As the only manufacturer which is able to offer completely integrated coating lines from a single source, the latest Monforts coating heads are tailored to the company’s drying technology for maximum benefits.
For an unprecedented range of options, Monforts now offers multi-functional coating heads for its industrial texCoat and Allround coating units.
The texCoat modules can be integrated into new lines or retrofitted into existing ones, while the Allrounder is a complete system, designed to be integrated into a complete Monforts finishing range.
Coating head modules are currently available for:
- Screen printing. The coating head for rotary screen printing is suitable for woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics, with the ability to apply single colour patterns and also achieve 3D effects with low liquid penetration, for add-ons of between 10-100 gsm and with coating formula viscosities of between 2,500-8,000 mPas. It is also highly suitable for patterning denim.
- Magnetic roller coating. With this coating head, low-penetration lacquering and pigment dyeing can be carried out, to add functional coatings to fabrics with add-ons of between 10-80 gsm and within the viscosity range of 1,000-6,000 mPas. Again, woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics can be equally successfully treated.
- Knife coating. For the one-sided application of foams to coated fabrics, in order to seal fabrics against water, other liquids and gases, or alternatively the addition of breathable coatings. Foam lamination and coatings for fashion items can also be applied by the knife method. Foam coating is particularly suitable for the production of highly effective blackout fabrics.
Two separate modules are available for knife coating:
- A knife system for coating viscosities of between 3,500-12,000 mPas and add-ons of between 10-150gsm. A coating speed of up to 50 m/min is achievable with this head.
- A roller knife coating head for working with coating viscosities of between 3,000-35,000 mPas and a wide add-on range of between 20-1,500 gsm. Depending on the material and coating, high speeds of up to 120 m/min are possible with this unit.
“Our system has the shortest fabric path from the coating unit into the stenter and we have all variations of coating application systems too – and all of these options are available in wider widths, with the engineering and manufacturing from a single source here in Europe,” says the company’s Head of Technical Textiles, Jürgen Hanel.
Quick changes
On the Allround, the modular coating heads can be quickly and easily changed via a specially-designed undercarriage from the side of the unit, allowing it to be readily adapted for different applications.
The Montex Allround consists of a load cell, a spreading unit and a pulling device along with the selected coating head. It allows for the tension-free coating of the substrate along a greatly-reduced web path and a very short period of ‘open’ coating prior to it entering the dryer, to ensure significantly less chance of contamination. The shortest possible distance between the coating head and the stenter infeed ensures the highest quality coating results.
Further special modules for powder scattering and spraying are also available and the unit can be enclosed with a special casing when the handling of fabrics treated with organic solvents is taking place.
Organic solvents
“There has been a wariness about handling organic solvents, but in the end, they’re not as difficult to coat on textile substrates as they are on plastic films, where they’re already widely used,” explains Jürgen Hanel. “They offer a lot of possibilities for companies to explore and develop entirely new products – especially in fields such as medical and filtration.
“Nevertheless, they do require a highly-controlled and contained environment, and this was a key consideration when constructing the technical textiles line that is available for trials at the Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) at our headquarters in Mönchengladbach, Germany.”