovery. The lactam
mixture from the 1​st​ poly is supplied to the 2​nd​ poly with help of a gear pump.

3.3.3 ​SECOND POLYMERIZATION

The jacket temperature of 2​nd poly reactor is 234-336 ​°​C and the jacket pressure is
658 torr (1torr =133.224 Pa). Liquid is flashed at the top of the 2​nd ​polymerization
reactor. Due to pressure decrease in the system. The flashed vapor is condensed
with the help of the reflux condenser in which heat transfer occurs. The condensed
liquid is returned to 2​nd poly reactor. In 2​nd poly reactor, polymerization reaction
proceeds under a fixed temperature and pressure. The melted polymer flows in a
continuous manner to the bottom of the 2​nd poly reactor. The strands from the
bottom of the spinneret pack is passed through the filters and then into the chilled
quench bath maintained at 13​°​C by gear pumps. The strands are introduced into the
chip cutter which cuts the strands into specific dimensions of 2.1 mm in length and
1.7 mm in diameter. The cutter gives the OG chips (oligomer chips).

3.4 ​EXTRACTION

The double-polymerization reactors have a conversion efficiency of 88.7% due to

which some Monomer (Lactam) and Oligomer (smaller chains) remain in the
polymer chips. These chips having 10%-12% monomer/oligomer, not suitable for
spinning process. The pulverized OG chip which comes out of cutter is fed to the
mis-cut catcher, which contains hot water at a temperature of 80-90 °C. The chips
are fed to the chip tank by water which is circulated by extracted water circulation
pump and transferred hydraulically into the chip intermediate tank by chip transfer
pump. The chips are de-watered by water separator. The chips are mixed with hot
water from extracting tower and hydraulically sent to the extracting tower by chip
feeder pump, which is being heated up to extraction temperature of 105-115​°​C by
chip heater. The monomers and oligomers in extracting tower (2.5 kg/cm​2​) are
extracted from OG chips with hot water which is supplied from the bottom of the
tower in counter flow. The extracted water containing monomers and oligomers
goes out of the tower and is transferred to extracted water receiver (80-85​°​C) and
extracted water storage tank in recovery process. Cooling water is supplied to the
coil of water receiver to prevent water circulation pump from cavitations. In the
meantime, extracted water is supplied to the tower by extract circulation pump
through extract water heater (108 ​°​C approx.) by which the extract water is heated
up to extraction temperature of 108-112 ​°​C. Additives A-3 [Di-hydrazine
carbonate] and A-4 [Sodium pyrophosphate] are fed from A-3 and A-4 tank
respectively into the stream of the extract water by A-3 and A-4 feed pump. A-3
removes the dissolved oxygen in extracted water whereas A-4 increases
cohesiveness of the polymer and acts as a surfactant. The chips coming out of the
bottom of the tower are pumped along with chill water to the centrifuges. Through
the process of Extraction, the un-polymerized monomer is reduced from a level of
11.3% of chips to 1.4% of extracted chips.

3.5 ​SOLID STATE POLYMERISATION (SSP)

This process is used to polymerize the OG chips which are not of adequate degree
of polymerization. The extracted chips which are passed into the centrifuge are
de-hydrated and fed into the mixing tank. The additives A-1 [Potassium bromide]
and A-2 [Potassium iodide] which are used for heat stabilization of tire cord are
added in a powder state. A given amount of the additives are thrown into the
respective preparation tanks which contains a specific amount of DM water. The
solution is agitated by an agitator and dropped by gravity into the additive feed
tank and mixed. The mixed solution is pumped by the additive feed pump and
mixed in the mixing tank once again along with the extracted chips by an agitator.
The un-dried chips are fed to the top of the tower and moved down to the bottom
of the tower continuously being contacted with nitrogen flow of high temperature
in counter. The SSP tower consists of three zones with decreasing diameter. The
upper zone is the pre-drying zone which requires a lot of energy to evaporate water
and large amount of nitrogen is blown. The velocity of nitrogen gas is maintained
below terminal velocity to avoid fluidization of the chips in the tower. The middle
zone is the drying and polymerizing zone. It has high temperature nitrogen with
low dew point to obtain high molecular weight polymer and low water content.
The lower zone is for cooling the FD chips and is transferred to silo.

NITROGEN RECOVERY

The oxygen concentration in circulating nitrogen gas is to be maintained below the

given value to avoid quality deterioration. The FD chips are discharged by the chip
feeder from the bottom and fed down into chip receiver. The wet exhaust nitrogen
gas from the top of the tower is introduced into the scrubber to be dehumidified. In
scrubber, cooling water is sprinkled from the top which is circulated using a pump
through cooler. Excess water by condensation is held at the bottom of the scrubber
which is recovered later. After dehumidification, about ¾​th of N​2 gas is recycled to
the upper zone with first blower (that increases temperature of N​2​). The flow rate
of the gas is maintained and change by inverted system of first blower. In second
blower, the gas is cooled down with chilled water for bringing down the dew point
of the gas. It is then blown into middle zone with second blower through second
heater. The separated water from N​2 gas ​flow with second cooler and demister is
collected in a seal pot and sent to lactam recovery. The surface of SSP has steam
coils for heat insulation. N​2 gas
​ for the FD chips is transported from the chip
receiver to the chip silo. This is circulated by blower. At the outlet of the seal
powders of polymer and dust in the gas is separated with bag filter. The FD chips
are transported to spinning hopper pneumatically.

SIGNIFICANCE OF N​2​-

1. Maintaining​ inert
​ atmosphere.

2. Reduces the moisture content to 0.03%.

3. Increases the relative viscosity from 2.8 - 3.56.

The top two nozzles of N​2​ gas are at temperatures of 164 – 167 °C.

THE BLOWER OUTPUTS-

1​st​ blower- 3200 Nm​3​/hr

2​nd​ blower- 740 Nm​3​/hr

3.6 ​RECOVERY PROCESS

3.6.1 ​CONCENTRATION PROCESS

The extracted water from the extracted water receiver is supplied continuously the
1st evaporator. Before passing it into the evaporator, the extracted water is heated
in a pre-heater to match the conditions in the evaporator. The mixture is partially
concentrated and sent to the 2​nd evaporator. The concentrated liquid that flows out
of the 2​nd evaporator is fixed at a concentration by controlling the vacuum degree
and liquid temperature at around 72 °C. The 1​st​effect inlet has a concentration level
of 10-12 %, which gets concentrated to 20% and in the 2​nd effect it gets further
concentrated to 70-75%. Both the effects are maintained under vacuum to facilitate
flashing. The 1​st and 2​nd effect is under 450-500 mmHg pressure. The concentrated
solution is called LDL [concentrated lactam through concentration process] is
collected in a concentrated lactam tank and sent to distillation batch wise. A
portion of the evaporated water from the 1​st effect is collected through the
thermo-compressor and water from the 2​nd effect is collected in the condensate
tank and transferred to extraction process for recycle.

3.6.2 ​DE-POLYMERISATION PROCESS

The solid waste collected from SPINNING, TEXTILE, POLYMERISATION and

the liquid waste LPL-R [residue collected through distillation process] is put into
the melter equipped with air cylinder and an electrical heater. The waste is melted
at around 300 °C and is temporarily stored in the polymer pot and is supplied to
De-polymerization reactor at fixed intervals. The water and other volatile
substances in the waste are vaporized during melting. The LPL-R, which comes
from LDL batch distillation, is fed directly to the de-polymerization reactor. R-1
[sodium hydroxide], used as a neutralizer is added into the de-polymerization
reactor. In the reactor the process continues at a temperature of 270 °C, into which
the superheated steam at 400 °C is blown. The lactam mixture (vapor and steam) is
supplied into the condensation tower, where it is condensed to around 87% lactam
solution at 110 °C. The collected lactam is called ADL [crude lactam through
de-poly process] is transferred batch wise to distillation still. The generated vapor
in the condensation tower is filtered in the packed column. The top vapor is
reduced to hot water by the condenser. A portion of hot water is refluxed to control
the temperature of the mixture in condensation tower. The rest is discarded as
effluent. During the operation cycle R-2 [ortho-phosphoric acid] is added as a
catalyst. ​Phosphoric acid attacks amino end group and activate the amine
decomposition reaction. ​The boiled down residue consists of un-reacted
poly-capromide and oligomers which is discarded.

3.6.3 DISTILLATION PROCESS

The distillation is used to purify the crude lactam that is LDL, ADL and AEL. The
distillation still is heated up to a temperature of 125 °C. This is when the first
reflux starts. The water vapor in the column starts moving into the vapor column
under a pressure of 560 mmHg. The water vapor is then condensed in a condenser
and goes to the seal pot. This water is then sent to the water storage tank through
the water cut line. Once this is completed the 2​nd reflux starts when the distillation
still reaches a temperature of 150 °C. The lactam vapor is sucked by the vapor
column at a pressure of 760 mmHg. The vapor is passed through condenser where
the water is passed on the tube side at a temperature of 50 °C and vapor on the
shell side at 150 °C. The vapor gets condensed to about 70 °C and is passed onto
the seal pot. The lactam mixture is passed through the over flow of the seal pot. A
portion of the distillate (10%-15%) is pumped back into the distillation still as a
reflux. The main distillate of LPL or APL is collected in the LPL or APL receiver
respectively through the LPL or APL main cut. The final product is transferred to
the respective storage tanks through an over flow pipe at the receiver. The LDL or
ADL is supplied batch wise to the distillation still which is maintained under high
pressure and high temperature. The residue of LDL is stored in the IDL receiver
and is used as the liquid input in the de-polymerization reactor. The residue of
ADL is discarded in the residue pit at the bottom of the distillation column.
 4 ​SPINNING
4.1 ​CHIP FEEDING
Fully dried chips [of melting point-220 °C] are fed to chip receiver silo 1 from FD
silo through powder separator under nitrogen atmosphere and then FD chips are
blended with heat stabilizer additive special mixer (ASM) under nitrogen
atmosphere further the ships are fed to chip receiver silo 3 (batch wise) through
chip receiver silo 2 by gravity. CRS 2 is used to isolate the ambient conditions and
reduce unnecessary system failure. In ASM tank, additive used is CuI (cuprous
iodide). It is used because it acts as a thermo-stabilizer. CuI is added in the ratio of
1:5000 with the fully dried chips. The capacity of CRS 1 is 1.4 tonnes, CRS 2 is
0.8 ton and CRS 3 is 5 tonnes. The CRS 2 and CRS 3 are maintained under
vacuum and nitrogen.

4.2 ​SPINNING AND QUENCHING

The obtained mixture is sent to extruder under vacuum. In the extruder, FD chips
are melted, and the molten polymer is sent to the metering pumps polymer
manifold. An extruder contains screws which speeds up to 70 rpm [Extruder
temperature-280 °C and pressure-14.5MPa]. There are nine extruders providing
eight spin packs which is simply two spin blocks having one extruder. The molten
polymer is sent to spinning pack then filtered and extruded as multi-filaments
through spinneret. The filaments flow down through steam-sealed zone, heating
hood, monomer suction hood and finally quenched by quench air [at pressure of
0.6mmHg]. The obtained filaments [of temperature less than 150 °C] are drawn
through spinning duct. Steam-seal prevents oxidation of silicone on surface of the
spinneret. Heating hood zone improves the spin ability of the molten polymer,
providing homogenous orientation of the filaments and it gives stable atmosphere.
Monomer suction hood prevents the monomer from soiling.

4.3 ​DRAWING AND TAKE-UP WINDING

The undrawn yarns are drawn to drawing zone where yarns are greased by 2 stages
of spin finish oil. Spin finish oil gives adequate co-efficient of friction to the yarns.
Absence of spin finish oil leads to breakage of yarns. At the 2​nd stage, high viscous
spin finish oil can be used to manage the high tension given by 1​st and 2​nd Godet
rolls on stretching whereas during the 1​st stage oil of low viscous is preferred. An
air interlacing device [FIRST AIR GUIDE] is installed between 4​th and 5​th Godet
rolls for preventing broken filament ends from being caught by 5​th and 6​th Godet
rolls. First air guide works as aid of drawing. At this point, the yarn has the highest
tension in this yarn thread and has tendency to separate filaments. An isolated
filament tends to break easily, and air guide protects them from separation. After
passing 6​th Godet roll, another air guide [SECOND AIR GUIDE] is installed for
getting good processability. ​Good processability refers to less filamentation. ​The
yarn is taken to the take-up winder. The take-up winder winds 2 yarn packages at
once, the packages are wounded and automatically changed without machine
stoppage. Yarn break sensor is the tension detector of winder. When the sensor
detects the yarn breakage, the arms of yarn cutter and aspirator gathers two yarn
threads to the suction pipe under 1​st oiling roll and immediately the cutter comes
from the rear side just under the suction pipe spout, cuts two yarns together.
 5 ​TWISTING AND WEAVING

Twisting is done in a 2 steps process. The first one being single ply twisting, in
which the yarn is twisted in its own axis. The bobbin contains a traveler which
rotates at a speed of 6000rpm. The traveler enhances the motion of the twisted yarn
in a to and fro motion. Yarns with different deniers are twisted in the same manner
with their respective operational conditions. The second one is the double ply
twisting. In which, two single ply yarns are twisted using rollers and taken up as a
single yarn. After the winding of double ply yarn, the yarn now is sent to weaving
so that the ability of the fabric to dip and make into cord is improved. In weaving,
the yarn is weaved into a fabric and sent to dipping. The number of bobbins used
for weaving can vary with style's specifications. The fabric consists of two parts
warp and weft. The warp is the nylon fabric from twisting and the weft is the
cotton threads which is interlaced axially with the fabric. Weft binds the fabric.
Polyester can be also used. Cotton is used because it has less strength and
inexpensive. Thus, the weaved fabric is stretched and rolled up in a huge roller and
sent to dipping process.

6 ​DIPPING

The final stage in tyre cord manufacturing is Dipping. In this process, the twisted
and weaved yarns get dipped into a solution.

Dipping is enabled to improve:

1. Compatibility
2. Moisture removal
3. Dimensional stability

The above-mentioned factors are improved using 3 T's [Temperature, Tension, and
Time].

The process starts with the let off roller, from which the fabric from the spindle
passes into the let off accumulator. The let off accumulator accumulates the last
part of the fabric from the roller. Further, the fabric is sent to pull roller stand
(PRS-1A) where the PRS stretches the fabric at a speed of 74 m/min (approx.). The
height of the PRS is 80m throughout the process. After the Stretching by PRS-1A
the fabric is sent to the dip station for the fabric to pick up the adhesive material
which in future will be used to coat the rubber on it. The dip station solution is
RFL (Resorcinol formaldehyde latex), which is prepared batch wise in a separate
tank with two setups. The first is called the resin mixing tank, where the formalin,
resorcinol and DM water is being mixed and is agitated for 5.5hrs at a temperature
of 22-25℃. From there this solution is transferred to the final batch tank or ageing
tank. In this tank, VP latex (Vinyl pyridine) and DM water are added and mixed.
The lifetime of this batch is 72hrs. The output is taken as RFL. When the tyre cords
are layered there is no adhesiveness for the cord to stick on to the rubber.
Therefore, the RFL solution is being applied on the grieve fabric to increase the
adhesiveness with rubber. The Ammonia vapors from the dipped fabric are sucked
by the vacuum column also known as de-webber system. The dipped fabric is sent
to PRS 1-B which rotates at a speed of 75 m/min. Now the fabric undergoes
process two zones (two driers) in series. First drier is the pre-drying zone and it
contains 6 zones of rollers in which the fabric undergoes tension. The temperature
of Drier 1-A is about 135℃. Further, the fabric is dried completely in the Drier 1-B
(6 zones) which is at temperature of 140℃. During this series of drying, the fabric
gains a dip tension of 2%. After drying, the fabric then rolled on PRS-1 which
speeds up to 76m/min. The RFL vapors are sucked by the de-webber system to
maintain the TSC (Total solid content) in RFL which is about 21%. Now, the
fabric is sent to series of driers to enhance the structural properties of the fabric.
The dipped tyre cord sent to Drier-1, which has 4 zones for heating the nylon tyre
cord fabric. This tyre heats up the fabric up to 210℃ with the 4 zoned heating
processes. From there, the fabric is being maintained at a temperature of 210℃.
During this series of drying, the fabric is being stretched under heat to an extent of
8%. Now the fabric is subjected to PRS-3 which the Master PRS which speeds up
to 80m/min. Furthering the fabric to normalize in two driers. Both driers are at
temperature of 210℃ which is maintained to provide the uniformity to the fabric.
During this normalization process, the fabric contracts by -2.5% (relaxation).
Relaxation happens to give the compatibility and dimensional stability over a
period. Then the fabric rolled on PRS-5 which has a speed of 79m/min. The fabric
is then sent to a unit called Flexibliser, which reduces the stiffness gained by the
fabric during dipping. Following the process, the fabric is sent to PRS-6 and wind
up accumulator accumulates the processing fabric and feeds to wind up feed rollers
stand. Then the fabric is winded by surface winder which in turn taken to package.
 7 ​QUALITY ASSURANCE

There are few criteria followed in QA for testing the samples such as
1.Quality plant
2. Specifications
3. Test procedures
4. Record/ Reports

Samples to be tested:
1. Polymerization Process-
Caprolactam, KI, KBr, Ortho Phosphoric acid, KMnO4, Di-Hydraxine
Carbonate, DM Water
2. Dipping-
Resorcinol, Formaldehyde, Latex, Ammonia.
3. Spinning-
Terran, Paraffin Oil, CuI, Nitrating Mixture.
4. IYB-
AB, CuCl​2​, Magnesium Stearate, Vegetable Oil.

The below listed are few basic tests which are tested in QA.

Monomer Percentage Test-

This test is applied to Extracted chips (EG). In this test the chips are added
to hot water and filtered to remove the impurities and dust particles.
Furthering to dry the sample and calculate the moisture percentage present
in the sample.

PMV Test-
This test is applied for Caprolactam. Permanganate value is calculated to
verify the purity of the raw material. In this test 1g of lactam is diluted with
DM water and made up to 100ml. 1 ml of N/100 of potassium
permanganate is added to the made-up solution maintaining the
temperature at 20 ​℃​. Compare the permanganate colour. Usually, Grade-1
lactam takes 6 to 8 hours of process time.

Oxidation Test-
This test is processed for FD chips.
This test is done to verify whether the FD chips are oxidized to external
factors or not. In this test, take certain amount of FD chips and subject it to
UV light. If the colour observed is pink, the chips are not oxidized, or the
chips emits a glowing colour (Neon tint), then the chips are oxidized to
external atmosphere.

Colour Test-
This test is done through naked human eye.

Colour Comparator Test-

In this test, the molten lactam is diluted with DM water and stored in a flask
of different APHA. APHA (American Public Health Association) is the unit to
compare the colour of the samples.

Potassium in FD chips and Cu content in yarn is tested in Atomic

Absorption Spectrophotometer in which Acetylene is the fuel.

8 ​INDUSTRIAL YARN BUSINESS

The industrial yarn business is a sector that deals with yarn production for
applications like, fishing nets, defence applications, jersey & jackets, footwear, bag
handles etc. The yarn produced in this unit, unlike TTYB varies from 100 deniers
to 2500 deniers. Yarn in the range of 100 to 700 deniers is called low denier yarn
and above 700 is called high denier yarn. The FD chips are outsourced from
Gujarat and Russia. The obtained FD chips are fed into the silo in batches of
625kgs. The FD chips are then transferred to the Nauta mixer where 0.3% of AB
(2-mercaptobenzimidazole), 0.15% of SM (magnesium stearate) and 0.015% of
CuCl2 is added in case of high denier requirements. There are six Nauta mixers
and two of them will process for coloured yarn. Similarly, for low deniers, the
composition varies as 0.05% of AB, 0.025% of SM and 0.015% of CuCl2 is added.
This mixture is prepared for one hour and sent to the hopper, from where it is sent
continuously to the extruder. There are six hoppers which get feed from NM batch
wise. Meanwhile, the colour that must be incorporated onto the yarn is obtained
from pigments, which are heated at a moderately high temperature and are added to
the chips just before they are sent to the extruder. There are fifteen extruders in
total. Each extruder gets four positions but three of them gets five positions. Hence
there are sixty-three positions with metering pump. A dowtherm at a temperature
of 280 degree centigrade is provided in the extruder, which is heated with the help
of an electrical heater and in turn melts the lactam. The screw inside the extruder
rotates at 100 rpm and pushes the lactam in the spin pack where the chips are
filtered. The molten polymer is distributed among the four positions with the help
of the gear pump (one for each position) and is passed into the spinneret. The
lactam is heated to a temperature of 330 degree centigrade and passed down as
filaments (6 – 8 DPF) in the respective spinneret according to the denier
requirements. The coloured filaments are passed through separate extruders and
spinnerets that are meant for coloured Yarn only. The filaments from the spinneret
are sent into the quench chamber which blows cool air at a temperature of around
13 – 15 degrees centigrade and partially crystallizes the filaments. The undrawn
yarn spun and quenched are fed into the 1​st drawing zone where yarn is applied
with sin finish oil. The finish oil contains 200 litres of DM water, 190ml of OM27
(an anti- bacterial agent) and 46 litres of simmer oil. The filaments dipped in the oil
are stretched i.e. drawn to 5 times its initial length in 2 stages. In the 1​st stage it is
drawn by stress induced elongation and in the second by temperature induced
elongation. The yarns are produced as two halves i.e. if you require yarn of 420
deniers, two bobbins of 210 denier each are produced. The stretched yarns from
the 1​st stage is taken to the second (as they are unstable) and are slightly twisted to
make the two halves one. The yarn from the two bobbins are taken up in the take
up winder and are heated to a temperature of 180 degree centigrade and slightly
twisted and woven onto to the spindle. This yarn is then sent for sales.