JP2001261363A - Method and apparatus for producing glass fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for producing glass fiber which enable the elimination of difference in quality between glass fiber strands when the number of cylindrical tubes each for winding one of the glass fiber strands is plural. SOLUTION: Glass filaments 11 are bundled as three strands by three convergence pads 15 and then the respective three strands are wound traversedly by traverse fingers 19 through three splitters 16 on three cylindrical tubes made of paper which have been inserted in collets rotating around a rotation axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of a forehearth. When respective flexural angles A to C of the strands at the convergence pads 15 are not larger than 12.1 deg., a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value in respective flexural angles D to F of the strands at the splitters 16 is not larger than 1 deg. and also the viscosity of molten glass at the basal part P of a meniscus M is 250-900 poises, the tensions themselves of the strands and unevenness in the tensions are reduced, and the number of seeming fluff approaches to almost zero.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing glass fiber, and more particularly to a method for producing glass fiber in which a plurality of glass filaments drawn from a bushing nozzle group are divided and wound on a plurality of cylindrical tubes. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional glass fiber manufacturing apparatus forms a glass fiber roll by concentrating glass filaments drawn from a group of bushing nozzles into a strand and winding the strand into a paper cylindrical tube called a cake core. are doing. This apparatus is configured so as to form a plurality of glass fiber bodies simultaneously with a plurality of cylindrical tubes for improving productivity.

[0003] The configuration of this glass fiber manufacturing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional glass fiber manufacturing apparatus.

In FIG. 6, a melting furnace 1 is a melting furnace using a direct melting method (DM: Directmelt). Melting furnace 1
Is heated to 1500 ° C. by a gas burner (not shown) and melted.

[0005] Next, the molten glass 2 in the melting furnace 1 is distributed to a plurality of glass fiber spinning units 4 to be described later via a forehearth 3. Multiple glass fiber spinning units 4
Are arranged under the foreheart 3 at intervals of about 1 m. The arrangement of the forehearths 3 is determined by the installation space of the device and the product type configuration, and is a fork-type arrangement in the present device. Another arrangement method is an H-type arrangement.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of the glass fiber spinning unit 4 in FIG.

[0007] The molten glass from the forehearth 3 is introduced into a rectangular bushing 10 having a large number (for example, 2400 nozzles) (not shown) at the bottom. The bushing 10 is arranged so that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the forehearth 3. The molten glass in the bushing 10 is pulled out from the nozzle and has an average diameter of several μm.
(For example, 2400) glass filaments 11
Is formed. After these glass filaments 11 are cooled by a plurality of cooling fins (not shown) arranged near the nozzle of the bushing 10, a binder (a sizing agent) for binding a large number of glass filaments 11 as strands by a binder applicator 12. ) Is applied. The binder applicator 12 includes a container 13 containing a binder and a roller 14 rotating in contact with the binder in the container 13.
A binder is applied to 1 by abutment on the peripheral surface of the roller 14.

[0008] The glass filament 11 coated with the binder is, for example, 80 by three focusing pads (graphite wheels) 15 arranged in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10 downstream of the binder applicator 12.
It is bundled as three strands of zero glass filaments. Next, these three strands are respectively hooked on three splitters 16 arranged at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10 on the downstream side of the focusing pad 15.

Further, after passing through the splitter 16,
The glass fiber consisting of this strand is
The three forehearths 3 are wound around three cylindrical tubes 18 made of paper fitted on a collet 17 rotating around a rotation axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, while being traversed by traverse fingers 19. By extracting the three cylindrical tubes 18 having the glass fibers wound in this manner from the collet 17, three glass fiber rolls (cakes) 21 and 2 are obtained.
2, 23 are obtained.

In the above-described glass fiber manufacturing apparatus, the reason why the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10 is made parallel to the longitudinal direction of the forehearth 3 is that the temperature of the molten glass in the bushing 10 is made uniform along the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10. The direction of the rotation axis of the collet 17 is
The reason for making the forehearth 3 perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is to facilitate the arrangement of the rotary drive system unit of the collet 17. Such an arrangement of the bushings 10 and the collets 17 will be referred to as a "perpendicular array type" in the following description.

[0011]

However, in the above-described apparatus for manufacturing a glass fiber of a right-angle array type, when the number of the cylindrical tubes 18 fitted in the collet 17 is plural, the position of each focusing pad 15 Is different, the bending angle of the strand for each focusing pad 15 is different, and the difference in the position of each splitter 16 causes a difference in the bending angle of the strand for each splitter 16, and the tension applied to each strand is different. There is a problem that is different. This difference in tension generally results in a difference in quality between glass fibers. In particular, the thinner the glass fiber diameter is, the more easily the glass fiber is affected by this, and the more easily the glass fibers are fuzzed. Therefore, conventionally, the bushing 10
Unless the viscosity of the molten glass at the tip of the nozzle is adjusted to about 1000 poise, thread breakage occurs frequently and spinning cannot be performed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a glass fiber manufacturing method and a glass fiber manufacturing method capable of avoiding thread breakage and improving the quality of glass fiber even when the viscosity of the molten glass is low.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing glass fiber, wherein the viscosity of molten glass at a nozzle tip of a bushing is from 250 to 250.
It is 900 poise.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the present invention, the viscosity of the molten glass at the tip of the bushing nozzle is 250 to 900 poise, so that the tension of each strand can be reduced, and thus the molten glass can be reduced. Can avoid yarn breakage and improve the quality of glass fibers even when the viscosity of the glass fiber is low.

[0015] The method for producing glass fiber according to claim 2 is as follows.
In a method for producing glass fiber, in which a plurality of glass filaments drawn out from a bushing nozzle group are divided and wound around a plurality of cylindrical tubes, respectively, the glass filament is made of E glass and has an average diameter of about 7 μm. When the glass fiber is wound, the tension applied to the 200 glass filaments is 1.078 N or less and the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 0.0
It is characterized in that it is performed under a set condition of 98 N or less.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the second aspect, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and the quality of the glass fibers can be improved.

[0017] The method for producing glass fiber according to claim 3 is characterized in that:
In a method of manufacturing glass fiber, in which a plurality of glass filaments drawn out from a bushing nozzle group are divided and wound around a plurality of cylindrical tubes, respectively, the glass filaments are composed of E glass and have an average diameter of about 5 μm. When the glass fiber is wound, the tension applied to the 200 glass filaments is 0.98 N or less, and the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 0.09 N.
It is characterized in that it is performed under a set condition of 8N or less.

According to the method for producing glass fibers according to the third aspect, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and even if the glass fibers are as thin as about 5 μm in average diameter. Avoid thread breaks,
As a result, the quality of the glass fiber can be improved.

The method for producing glass fiber according to claim 4 is
The method of manufacturing a glass fiber according to claim 3, wherein the winding of the glass fiber is performed using the glass filament 200.
It is characterized in that the tension is applied under setting conditions in which the tension applied to the book is 0.931 N or less and the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 0.02 N or less.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the fourth aspect, the effects of the glass fiber manufacturing method of the third aspect can be reliably achieved.

A glass fiber manufacturing apparatus according to a fifth aspect, wherein a plurality of focusing pads for focusing a plurality of glass filaments drawn out from a bushing nozzle group into a plurality of glass fibers, respectively, and the plurality of focused glass fibers. A plurality of splitters, each of which bends, and a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus including a plurality of cylindrical tubes respectively winding the plurality of glass fibers, wherein a vertical line of the respective glass fibers guided from the focusing pad to the splitter. And the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the bending angle of the glass fiber before and after passing through the focusing pad is 1 ° when viewed from a direction parallel to the rotation axis of the cylindrical tube. ° or less.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and the quality of the glass fibers can be improved.

The invention described in claim 2 describes conditions for spinning E glass and a glass filament having an average diameter of about 7 μm. It describes conditions for spinning a glass filament having a diameter of about 5 μm. Therefore, under the same conditions as above, for example, the case where the filament diameter is different or the case where the glass composition is changed and the fiber is spun is not excluded.

The "tension applied to 200 glass filaments" in the above description is measured by, for example, a handheld digital tension meter (DTM-0.5K) manufactured by Shinpo Kogyo Co., Ltd.

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As a result of diligent studies to achieve the above object, the present inventor has found that a plurality of glass filaments drawn out from a bushing nozzle group are divided and wound into a plurality of cylindrical tubes, respectively. In the manufacturing method of the above, if the tension applied to each glass filament is reduced and the difference is further reduced, thread breakage may occur even if the viscosity of the molten glass at the nozzle tip of the bushing is reduced to 250 to 900 poise. It has been found that spinning is possible without the need.

In order to find a condition for reducing the difference between the tensions applied to the glass filaments and to reduce the tension itself, the present inventor needs to determine the conditions near the converging pad where the glass filaments converge. And the need to adjust the environment near the bushing nozzle.

The present invention has been made based on the results of the above study.

Hereinafter, a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a glass fiber spinning unit 4 which is a main part of a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a side view of FIG. This glass fiber prevention unit 4 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 7 described above, and in FIGS. 1 and 2, elements corresponding to those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The molten glass from the forehearth 3 is introduced into a rectangular bushing 10 having a large number (for example, 2400) of nozzles (not shown) at the bottom. As the raw material of the molten glass, various types of glass used for producing glass fibers can be used. However, E glass, which can easily be converted into glass fibers and has good properties, is preferable, for example.

The bushing 10 is arranged so that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the forehearth 3. The molten glass in the bushing 10 is drawn out from the nozzle, and has a large number (for example, 24
00 glass filaments 11 are formed. These glass filaments 11 are cooled by a plurality of cooling fins 20 arranged near the nozzle of the bushing 10, as shown in FIG. These cooling fins 20 are fixed to cooling pipes arranged near the nozzle group of the bushing 10. A cooling medium of 10 to 20 ° C. is passed through the cooling pipe. Further, the cooling fins 20 are arranged so as to sandwich each nozzle row, and face the row of the glass filaments 11, and as a result, can cool the glass filament 11.

By the above-mentioned cooling, a meniscus portion M is formed on the glass filament 11 drawn from the nozzle of the bushing 10, as shown in FIG. The viscosity of the base point P (the tip of the nozzle) of the meniscus portion M is a parameter that affects the quality of the manufactured glass fiber.

The glass filament 11 cooled as described above is coated with a binder (bundling agent) for binding a large number of glass filaments 11 as strands by the rollers 14 of the binder applicator 12. The binder contains starch or an adhesive component composed of a vinyl acetate-based, acrylic-based, urethane-based, or epoxy-based synthetic resin as a component thereof.

Binder-coated filament 11
Are focused as three strands of, for example, 800 glass filaments by three focusing pads (graphite wheels) 15 arranged parallel to the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10 on the downstream side of the rollers 14 of the binder applicator 12. Is done. Next, these three strands are respectively hooked on three splitters 16 arranged at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the bushing 10 on the downstream side of the focusing pad 15.

Further, the three glass fibers composed of the strands that have passed through the splitter 16 form a collet 17 that rotates around a rotation axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the forehearth 3.
Are wound around the three cylindrical tubes 18 made of paper fitted in the traverse fingers 19, respectively. By extracting the three cylindrical tubes 18 on which the glass fibers have been wound in this manner from the collet 17, three glass fiber rolls (cakes) 21, 22, and 23 are obtained. In the following description, the glass fiber rolls 21, 22, and 23 are referred to as a first cake, a second cake, and a third cake, respectively.

In the glass fiber spinning unit 4 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bending angle of the strand (the angle between the strand and the vertical line) at the convergence pad 15 is shown in FIG. 3, which is an enlarged view of a portion V in FIG. A ° for the first cake strand, B ° for the second cake strand, third
C ° about the cake strand, split 16
As shown in FIG. 4 which is an enlarged view of the portion VI in FIG. 2, the bending angle of the strand is D ° for the first cake strand, E ° for the second cake strand, and F ° for the third cake strand. And

The viscosity of the molten glass is usually determined by
0 is defined at the nozzle tip (the base P of the meniscus M), and is conventionally controlled to be about 1000 poise regardless of the glass composition. This makes it difficult to cut the glass fiber and keeps the moldability.

In the present invention, the viscosity of the molten glass at the tip of the nozzle of the bushing 10 is set to 250 to 900 poise, which is lower than the conventional value of about 1000 poise, and particularly to 250 to 800 poise when the glass filament 11 has an average diameter of about 7 μm.
Even if the poise is reduced, spinning can be performed without causing yarn breakage. It is considered that this is achieved by a decrease in the tension applied to the glass filament due to a decrease in the viscosity of the molten glass at the nozzle tip of the bushing 10. Therefore, although the present invention is a technique developed on the premise of a plurality of strands, the same effect can be exerted even with a single strand, if conditions for spinning with the above viscosity are found. That is, the present invention does not exclude a single strand.

[0039] The viscosity of the molten glass is 10
Determined by the nozzle structure and the cooling capacity of the cooling fins 20 for cooling the glass filament 11, the reduction in the viscosity of the molten glass at the base P of the meniscus M is achieved by reducing the heat radiation of the bushing 10 nozzle or by reducing the cooling fins 20. This is done by lowering the cooling capacity of the device.

Further, the bending angle of the strand (the angle between the strand and the vertical line) A to C ° in the focusing pad 15 is set to 12.
By setting the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the bending angle D to F ° of the strand in the split 16 to 1 ° or less, the tension of each strand of the first cake, the second cake, and the third cake is reduced. It can eliminate itself and their variations. The change of the bending angle A to F ° is as follows.
This is performed by changing the arrangement of the focusing pad 15 and the split 16.

Although the present embodiment is directed to a case where there are three cakes, the present invention can be basically applied to a case where there are two or more cakes.

The raw material glass is not limited to E glass.
Other glasses such as C and S glasses may be used. This is because other glasses such as C and S glasses can be stably spun at a viscosity of around 1000 poise.

[0043]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Focusing pad 15 for changing the arrangement (alignment) of three focusing pads 15 and three splitters 16
The conventional alignment and the alignment according to the present invention are set as shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively, in order to investigate the effects of the bending angle of the strand (the angle between the vertical line) and the bending angle of the strand in the splitter 16. did.

[0044]

[Table 1]

[0045]

[Table 2]

In Tables 1 and 2, in the alignment of the present invention, the bending angle of the strand is reduced as compared with the conventional alignment, and in particular, the bending angle (A °, B °, C °) is decreasing. (Example 1) First, two types of glass fiber spinning units 4 of a conventional alignment and an alignment of the present invention were examined in order to examine the influence of alignment when winding an E225 variety (average diameter of about 7 μm) into three cakes. , The tension of the strand was measured. At this time, the temperature of the molten glass just above the bushing 10 and the bottom surface of the forehearth 3 was about 1250 ° C., and the glass head (depth of the molten glass) in the bushing 10 was about 102 mm.

As a method of measuring the tension of the strand, the tension per 200 glass filaments was measured by a hand-held digital tension meter (DTM-0.5K) manufactured by Shinpo Kogyo Co., Ltd. This is the same in the following tension measurement. Table 3 shows the measurement results.

[0048]

[Table 3]

In Table 3, "average" refers to the first cake,
R is a simple average of the measured values of the second cake and the third cake, and R represents the variation of each measured value by (maximum value−minimum value). This is the same in the following tables.

In this embodiment, the strand tension is reduced by about 9% on average to 1.023 N, and the R value is reduced to 0.030 N.

(Example 2) Next, at the same temperature of the molten glass, glass head and alignment,
In order to examine the influence of alignment when a variety (average diameter of about 5 μm) is wound into three cakes, the strand tension was measured for two types of glass fiber spinning units 4 of the conventional alignment and the alignment of the present invention. . Table 4 shows the measurement results.

[0052]

[Table 4]

In this embodiment, the strand tension is reduced by about 3% on average to 0.941 N, and the R value is reduced to 0.059 N.

In the first and second embodiments, according to the alignment of the present invention, the tension itself of the first cake, the second cake, and the third cake and the variation (R value) thereof are reduced. I can say

(Examples 3 and 4) Further, meniscus M
In order to investigate the relationship between the viscosity of the molten glass and the alignment at the base P of the comparative example (combination of the conventional bushing and the conventional alignment), Example 3 (the conventional bushing and the alignment of the present invention) for the D450 type (average diameter of about 5 μm) Example 4 (combination of the bushing of the present invention and the alignment of the present invention)
The tension of each strand and the fluff appearance were measured.

Here, the bushing of the present invention reduces the cooling fins 20 from 1.2 t × 16 × 54 mm of the conventional bushing to 1.2 t × 12 × 54 mm.
The cooling capacity has been reduced. As a result, the viscosity of the base point P of the meniscus portion M can be adjusted to 250 to 900 poise, and is set to 600 poise in the present embodiment.

The alignment is as shown in Tables 1 and 2.

As a method for evaluating the appearance of fluff, a glass fiber is formed into a bobbin by twisting the glass fiber, the number of fluff on the entire surface of the bobbin is measured, and the average of the values measured 30 times is taken. Table 5 shows the measurement results.

[0059]

[Table 5]

According to Table 5, in Example 3, the tension of the strand was reduced by about 3% on average and the variation (R value) was reduced, and the number of fluffs in appearance was smaller than that of Comparative Example. Is reduced to １ ／ or less. Example 4
As compared with the comparative example, the tension of the strand is reduced by about 6% on average, the variation (R value) is almost eliminated, and the number of fluff is reduced to 以下 or less.

From Tables 3 to 5 (Example 3), the bending angle A to C ° of the focusing pad 15 is 12.1 ° or less, and the R value of the strand bending angle D to F ° of the splitter 16 is 1 ° or less. It can be seen that at the time, the tension itself of the strands and their variations are reduced, and the number of fluffs in appearance is reduced.

From Table 5 (Example 4), it is found that the glass filament 11 has an average diameter of about 5 μm and the base P of the meniscus M
When the viscosity of the molten glass is 250 to 900 poise,
It can be seen that the tension itself of the strand is reduced to 0.911 N, the R value thereof is reduced to 0.019 N, and the number of fluffs is almost eliminated.

[0063]

As described above in detail, according to the method for producing glass fiber according to the first aspect, the viscosity of the molten glass at the nozzle tip of the bushing is 250 to 900 poise. Can be reduced, so that thread breakage can be avoided even when the viscosity of the molten glass is low, and the quality of the glass fiber can be improved.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the second aspect, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and the quality of the glass fibers can be improved.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the present invention, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and even if the glass fibers are as thin as about 5 μm in average diameter. Avoid thread breaks,
As a result, the quality of the glass fiber can be improved.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing method of the fourth aspect, the effects of the glass fiber manufacturing method of the third aspect can be reliably achieved.

According to the glass fiber manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the difference in tension between the glass fibers wound around each cylindrical tube is reduced, and the quality of the glass fibers can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a main part of a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part of a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion V in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a VI section in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a meniscus M formed on a glass filament drawn from a nozzle of a bushing 10.

FIG. 6 is a schematic-perspective view of a conventional glass fiber manufacturing apparatus.

7 is a schematic configuration diagram of the glass fiber spinning unit 4 in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Melting furnace 2 Molten glass 3 Forehearth 4 Glass fiber spinning unit 10 Bushing 11 Glass filament 12 Binder applicator 15 Focusing pad 16 Splitter 17 Collet 18 Cylindrical tube 19 Traverse finger 20 Cooling fin 21,22,23 Glass fiber winding (1st Cake, 2nd
Cake, 3rd cake)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing glass fiber, wherein the viscosity of molten glass at the tip of a bushing nozzle is 250 to 900 poise. 2. A method of manufacturing a glass fiber, in which a plurality of glass filaments drawn out from a bushing nozzle group are divided and wound on a plurality of cylindrical tubes, respectively, wherein the glass filament has an E glass composition and has an average diameter of about 7 μm. In this case, the tension for hanging the glass fiber on the 200 glass filaments is 1.
A method for producing glass fiber, wherein the method is performed under a set condition in which the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 078 N or less and 0.098 N or less. 3. A method for producing glass fiber, wherein a plurality of glass filaments drawn from a group of nozzles of a bushing are divided and wound on a plurality of cylindrical tubes, respectively, wherein the glass filament has an E glass composition and has an average diameter of about 5 μm. In this case, the glass fiber is wound around the 200 glass filaments with a tension of 0.
A method for producing a glass fiber, wherein the method is performed under a set condition in which the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 98 N or less and 0.098 N or less. 4. The winding of the glass fiber is performed on the 200 glass filaments with a tension of 0.93.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the method is performed under a set condition in which the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the tension is 1 N or less and 0.02 N or less. 5. A plurality of convergence pads for converging a plurality of glass filaments drawn from a bushing nozzle group into a plurality of glass fibers, a plurality of splitters for bending the plurality of condensed glass fibers, respectively, and the plurality of splitters. In a glass fiber manufacturing apparatus comprising a plurality of cylindrical tubes for winding each of the glass fibers, an angle formed by a vertical line of each glass fiber guided from the focusing pad to the splitter is 12.1 ° or less, The glass fiber, wherein a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of the bending angle of the glass fiber before and after passing through the focusing pad is 1 ° or less when viewed from a direction parallel to a rotation axis of the cylindrical tube. Manufacturing equipment.