Over time pack filters plug, pressure climbs and spinneret holes foul, causing drips, broken filaments and gaps in the web. The crew stops the beam, swaps in a cleaned and preheated pack and restarts, often within a few hours. Pack life is a closely watched cost figure, and short pack life points to contaminated or degraded polymer.
Pack pressure is up 30 bar since Monday, so line up a pack change on beam two for the weekend.
Preheat the new pack fully before installing it; a cold pack brings freeze-offs and drips for hours after restart.
Also heard as
- spin pack change
- pack swap
Related terms
Spinneret
Metal plate drilled with many small holes through which molten polymer is extruded into filaments.
Drip
Lump of polymer that falls from a spinneret or die and lands in the web as a hard, often glassy spot.
Beam
Line talk for one spinning or meltblown station across the width of a spunmelt line.
Chips
Shop word for the polymer pellets fed to spunbond, meltblown and fiber extrusion lines.