Winterthur-Sennhof headquartered Hermann Bühler produces yarns for circular knitting and weaving for customers with the highest demands. With innovative products, top quality and a perfect customer service, the company's spinning plant sets standards. Always interested in the latest technology, Hermann Bühler has been involved from the start in the development of the Rieter air-jet spinning machine and consequently, the company is also one of the first certified suppliers of ComforJet yarns.

New yarn, new properties

"The form of the yarn construction on the air-jet spinning machine, turbulence from an air stream in a spinning nozzle, results in a new type of yarn structure. Typical features are the very low hairiness, the smooth yarn surface and the associated soft and voluminous yarn character. This yarn from the Rieter air-jet spinning machine is marketed under the brand name ComforJet. It creates many benefits, not only in downstream processing but also in the end product and opens up new areas of application," Rieter explains.

Licence details

Rieter actively promotes the supply sources for licensed yarns and also provides a direct link to the licensee via the Rieter website. Customers who have decided in favour of a yarn license additionally have the option of exploiting the know-how of the Rieter specialists and being supported by them in specific projects. In addition to their own marketing activities, licensed customers also receive support from Rieter.

Increased production capacity

In February 2011, after the successful launch of its AirJet spun Swiss cotton yarns, Hermann Bühler AG announced it was to further increase its production capacity in the technology and install another AirJet spinning machine from Rieter. The expansion doubled the number of AirJet spindles and the additional capacity allowed the company to supply further customers, to make new yarn developments and to improve its flexibility.

Bühler said at the time that its previous experience confirmed that airjet-spun yarns have excellent pilling behaviour due to ‘perfect fibre embedding' into the yarn structure. The company said it was able to produce soft comfortable AirJet yarns and that circular knitted fabrics had minimum skew due to the almost non-existent yarn-torsion. Bühler can also offer S-twisted yarns.

Bühler also said that as fibre fly is minimized using ComforJet technology, the frequency of machine cleaning can be reduced and fibre fly knitted into the fabric is largely avoided.

AirJet yarns are also said to contain considerably fewer yarn connections, a positive yarn characteristic which can improve productivity in further processing. The expansion of production capacity allowed Bühler to add airjet-spun cotton yarns into its product range, which was a priority for the company since the first AirJet installation. In Micro Modal Bühler offers yarn counts from Ne 30 up to Ne 60 (Nm 50 - Nm 100). Air-jet is a new spinning technology featured in Rieter's ComforJet machine. Especially for items made from Micro Modal, air-jet yarns are said to reduce pilling considerably and provide economic benefits in further processing.

In the air-jet spinning process, the fibre ends are embedded well into the yarn structure, which results in a very low yarn hairiness. The fact that the fibres are spun very firmly into the yarn is said to be a crucial factor since it results in excellent pilling values and improved abrasion resistance.

"We are convinced that the Rieter air-jet yarns are particularly suitable for knitted fabrics. The fabric keeps its excellent appearance also after multiple washings. Due to the yarn structure, the pilling typical for Micro Modal can be reduced significantly. Expensive fabric finishes required for pilling control can be avoided. The hard touch, which has been known for air-jet yarns, has been extremely improved by Rieter. Therefore, air-jet yarns are a top quality and cost effective option," Bühler said.