SUEDING WITH DIAMOND
Mills are faced with the continuous need to process other than pure cotton material. Synthetic fibers have the nasty habit of melting whenever they are exposed to heat even slightest amounts. That is why; the next challenges will be the processing of synthetic blends with the same ease as with pure cotton. We know it is doable and have ideas to propose to users and machinery manufacturer that will entice them into exploring this new venue.
All of which is making the name Abrasive Technology visible once again around the world as a company that provides the very best and innovative solutions for a specialized and demanding industry, as well as reinforce AT as a dominant player in the finishing of textiles.
In the late 1980’s, a small Canadian start-up company called Diabrasive Int'l pioneered the use of flexible diamonds tools. Their concept was simple; in replacing traditional abrasives on the surface of emery paper with the more durable diamonds. The goal was to replace sandpaper throughout industry wherever application demands were severe with this newly devised concept material. Diamonds being much harder than any other abrasive crystal, they outlast their traditional counterpart by a significant margin and are a natural for converting industrial applications.
SUEDING
One of the lesser known uses of abrasives in industrial environments is for abrading textiles. The abrasion process gives their surface a much more pleasant finish to the touch. And, both knit and woven material is processed by this means and benefit from this finishing procedure. In 1988, Dia¬brasive introduced flexible diamond to the sueding industry during ITMA, a leading textile trade show held in Hanover, Germany.
Sueding machines
Sueding machines are typically equipped with either large single rollers or a combination of multiple smaller rollers on which the abrasive material is fixed. The textile material is forced in contact against the abrasive rollers, themselves rotating, to produce the abraded finish, which can vary more or less gentle to the touch by varying the coarseness of the grit used, the pressure of the material against the abrasive and the number of times or passes the textile is sueded. Currently around the world, there exists many configurations of machines and diamond sheets or strips readily adapts to the greatest majority. The various degree of finish required is achieved by matching the right diamond particle size ranging from the coarse #120 SAE nominal mesh for heavy texturing all the way to the finest #1800 used for lace.
CONTINUUM
Diamonds strips can be jointed to make endless belts. And, they can also be jointed to produce very long strips. Yet, certain climates with high humidity and temperature generate difficult conditions for jointed strips. In Asia, particularly during monsoon season, conditions affected joints to come apart, causing a catastrophic failure. Hence, we eliminated the joints altogether and now offer a continuous seamless strip free of any possible defect due to prevalent environmental conditions.
