Glass Capillaries in Textile Production

Tubing made of specialty glass is a genuine all-round and permanent magnet for innovative ideas and applications. Millimeter-thin DURAN® capillaries used in manufacturing elastic threads for textiles demonstrate how valuable and attractive they can be in current technical applications.

Permanent use in an acid bath

In yet another new application in Thailand, tubing’s precision and robustness proved to be quite convincing. The Southeast Asian country is considered the world’s largest rubber exporter, with major producers and processors of natural latex located there. The rubber material is processed into elastic threads, which provide the necessary textile flexibility in sportswear and underwear, for example. Liquid latex is injected through dozens of thin tubes to produce threads by machine, forming numerous continuous threads lying side by side, which are then passed through further processing stages by rollers. The tubes are permanently immersed in a liquid of sulphuric acid, which hardens the liquid latex immediately after injection. Stainless steel tubes which are typically used can rust over time. The process of replacing them can abruptly halt the 24-hour production cycle and cause delays.