Influence of process parameters on filament distribution and blending quality in commingled yarns used for thermoplastic composites

A prospective method for manufacturing thermoplastic composites involves commingling to produce hybrid yarn consisting of two components: reinforcement fibres and thermoplastic matrix. In this work, various types of commingled hybrid yarns were developed to improve blend uniformity and achieve homogeneous filament distribution in two-component hybrid yarns. An experiment was carried out to examine the distribution of filaments in a series of glass/polypropylene commingled hybrid yarns. The influence of changes in process parameters such as the degree of overfeeding, production speed, and air pressure on the filament distribution in the cross-section of commingled hybrid yarns was investigated. In this study, new technological approaches to achieve blend uniformity in commingled hybrid yarns are developed. The radial distribution index and a new blending coefficient were used to evaluate the blending uniformity of the yarns.