Mrf Tyre Suggestions

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 0. 1 0. 1. 1 GENERAL Nylon tire pile Nylon tire pile is do from full(prenominal) tenacity incessant strand ribbon by writhe and put uping. in that location argon two major types of nylons utilise as tire stack, i. e. nylon-6 and nylon-6,6. The properties of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 vary margin entirelyy and be guardled by the pieceufacturing unconscious puzzle out, type of stabilisers and additives utilize. In India only nylon-6 is produced m unrivaledymaking(prenominal)ly for tire heap. Thetypesofnylon-6tire electric electric heap practice sessiondinIndia be840/2,1260/2,1260/3, 1680/ 2 and 1890 / 2 where number indicates denier of ply / no. of plies in the corduroy.The denier per filament is 6. 0. 1. 2 tire Cord The opposite naturals employ as tire cord be cotton, rayon, polyester, grapheme glass, steel,redolent polyamides. Each of these clobbers has its thread merits and demerits. The major criteria for acceptance of either visible i n tire be its tensile strength, dimensional constancy, durability, thermic stability, hysteresis and adhesion. Tests and actual application conditions pay shown that although early(a) cord materials meet one or more circumstantial requirements, nylon by and colossal meets the desirable requirements for almost all the per stockance criteria. . 1. 3 Tyres The tire cord model stands the tire its fundamental properties much(prenominal)(prenominal) as shape, size, payload carrying ability, abrasion resistance, fatigue resistance, etc. A tyre is a composite of cord and rubber. there ar tierce varieties of tyres that is to say bias-angle tyres, radial tyres and bias-belted tyres. They differ in the way the tyre model plies be displace inside the tyre. 0. 1. 4 Manufacturing Process The manufacturing fulfil for nylon-6 tyre cord send packing be b trackly split up into avocation output signal ill-uses (a) Polymerisation of caprolactam to patch up nylon chips. (b) E xtraction and drying of chips. (c) Melt windning of chips to counterbalance nylon tyre recite. (d) Pre parity bittion ofcordfrom tyre recitation by twisting and plying. (e) Recycling of nylon-6 waste. 0. 1. 5 Polymerisation Nylon is made by polymerization of caprolactam with true additives like amino group acids and dicarboxylic acid salts and certain heat stabiliser such as copper base organic compounds. The polymerization mould entangles ring opening polycondensation and polyaddition reactions. All the three polymerisation reaction qualitys argon sense of balance reactions.A typical exploit of polymerisation of nylon john be either a peck or a consecutive process. The persisting process, real after the lot process was commercialised, offers simplicity of formula, ease of operation and control and noble capacity. An optimal polymerisation process would involve two stages, wherein, the first stage involves pressure at spirited up initial irrigate concentratio n. In the imprimatur stage a rapid transition from high body of water content to a imprint water content is achieved by release of pressure and concomitant application of vacuum. Industrial grade nylon-6 with relative viscosity 3. 2 to 3. has high(prenominal)(prenominal) degree of polymerisation compargond to fabric grade nylon-6 with relative viscosity 2. 2 to 2. 6. 0. 1. 6 Extrusion and Drying of Chips The nylon chips are washed to remove water soluble impurities and therefore dried. The process maybe caboodle or free burning. 0. 1. 7 Melt distortionning The polymer chips are melt in extruder. The molten polymer is then spun by a birlnerette. The molten filaments are quenched or cooled by a laminar f pocket-sized of air. The spin hold on is applied on filament and then wound on spin bobbins and crosstien to gear up tyre tales. In the unoriginal process, the whirl and out ocellus was done in two steps.In the spin- passel process, a step is thin outd compared to 2-step conventional process. As a consequence, about sources of process disturbances are eliminated which endpoints in repaird recitation uniformity. 0. 1. 8 Pre mirror symmetrytion of Cord Nylon tyre recounts are then twisted in S or Z direction and plied having 2 or 3 plies to form a tyre cord. 0. 1. 9 re mysticnessy of Nylon-6 Waste Depending on the fibre of waste, any of the following method may be used for recycle of nylon waste. Direct use of fibre waste RegrannulationPolymer Powderi) without thawing ii) with melting. i) deploymerisationandfilteration i) precipitation from solutions Rec e verywherey of caprolactam by deploymerisation. Rec everyplacey of amino caproic acid. The first three processes require relatively purer and undegraded form of waste. Amongst the read going two, caprolactam rec overy is mostly subscribe toed by Indian industry payable to ease of purification of recovered caprolactam. 0. 1. 10 Raw Materials, (Catalysts, Additives, Spin nuance Etc. ) For nylon-6, the only major raw material undeniable is caprolactam. Water is required as an instigator for ring opening during polymerisation. Nitrogen gas is required for blanketing, drying and conveying of polymer. 0. 1. 1 Additives/Catalysts Aminoacids and diamine dicarboxylic add salts which lead water on condensation score been erect to be useful for enhancing the rate of polymerisation. 0. 1. 12 Stabilisers Nylon is tractable to degradation by Lght, heat, oxygen etc. To gain ground it suitable for the purpose of tyre cord, stabilisers are added. The absolved stabilisers used are manganous chloride + hypophosphorous add and imidazoles. Diphenylamine and acetone condensates reveal excellent resistance to heat. Copper complexes as halides, acetate, phosphates, salts of high fatty adds like stearates, palmitates, laurates, etc. re rather effective as heat and light stabilisers. Spin Finish The functions of spin deathes are to reduce crash to accomplish proper f ilament cohesion and to exit static protection. Lubricants used to reduce friction are usually mineral oils, fatty glycerides. The antistats used to provide static protection are surface sprightly organic compounds. In case of nylon tyre cord, where molten polymer is suffern in yarn stages and fabric is plunge at a very high temperatures (upto 210 C), option has been towards the use of non-fuming type spin finishes. 0. . 14 major Capital Equipments The major ceiling equipments for each piece of the limit viz polymerisation, go around, cord making and caprolactam recuperation are listed in para 1. 7. 0. 1. 15 Development of applied science The victimisations in design science canbe grouped into the following express of intersection knowledge. Development in the polymerisation process. Development in extraction and drying. Development in melt reel process. A. Product Development Till 1937, cotton used to be the only tyre cord material by dint ofout the world. There after rayon became popular.Subsequently with the advent of synthetic fibres, the use of nylon change magnitude, which cut acrosss to be used in some(prenominal) the real and developing countries, Other materials used are polyester introduced in 1962, fibre glassin 1967 and steelin 1970. NTC was earlier spun as 210 d-yarn and then plied to circulate 840 d tyre cord. With the using of plan science, now, nowadays 840 d yarn can be spun and then plied to get denier ranges of 1260, 1680 and 1890 tyre cord. The denier per filament has however remained fe though rough attempts confirm been made to use 8 deniers filaments alike. It has been possible to increase tenacity from 8 gpd to9. gpd. B. Developments in Polymerisation Process In early process, a relatively crude vision autoclave nuclear nuclear reactor was used for polymerisation. The V K tube reactors for continuous polymerisation, were introduced during early 50s. Initially, V K tube reactor had capacities of 1. 5 TPD w hich has now been increased upto 40 TPD. over a blockage of cartridge holder, number of stages of polymerisation has to a fault increased from one to seven. Continuous maturations vex besides swallown place for modifying the practice of reactors to achieve plug cling condition and uniform flow and temperature gradient, improve residence time, conversion rate and quality of outputs.The enlarge of some such readings are discussed in para 1. 8. C. Developments in Extraction and Drying In this athletic field in addition, batch type extraction and drying process exhaust been replaced by continuous processes. Chips are now stored in S. S. tanks and conveyed pneumatically to spin section. D. Developments in go around Process break up of chips was done by oil change grids in the pre-world war era, then by electrically heated grids. In the late fifties a terse barrel screw extruder was introduced which is now replaced by longbarrel extruder.Another development is increase in the go around capacity by increased number of spin positions and besides increased number of ends per spin around position. Other cash advances are in yarn solidification and quenching process, spin finish application methods etc. During late seventies, the spin- follown process was introduced to get high productivity and better product. During the same period, high hie spinning with include up move of 3,000 to 4,000 mtrs/min (as compared to upto 1500 mtrs/ min in case of conventional process) was demonstrable. 0. 2 . 2. 1 STRUCTURE OF INDUSTRY AND adduce OF THE ART Structure of manufacture Licensed and Installed depicted object The total licensed and installed capacity of NTC in India at array is around 29,500 TPA and 22,500 TPA respectively, as per the details wedded in para 2. 1. 10. LOI / IL collect been issued which cover capacity of 54,200 TPA. Production The occupation of NTC in India started in 1971 with 595 tonnes and increased to around 23,600 tonnes in 1985. NTC has replaced rayon tyre yarn as tyre cord yarn and commercialize share of NTC at model is 75%.Capacity stinting consumption The licensed and installed capacity is based on certain denier go intersection is of unlike deniers and the product-mix of all bring to passrs varies depending on market requirements. However, the overall bonny capacity employment ofNTCinIndiahasbeenaorundl05%duringthelast basketball teamyears. Distribution of Units Active NTC manufacturers are public hold companies spread almost all over India with average capacity of 4000 TP A. achievement of Industry The work, sales, clear up strict assets, net worth of all the NTC manufacturers show an upwardly drift.There is a general waxth rate of 20% per annum on sales turnover during last atomic number 23 years. Import/Export Import of NTC increased from 1677 tonnes in 1980-81 to 5295 tonnes in 198384 The price of NTC at international level is just half of the price in India. This is generall y due to high equal of raw materials, higher(prenominal)(prenominal) conversion costs due to old technologies and teeny size of Indian imbeds as compared to the set ups in certain countries. Due to this, export of tyre yarn from India is negligible. Sources of technology and their Broad Performance Unitika, Japan has supplied technology and graft to three out of five Indian manufacturers of NTC.The other two manufacturers started with merchandise plants. The details of these collaborations are ef precedingery in para 2. 15. 2. Performance of all the collaborations is satisfactory. Though, autochthonal technology comprising of batch polymerisation and conventional spinning process induct been developed, none of the NTC plants in India has until now started with such indigenous technology. The in style(p) technologies comprising of multi-stage continuous polymerisation, continuous extraction and drying of chips, spin draw technology or high speed spinning process are no t yet forthcoming indigenously.The recent trend in India to look to the east for technology may be due to the approachability of technology comparable to those available from the west at a frown bonk how fees and lower plant costs. 2. 2 Technological post of Indian Industry (Unit wise) The comparison of installed capacities, actual takings and capacity utilisation and financial analysis in terms of net sales, net fixed assets, net profit and net worth over the period of last five years and array departicularized raw materials and utilities consumptions, wastage generation and recovery etc. for the following selected units is given in para 2. . J. K. synthetic substances Ltd. content Rayon Corpn. Ltd. Shri hale Fibres Ltd. Nirlon Synthetics Fibres & Chemicals Ltd. Baroda Rayon Corporation Ltd. Details of the historical background, sources of technology, interrogation and development efforts, results achieved, etc. for each of the above units are summarised hereunder. a) J. K. Synthetics Ltd J. K. Synthetics moderate, introduce in the manufacture of NTC, contain absorbed to a great extent the conventional technology over the last 2 decades. The come with has its own investigate insituteThe Sir Padampat Research Centre (SPRC) and has of late floated a caller-outJaykay Tech. hich can supply the conventional technology. As out-of-the-way(prenominal) as horizontal transfer is concerned, conventional technology developed and absorbed by J. K. has little commercial relevance. J. K. s licenced and installed capacities are 6000 to 5000 TPA respectively. The attach to has recently entered into expert collaboration with M/s Tong Yang of federation Korea for their latest Spin-Draw technology. The freshly unitwithacapacityofl2. 5TPDiscomingup. b) The National Rayon Corporation Ltd. (National Rayon) National Rayon commenced production of rayon tyre cord in 1961 and nylon tyre cord in 1976.The order has a practiced collaboration for the latter wi th Unitika, who have supplied the technology and plant. The familiarity had installed indigenously developed equipment for conversion of polymer waste to granules of impressionable grade. They have successfully indigenised manufacturing of all additives through and through in-house research as well as developing other suppliers. National Rayons licensed and installed capacities are 5,000 and 5,250 TPA respectively. The companys performance during 1983 and 1984 had been unbecoming due to closure of plant because of labour problems.The production during 1985 to 1988 is more than the licensed capacity. As a part of neoisation and expansion programme they have installed spin-draw machines. The spin-draw yarn produced and made into fabric has alreadybeenapprovedbythecustomers. National Rayon have a fullfledged R centre approved by the disposal of India and is engaged in entailment substitution, technology absorption, machinery development and trouble shooting. National Rayon have d eveloped process technology for polypropylene industrial yarn of high tenacity and has been unfalteringly supplying polypropylene yarn for market development.It has in like manner developed rayon industrial yarn, an industrial fabric for non tyre applications. National Rayon have recently installed, for the first time in India, air cat valium looms for making tyre fabrics of high quality. c) Shri lumber Fibres Limited (SRF) SRF s plant for manufacture of nylon tyre cord and yarn was commissioned in 1974 in proficient collaboration with Unitika. Companys rescue capacity is 6,335 TPA. SRF has a fledged Research and Development Laboratory and is constantly update process methods and technology for product development.SRF have an freelance research institute also. A very recent process developed and patented is that for polymerisation of nylon-6,6. d) Nirlon Synthetic Fibres & Chemicals Ltd. (Nirlon) Nirlon commenced production of nylon filament yarn and tyre cord in 1962. The company had recently gone into technical collaboration with Zimmer for an expansion of their nylon tyre cord plant. Their present capacity is 5,000 TPA. Zimmers design is based on multi polycondensation process and single stage spin draw process. Nirlon has a well established research and development base.The company had absorbed the conventional technology for manufacture of nylon tyre cord and is concentrating in developing and acquiring more modern manufacturing process. e) The Baroda Rayon Corporation Ltd. (Baroda Rayon) Baroda Rayon commenced production of rayon in 1962. Subsequently, the company commenced production of nylon tyre cord in 1981 in technical 8 collaboration with Unitika. Their present installed capacity is 2,000 TPA. Expansion of their plant to 4,000 TPA is under executing and is expected to be commissionedby end 1987. f) The following new-fangled units likely to come up in the some future.The present status / each of these projects is given in detail in para 2. 1. GarwareNylons Limited before long the company manufactures nylon and polyester filament yarn and is expanding its activities to manufacture nylon tyre cord, nylon tyre and industrial fabric in collaboration with Allied Corporation, U. S. A. , the largest producer of tyre cord in the world. Century Enka Limited The companys major activity is manufacture of nylon and other man made fibres and plastics. Century Enka has a collaboration with their principals Enka International of Holland for the technology for manufacture of nylon 6 tyre cord.The production has commenced recently. Ballarpur Industries Ltd. andE. I. Du Pont Nemours & Co. of U. S. A. They have jointly proposed to bear on a Rs. 130 crores joint venture company to produce nylon-6,6 tyre cord for the first time in the country in collaboration with economic development corporation of Goa. An annual production of 16,700 tonnes of nylon-6,6 tyre yarn is envisaged. Kanoria Alkalies & Plastics Ltd They have entered into collaboration for technical know-how, plant and machinery for manufacture of nylon tyre cord with Unitika which has been approved by Government of India. 0. 2. perspective of Raw Material Industry At present only Gujarat State fertiliser Corpn. Ltd. , Baroda manufacture caprolactam with the capacity of 20,000 TPA in India. Three LOI have been issued by the government with a total capacity of 2,20,000 TPA. The read projections for caprolactam made by the Committee for view Planning of Petrochemical Industry by 2000 AD are 1,16,000,1,96,000 and 3,02,000 TPA for year 1989-90,1994-95 and 1999-2000 respectively. Hence, till the units who have LOI go into production, imports of caprolactam is unavoidable. The quality of indigenous caprolactam in terms of its permanganate no. nd also in terms of consistancy between mingled batches of manufacture is not comparable to that of imported caprolactam. 0. 2. 4 Status of Tyre Industry International There are three types of tyre construction vi z. , bias, bias-belted and radial. stellate and bias belted construction are more high-octane than simple bias construction. In the world tyre market, radial tyres dominate. They were first inroduced in rider cars then in commercial vehicles, buses and motor truck respectively. In U. S. A. market, no rapid change over from bias to radial tyres took place because of the tremendous dandy investment required.Instead, belted bias tyres which could be manufacture on animated equipments were developed. The current trends in tyre design and manufacturing include Use of fewer fabric plies in tyres by utilising larger and stronger cords. Use of additional treatments in yarn manufacturing of the cord processing to reduce the creep of cords in tyre. Use of newer fibres such as polyester and modified nylons etc. 0. 2. 5 Status of Tyre Industry -Indian The installed capacity of Indian tyre industry is 12 million nos. per annum, the estimated demands of tyres by 1989-90 and 1994-95 are aro und 21 and 31 million nos. espectively, as per estimates of Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Assocation (ATM A). Preference so farthermost has been towards bias angle, because of the practice of overloading practically no care of tyres by owners / drivers and sorry road conditions. However, some radial passenger car tyres have also been introduced in the market. Due to the higher melting point of nylon-6,6 and polyester as compared to that of nylon-6, the tyre exercise set temperature can be increased to 250 C from 210 C (for nylon-6). This would make curing of tyres faster and hence reduce curing cycle.This would result in higher output and also higher productivity. In practice, howevr, fast curing is not realisable in case of heavy duty tyres as the thicklayer of pace rubber volition get distortedby fast curing. To take advantage of this higher productivity, the tyre manufacturers go forth have to install higher capacity curing furnaces, which will require meaty investment. He nce, before tyre manufacturers sink to install such furnaces, they would like to confirm regular availability of nylon-6,6 tyre cords at bonny prices preferably from more than one supplier. 10The pitch over from nylon-6 to nylon-6,6 would also result in more graduate time in tyre manufacturing. Similarly switch over from nylon to polyester requires change in dip condition, icon dip processing and more downtime. Hence, whatever nylon they use, they will use it for 100 % of their requirements. 0. 2. 6 Tyre Cord and its Suitability for Various Types of Tyres Different types of tyres require tyre cords with different properties, indicated in para 2. 12. Radial tyre or belted tyre designs take adavantage of these different requirements by placing different types of cords in the belt and in the carcass.As per the test carried out by one of the Indian radial tyre manufacturers, nylon-rayon was appoint to be the best combination for Indian conditions. 0. 2. 7 Status of Tyre Cord Indus try -International major(ip) varieties of cords suitable for tyres are cotton, rayon, nylon, polyester, steel, glass fibres and aromatic polyamides. Although flat spotting shown by nylon was originally objected to strongly, nylon has continue to be the preferred tyre cord material because of its price and its superior thermal and fatigue resistance.Nylon-6 is used in Europe and other developing countries firearm nylon-6,6 is more prominent in U. S. A. in general due to the manufacturing facilities established and availability of basic raw material. During the last ten to twelve years development have been largely of evolutionary nature aiming to overcome limitations of vivacious tyre fibres and to make them acceptable for wideruse. 0. 2. 8 Status of Tyre Cord Industry in India tenaciousness of NTC available to Indian tyre manufacturers locally varies from 8. 4 to 9. 4 with average value of 9. 2 gpd.The present demand of NTC in India is around 25,000 TPA which is likely to grow t o 40,000,50,000 and 61,000 TPA by 1990,1995 and 2000 AD respectively. At least for rigorous 10-15 years, even in case of radial tyres, nylon would continue to remain as one of the components either in carcass or as belt material. With the exist manufacturing facilities, the type of vehicles in use and existing road conditions, nylon-6 will remain the material of choice overlook for a sharp quantity of radial tyres for passenger vehicles where polyester may prove to be superior.At present very little nylon-6,6 is used in India, both for textiles and industrial applications. Besides nylon-6,6 is not produced indigenously. Nylon-6,6 is costlier than nylon-6 worldwide and is likely to be more so in India. Nylon-6,6 is unlikely to be used by tyre companies for their bus and truck tyres 11 (weightingage 80%) in near future, mainly due to generation of high shoulder temperature. In view of the above, establishment of fresh production capacities for nylon-6,6 industrial yarn in India m ay not have much scope considring interest of industry as well as the end- drug users. . 2. 9 State ofthe imposture Scene (International) Twenty five leading manufacturers of NTC in the world are listed in para 2. 15. 1. SalientFeatures of modern-day Technologies The technology for manufacture of NTC is standardised as far as polymerisation process is concerned. Product characteristics of different technologies may vary marginally depending upon the type of additives and stabilisers used, design of equipment and control method of production parameters. However, design of spinning plants differs from supplier to supplier.Salient features of coeval technologies of the following technology suppliers who have supplied/offered technologies to India are discussed in detail in para 2. 15. 2. Zimmer A . G. , West Germany. Lurgi GMBH, West Germany. Unitika Ltd. , Japan. E. I. DuPontDeNemours&Co. ,U. S. A. SniaBPD, Italy. some(a) important features of these technology suppliers are describ ed in subsequent paragraphs Zimmer A. G. Zimmer offers production of nylon-6 in continuous polymerisation operation. The specific Zimmer design allows lower water/chip ratio resulting in a high extract content in washing water, thus prudence energy to caprolactam recovery plant.The company offers economic standard design for production capacities of 10 to 50 TPD for high viscosity polymer (tyre cord grade). For caprolactam recovery, Zimmer prefers batch operation for higher tractability regarding quality and capacity. The plant is specifically designed for low caprolactam concentration in waste water, so that it can be either reused in polymerisation plant, or discharged as innocuous waste. 12 For spinning and conscription, Zimmer offers both, the two step separate process and the one step spin draw process. The fountain process favours production of i) lower deniers economically i) low shoplifting yarns iii) large variety of yarn types. The one step spin draw process favours c ontinuous production of heavier denier yarns in large capacities. It results in betteryarn uniformity. .Lurgi GmbH Lurgi offers both continuous polycondensation and batch polycondensation route for nylon-6 for use in tyre cord and other technical/ industrial yarn. Lurgi also offers caprolactam recovery unit deploymerisation and condensation plant and equipment for evaporation of the extracted water, treatment of concentrated caprolactam water and distillation.The company offers technology for conventional speed spinning as well as high speed spin draw process. Untika Ltd. , Japan Unitika offers continuous polymerisation process having a pre-polymeriser coupled with continuous extraction, washing and drying of chips. It also offers caprolactam recovery process. In its polymerisation process, Unitika claims 50% saving in polymerisation time. Viscosity of melt can be adjusted as per requirement during pre-polymerisation. The spinning process offered is both conventional spinning and dr awing as well as spin draw process. E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. U. S. A. Du Ponts industrial yarn process is based on nylon-6,6 salt i. e. hexamethylene diammonium adipate. The company has practised the continuous polymerisation technology and has developed conditions which maximise conversion, maintain slender viscosity control and ensure extended serve life. Nylon-6,6 is produced continuously in a series of five vessels evaporator, reactor, flasher, separator and finisher. Streamlined design of polymer vessels and distribution organization minimises gel formation, recapture of heat and diamine and hence reduces cost of operating system. 3 Preferred Du Pont technology is based on coupling the spinning machine directly to the continuous polymeriser. It also utilises coupled spindraw. The advantages are elimination of chip making, handling, drying and remelting as also provision of maximal polymer uniformity. Du Pont offers extensively developd quality control and laboratory scrutiny procedures and a single, specially formulated fibre finish for all products. SNIABPD SNIA is an Italian company giving process knowhow, plants and equipments for manufacture of nylon filament yarn and tyre cord.The company has the spin draw technology. 0. 2. 10 Latest Developments in Manufacturig Process/Design of Equipment Product Development upstart developments have been in the areas of improved dimensional stability of the cord, higher tenacity of tyre cords and improved heat stabiliser formulations to reduce the mechanical sledding due to heat generation in tyres. Improvements in Polymerisation Process Recent developments in this area include attainment of higher molecular weight by vacuum finishing, solid phase poymerisation to get final polymer free of extractables etc. addition of cosmic string coupling agents. Other significantadvances includes For removal of unconverted monomer For lower level of water extractables in nylon polymer For improved flow and temp erature distribution For transferring heat to the centre of the reactor and also to equalise flow rates Improvements in Spinning Process The developments are directed to achieve higher spinning output upto 97% and to spin NTC of high molecular weight and melt viscosity to have high tenacity tyre cord upto 10 gpd. 0. 2. 1 Critical Evaluation of Contemporary engineering science During initial stage the technology of the synthetic fibre remained with only a 14 Falling inject / spray reactors, reactorsworkingundervacuum. Organic polymer coating, internally, ofVK tube reactors. Incorporation of a tubular heat exchangerinthereactor. Provision of perforated plates and steep aluminium partitions. few giants in the category of front line producers. Because of their conservative attitudes, no rapid technology changes were forth coming.However, the role played by the sovereign engineering companies which took the risks has been a great boon in the development of technology. Technology supp liers can be in the main classified as front line suppliers having production back up like Unitika, Du Pont etc. and engineering companies like Zimmer, Lurgi, etc. Technology from front line producers is superior technology, requiring less time and wastage generation during production stabilisation at plant commissioning stage. However, know-how fees of these suppliers is higher compared to that of engineering companies.Engineering companies have vast experience in plant erection, basic and precise engineering. Know-how fees of these companies are relatively lower. The present trend is to look to the East for technology compatible with that of western countries as it is more economical, although of late, they too are becoming expensive. A project write based on the typical offer of contemporary technology for a 6,000 TPA NTC project is placed at Annexure I. Instead of putting up many belittled size plants, it would be advisable to put up a few large size plants for frugality o f scale.The improvement in quality of polymer is a developmental activity which is continuous at international level. Indian companies should also endeavour to improve quality by adopting new engineering and equipment development either through their own R department or through their technical collaborations. New and better type of additives and catalysts development at international level should be corporal by the Indian companies. Spinning plants having higher spinning efficiency and compactness, are always advisable for a country like India,to reduce the cost of production.One step process of very high spinning speed to make full drawn yarn may not be relevant in India, as at present most of the weaving and cord preparatory processes are of conventional type. So the warning thing would be to change over to quickly available higher throughput equipment. 0. 3 0. 3. 1. TECHNOLOGY submerging AND GAPS R Efforts in National Laboratories/Institutions and Their Tie Up With Industry I nstitutions like IIT, S ASMIRA, MANTRA etc. , private research institutions like 15 Sir Padampat research Centre, Shri Ram Institute of Industrial Reserach etc. nd in-house R centres of manufacturing industry are engaged in insignificant research projects for optimisation of production parameters or improvement of product characteristics. Developing countries like India although gradually set more emphasis on its research and development, have not been able to catch up with their developed or go on counterparts i. e. there is a appreciable time lag between adoption of any particular process in some advanced part of the world and its commissioning in India. The efforts made to bridge this gap in the following areas are as folio ws Indigensation of capital equipments, spares etc.Indigenisation of raw materials. Modifications and improvements in process, plant and equipments. The major constraint faced by manufacturers of indigenous equipments and spares are non-availability of des ign and detailed engineering drawings. patented designs of proprietary equipments by technology suppliers, sources of capital equipments recommended by technology suppliers, limited indigenous demand of such equipments. 0. 3. 2 Indian Standards stipulation As a part of standardisation, the Bureau of Indian Standards has developed IS Specifications for methods of tests for tyre yarns as per the following details.IS4910 divorcei Part II Partlll Part IV Part V PartVI Tyre yarns, cords and tyre cord fabrics made from man made fibres, methods of tests for. Linear density. Breaking load, elongation at break and tenacity. Dippickup Heat shrinkage and heat shrinkage force. Wet contraction and wet contractive force. Definitionofterms. 16 Part VII Part VIII Part IX PartX Part XI Heat degradation. Thickness (gauge) try out Growth Commercial weight. The specifications of polyamide tyre cord warp-sheet for automotive tyres published by the bureau is, IS 119261987. The specifications are given in Table 4. . 3. 3 gainfulness of Indian Industry and its Relationships with Technology At present the profit margins of NTC manufacturers are fairly satisfactory, even with the present conventional technologies and small capacity plants. Interaction with user industry by NTC manufacturers is also quite ethical. However, the constraints in respect of technology absorption faced by Indian NTC industry are low capacities of plant. imported capital equipments, parts and spares, non-availability of trained technological manpower, poor labour management relations. . 3. 4 Export Performance Due to high cost of raw materials and also higher conversion costs due to small capacity plants based on older technologies, the Indian NTC industry has not been able to contribute in the export market. 0. 3. 5 Comparison of Product Specification Between Units In India, the product range and specifications of all the manuacturing units is almost identical. 0. 3. 6 Modernisation Need As mentioned ea rlier, cost of production of Indian NTC industry is higher due to small capacity plants based on older technologies.There is an urgent need to modernise these plants to adopt most advanced technologies and a much higher level of operations. 17 However, for such modernisation substantial funds willlbe required. Financial Institutions are giving soft loans under technology development funds and industries have started taking advantage of this scheme. 0. 3. 7 Technology go against Technology gaps in following areas have been set and discussed in para 3. 9 Product developments do capacity Polymerisation process Melt spining process Indigenous manufacture of plant and equipments Indigenous availability of raw materials, additives and spin finishes etc.Internationally, cords with yams having 8 deniers per filament and upto 3,000 deniers of cords and 11 gpd tenacity are available, while in India cords with yarns having only 6 deniers per filament and 9. 2 gpd tenacity are manufactured. The average plant capacity of NTC in India, till 1983, was 2,000 TP A against the be economic size of plant of 6,000 TP A. Polymerisation Since the modern continuous polymerisation, extraction, washing and drying systems are suited to large capacity, till recently only conventional batch processes were used.Further, continuous polymerisation lines eliminating chip formation (especially in nylon-6,6) and remelting are not in use at preesent, in India. Melt spinning More efficient large capacity spinning equipments are worldness used in the world. These have sophisticated yarn sensing and monitoring systems and hence the quality of yarn is much better with higher throughput. Such latest spinning processes are not available in the country and such technology is now being imported. 18 Reasons for technological gaps are sellers market postal service large number of small capacity plants. otalabsence of exportmarket. good financial performance of Indian Industry even with the availab le technologies. general / absence of R&D efforts and know-why exercises, limited developments in the Indian automobile industry, lackof product upgradation at tyre manufacturers end. To bridge the technological gaps, import of latest spinning equipments and process know-how for spin draw and high speed spinning process, designs and drawings for modernisation of existing polymerisation processes are required. 0. 4. 0 SUGGESTED STEPS TO bridge over TECHNOGICAL GAPThe following suggestions are made to bridge the technological gap a) Latest technology comprising of continuous polymerisation in two stage V K Tube reactors, continuous extraction and drying of chips, spin draw technology or high speed spinning processes for fully oriented yarn may be imported and horizontally transferred in India. Although some pilot film units have been installed by spinners, the industry seems to be delay for customers acceptance. b) Develop indigenous manufacture of selected equipments, wherever it is economically viable and import only latest plant and equipments on selective basis. ) Develop basic and detailed engineering expertise in Indian engineering companies to necessitate import of only design and drawings for new plants rather than package import. An engineering organisation having expertise in basic and detailed engineering should be encouraged for development and transfer of technology for NTC and colligate products. d) Widen R&D efforts both at industry and research institutions level with active friendship and close cooperation between them. e) Provide necessary incentives to indigenous development of manufacture of plant and equipment. 9 f) provide only large sized plants. g) Provide incentives for step up research activities at industry level with close monitoring of such incentives. Establish a aboriginal tyre research institute with facilities to test developments in new designs of tyres, new tyre cord materials and modifications in tyre cord materials. Develop skills in technical personal, by arranging training abroad or by arranging traimng programmes by institutions like IIT, S ASMIR A, etc. and constant interaction with foreign experts. 20