Hi,
Please can anyone replicate the modification on the extruding machine shown in the first video below?
Convert Pet to fibre:
How PET is turned to polyester :
II think this is a beautiful way to get PET bottles recycled faster and into more valuable products.
Looks like a simple air compressor is connected to the end. Wouldnt need much of a modification however the pressure from the extruder would need to be larger than created by the air. I suspect angle is also key here.
We could potentially try it out in a few weeks however I am unsure what we would do with the fibres at this point?
Hi, @jamiep. It’s not supposed to produce thread and textile from Melt Blown fibers. This fibers are not continues. But they are useful products and can be used to filling stuffs.
And about cotton candy maker, yes it’s something like that. Or a better example, its a paint gun nozzle. The base principles are the same. but the important issue is to tune the parameters of melt feed, air pressure and …. Actually most of innovative solutions are inspirations from nature and or other fields.
Hi Guys, I’m new to the PP community but am curious about recycling plastic in fibers to make textiles and clothing and be able to open up new design possibilities. I love the Idea of the Melt Blow nozzles. and was wondering if anyone has seen or dealt with the Polyfloss machine before.
It is a converted cotton candy maker to melt blow plastic fibers. I’m wondering if it might be possible to make textiles using a process of
1. Melt Blow,
2. Comb to align fibers in direction (use a mini cotton gin),
3. spin in thread/yard using an automated spinning wheel/machine.
4. weave into textiles.
My thought is that if you can make the thread then you can get artisan weavers to use it on a loom and they can be utilizing recycled materials and help the plastic problem getting more people involved.
I was wondering what you guys think of this??
P.S. Here is the link to a video showing the Polyfloss machine working.
http://www.thepolyflossfactory.com/index.html
Hi, all. Thanks for your usefull information. This nozzle’s function is based on a technic named Melt blowing. The most uniq featuer of this nozzle is the diametere of it that is 4mm. Im interested in it too and i hope we can hear good new news from @plastikfantastik
@dplasto, @rorydickens, @andyn
Hey Guys I have one of these. I bought one from Alexander about 6months ago.
1. The fibre is not fire retardant ( i’m working with a chemist to fix this)
2. You will need something bit bigger than a pp extruder to get the pressure needed and flowrate. ( still working on this)
3. You need a heater blower to get the fine strands, this is about $1500 aud to buy and overheats the nozzle if you run it for too long. ( still working on this)
4. The fine strands do not have any insulation quality but you could turn this into a polyester fabric of sorts ( still working on this)
5.You dont need to pre heat the air.
And andy as always you have some great knowledge I will be looking up the bernouli principle.
Interesting… I’m not sure I’m the master of nozzles, and I haven’t looked into either of these processes, but it looks like with the direct extrusion method the filaments are being stretched out in several stages after extrusion to get the required diameter, requiring a lot of extra machinery.
The jet nozzle I think is using the Bernoulli principle to do the same thing. The 4mm filament of extruded plastic exits the inner nozzle at the point where the air enters the inside of the outer nozzle (the gap appears to be adjustable), the increase in air speed at this point (drop in pressure) pulls on the filament stretching it out. A nice compact device. Wouldn’t be too hard to make. I wonder how important pre-heating the air is? Maybe that could be achieved within the nozzle also. (NB. I haven’t actually watched the video, just looking at the pictures).
@rorydickens
Yeah… Thanks for the video!
However I think i prefer the direct extrusion to thread as shown on the third video.
All the same we need machine experts to give accurate dimensions so we can build.
@andyn I know you are the master of machining and nozzles, Do you have any thoughts on how this is made and if its possible to replicate?
@dplasto Have you watched his other video where he explains the nozzle for 38mins. It’s in Russian I believe, however you can turn on Youtube Subs.
In the video, he explains the problems of using a filter with fine holes to create strands. However goes into detail on the Nozzle,
– 4mm hole that connects to the extruder.
– custom made (but looks like pipe fittings to me.
– adjustable to control the thickness of fibres by changing the air pressure
– Air is compressed to 2-6x atmospheric pressure (2-6bar) 2.8 showed good results.
– Output fibre is between 3-15 microns
– The barrel is heated to 285c
– Air is heated to 300c before entering the nozzle
– Air is heated using conventional electric air heaters (heat gun?)
– Nozzle needs a temperature reader to monitor air temp.
– Nozzle consists of 7 parts. At 25min in they take it apart. It seems that the 4mm hole runs through the centre of the nozzle with the air running around the outside.
Most interestingly for me is that he mentions building insulation properties and the fact it is not highly flammable.
Hopefully, this is something the team in the Netherlands can look at in V4.
Fibre can be spun into threads
Or
The extrusion can be spun directly in to threads as shown in the video below.
I like this method even more.
I was about to build a compression machine but this has changed my mind completely. An extrusion machine is better.
