Textechno, a leading designer and manufacturer of precision test equipment and systems for man-made fibres, yarns and rovings in textile and composite applications to launch its latest equipment with new technology ROVINGTEST which has been developed to measure the most important properties of rovings all at once, at JEC World, in Paris, next month.

Dr Ulrich Mörschel, CEO of Textechno said that the ROVINGTEST can be used to characterise all yarns and rovings made from reinforcement fibres like carbon and glass. ROVINGTEST is worldwide the first ever commercially available multifunctional testing system to measure performance and properties of rovings either all in one or separately.

According to the manufacturer, one important group of parameters assessed by ROVINGTEST are the friction properties of rovings to metal or ceramics and the existence or generation of broken filaments, for example, due to the contact with surfaces. Moreover, the friction from roving to roving can be measured, which is an important parameter, for instance, as input for precise simulations of draping and forming processes.

Spreading behaviour and homogeneity of filament orientation can also be measured by their new testing system, the latter on carbon fibres, said Dr Mörschel. These are especially important in the production of organo sheets and tapes. Costly and lengthy trial productions are minimized, reproducible measurement results become comparable and easily accessible for the user. ROVINGTEST hence helps to increase both, process ability and the performance of the final composite.

The determination of characteristic values of rovings is very important for the automated processing of the final composite parts,said Dr Michael Effing, CEO of AMAC GmbH and senior advisor for fibre-reinforced plastics to Textechno.

Rovings are used in high volume applications and processes like filament winding of pipes, pultrusion of profiles and multiaxial warp knitting for wind energy rotor blades. Thermoplastic composite tapes are gaining importance and the spreading behaviour of rovings is a key to success.

Textechno established for more than 60 years is headquartered in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Textechno together with its subsidiary Lenzing Instruments in Austria is a market and technology leader in the field of man-made fibre and filament testing.