Albstadt, Germany/Boston, USA: From 3 – 5 May 2016 the International Engineered Fabrics Conference and Exposition (IDEA) will take place in Boston, USA. The IDEA is one of the most important trade fairs for the international nonwovens industry – hundreds of companies from over 70 countries will present their ideas and innovations. Groz-Beckert will be represented with its product areas Felting and Carding at booth 1040.

The product area Felting will highlight special needle solutions for different applications of the nonwovens industry. As the Groz-Beckert range of products includes needle types with a variety of barb sizes, barb shapes, working part gauges and working part cross-sections, the right needle can be offered for the most different applications. For example, if a high surface quality is desired, Groz-Beckert GEBECON® and EcoStar® felting needles are recommended. The GEBECON® felting needle, that was among the top 3 of this year's RISE Durable Product Award, is characterized by an increased stability compared to a conventional standard felting needle and, at the same time, provides a high needle elasticity and produces a good surface quality in the pre-needling process. The EcoStar® needle, used for intermediate and finish needling, guarantees a high surface quality of the end product. For products that require a particularly high tensile strength, the Twisted needle is the most suitable choice. Its special feature – the twisted working part – ensures a particularly efficient needling. It is used in the production of automotive textiles, geotextiles and other applications.

For the mechanical bonding of nonwovens, among others used for hygiene and medical products, Groz-Beckert offers jet strips in all customary dimensions and nozzle geometries – and made from different materials. At the exhibition, three jet strip version made of different materials will be presented: HyTec® Standard, HyTec® D and HyTec® GEBEDUR®. The material used for the HyTec® Standard is characterized by an excellent corrosion resistance. The material used for HyTec® D additionally provides an increased stability and protects the jet strip even better. Moreover, its surface quality prevents the accumulation of dirt. The GEBEDUR® version is characterized by a special treatment giving the jet strip a high surface resistance in the area of the capillary edges. This results in a long service life of the HyTec® GEBEDUR® jet strip, with homogeneous product properties.

The product area Carding will present carding products and services for the nonwovens industry at the IDEA. The highlights are SiroLock® metallic wires as well as EvoStep® doffer and worker rollers. In the nonwovens process they conjointly guarantee a homogenous fiber distribution and reduced fiber consumption.

Metallic wires of the SiroLock® and EvoStep® series are characterized by a distinctive step under the tip of the tooth front. The optimized geometries of these wires allow an up to 30 % better fiber taking and holding, while reducing fiber fly and improving the fiber blending even at high production speeds. The better fiber control significantly improves the fiber transfer from the main cylinder to the worker or doffer rollers and, therefore, saves unnecessary fiber circulation around the main cylinder. The reduced maintenance effort enables a quicker and trouble-free restart.

SiroLock® and EvoStep®, provide a clearly better fiber blending and, therefore, allow to produce a higher nonwoven quality than with conventional wires while reducing fiber consumption.