How You Can Create Synthetic Fibers that Stand Out

The increasingly competitive landscape in the synthetic fibers market has made it essential for companies to seek opportunities to add value and create points of differentiation. This blog post is to review how color and additive solutions impact the functionality and stabilization of synthetic fibers during production and when going to market.

Define Your Goals

Differentiating your fiber products from the competition can be accomplished in a number of ways, it boils down to determining what you are trying to accomplish, and then working with suppliers to find the right solutions. For example, outdoor fabrics for awnings would require different attributes than the lining of a fleece jacket.

Color-Enhancing Solutions

Finding the right mix of polymer color and additives can be the key to unlocking new business opportunities, helping synthetic fiber producers enhance material properties and create improved efficiencies in the spinning process, which adds greater value to end customers when compared to lower-cost alternatives. To further achieve the look you are after, the following color and additives might also be considered.

Goal	Solution
Enhancing appearance	Custom colors, blacks and whites, delusterants, and optical brighteners
Extending useful life	UVA and light stabilizers
Inhibiting the spread of germs	Antimicrobials
Improving processability during spinning	Lubricants, antioxidants and heat stabilizers
Preventing ignition or spread of flame	Flame retardants
Removing static charge from fabrics	Antistatics
Enhancing performance	Moisture managers, odor absorbers, fillers, reinforcement, tracers and biodegradation

In the highly competitive synthetic fibers market, differentiation can be achieved by fine-tuning your processes and finding the right mix of color and additive solutions. By working with a trusted partner, you can effectively balance form and function that will add value to your operation—and your customers.

Americhem’s Product Development Services

Americhem is more than a supplier to the synthetic fiber industry—we’re a partner that can help enhance your existing products and bring new products to market faster. We become fully integrated in your processes to help improve efficiency and overall product quality by employing our unique value-engineering approach. For more information on best practices in the manufacture of synthetic fibers, or to learn more about Americhem’s products and services, visit Americhem.com.

Larry Campbell
Technical Development Director- Fibers
Americhem, Inc.

Beneficial Additives for Nonwovens

It’s always good to have options, especially when it comes to producing high-quality nonwoven fabrics. Of course, you want to make sure you maintain production efficiency, color consistency, and improved pack life to maintain profitability, so you’re going to want a masterbatch option that can cover all of those bases.

That’s where Americhem can help. We have a full line of nonwoven color and additive masterbatches that can provide you with the results you need.

Multiple Options, One Pellet

So what exactly does Americhem provide for nonwoven fabrics? We have several brands and technologies that can help you deliver innovative solutions, including:

• nVision™ Nonwoven Color and Additive Masterbatches
• mBrace™ Softening Additive for Nonwovens
• nDuramax® UV Stabilizers
• nShield™ Antimicrobial Masterbatches
• nBalance™ Sustainable Additives and Masterbatches
• and other Specialty Products

Working together we will deliver a custom solution capable of blending different elements into a single pellet and specifically tailored to meet the needs of your particular application.

The Benefits of Process Efficiency

If customizable combinations for nonwovens isn’t enough for you, our masterbatches have even more benefits on top of versatility, such as these improvements to process efficiency.

• Superior dispersion quality, resulting in lower pack pressure rise, fewer spin breaks and virtual elimination of die-face buildup
• Uniform dispersion throughout the fiber, significantly reducing the presence of aggregates and agglomerates for increased pack life and spinning efficiency
• Complete control over opacity and color quality of the final material
• Class leading color consistency from lot to lot

Contact Americhem Today

When you’re trying to provide a superior nonwoven fabric, it’s good to have options. So whether it is softening or antimicrobial additives or something entirely different, Americhem has you covered. Give us a call at 1-800-228-3476 or contact us online to learn more about how Americhem’s functional additives can benefit you and your nonwoven fabrics.

Dedicated to Carpet: Five Americhem Plants Dedicated to the Industry

Americhem’s dedication to the worldwide carpet industry is unequaled among manufacturers of color for solution dyed carpeting. We’ve been designing and making color and additive concentrates for the industry for nearly thirty years and our capabilities span a range of polymeric materials including nylons, polypropylene, polyesters and more.

Three decades is a long time. This experience exceeds that of all competing color concentrate manufacturers. We lead the industry in color control and color consistency, both lot-to-lot and within lots. We support the industry with the most personnel dedicated to carpet makers, including sales, technical, and customer service. We pride ourselves on being the most dependable carpet industry supplier in quality, service and communication with our customers. And we understand your manufacturing processes and maintain 11 high- and low-speed synthetic fiber spin lines in our facilities around the globe to assist in product development and testing without interfering with our customers’ production equipment.

No other masterbatch supplier has three manufacturing plants dedicated to the North American carpet industry. Did you know that Dalton,Georgia is home to more than 150 carpet mills and that more than 90% of the functional carpet produced in the world today is made within a 65-mile radius of the city? That’s why Americhem has been on the ground with a plant in Dalton for over twelve years, and we’ve been serving the industry long before that. Our Dalton plant is a Center of Excellence for carpeting, with resources dedicated to manufacturing, product development and design. The plant also houses our fiber color design center, with thousands of card wrapped colors displayed in a room that serves as a giant light booth, including three different light sources: incandescent, daylight, and cool white fluorescent.

Our Concord, North Carolina facility is also dedicated to the carpet industry and serves as our Center of Excellence for nylon and polyester manufacturing technology. Established in 1989, this plant has served the industry ever since. Our Liberty, North Carolina facility was created with advanced material handling technology, enabling large runs of white, black and additive concentrates. Liberty’s lines are geared toward manufacturing campaigns of 10,000 pounds or more with the perfect combination of superior dispersion technology, end-product consistency, and cost effectiveness.

Outside of North America, our plants in Manchester, United Kingdom and Suzhou, China are also dedicated to the carpet industry. The Manchester facility serves customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is widely regarded as one of the leaders in the industry. The Suzhou plant serves customers in the Asia Pacific region and maintains pilot lines dedicated to carpet fiber that assist our customers in product development and testing.

It’s clear to see that Americhem is dedicated to the carpet industry worldwide. Let us know how we can benefit you with our technology, support personnel, pilot line technology and facilities dedicated to the industry.

Scott Blanchard
Senior Corporate Marketing Specialist, Americhem, Inc.