TFC : cotton yarn dyeing.

In collaboration with CIBA SPECIALTY CHEMICALS, SUPERBA has developed a new process of continuous dyeing on pure and blended cellulose-based fibers. This process, known as TFC (initials of cotton yarn dyeing in French), allows a large range of fashionable effects to be achieved and yarns in all colours to be produced for denim fabrics.

Advantages of this technology

The TFC process presents a lot of advantages :

• CADM (computer-aided design and manufacturing). Colours and effects can be simulated on computer with special software which automatically defines the application methods and calculates the machine adjustments. The screen display permit time saving in respect of both designing and achieving the end product.
  
  
• High manufacturing flexibility and cost reduction. A very wide range of effects can be obtained on the same machine including chiné, jaspé, washed-out looks, mono or polychromatic dyeing, ring dyeing and denim type yarns. All these effects can be combined or superimposed on one another. It has been established industrially that an up-market item woven with autoclave dyed yarns, then chemically piece washed-out, costs up to 3-4 times more then the same item produced on the TFC process.
  
  
• Environmental protection. The high fixing rate obtained with this technology gives especially high fastness and minimises the amount of dye in the waste water.
  This process has been studied to conform with European standards regarding machine safety and environmental protection regulations.

Method

Yarns are dyed at high speed (500 meters per minute) on the SUPERBA machine using a selection of CIBACRON® dyestuffs produced by CIBA SPECIALTY CHEMICALS. Placed on a 72-package creel, the yarns feed the 6-unit dyeing equipment. These units allow up to 6 different colours and each one can be equipped with various types of accessories (nozzles, turbines and disks) allowing special effects to be produced with regular or irregular repetitions. Yarn accumulators constantly adjust the unwinding tension. After dyeing, the yarns are automatically and continuously wound onto 10-inch cylindrical packages. These are then stored for 8 to 10 hours for fixing. 2 sets of 6 50-liter tanks automatically dispense dyestuffs and chemical additives to the dyeing units.

For woven articles, the yarns are dried and used as warp or/and weft to manufacture finished fabrics which will then be washed in piece form.

For knitwear, the yarns are washed after storage, dried and rewound for manufacturing the final goods.