Performance Fibres

The raw material is nylon salt. Commonly known as "AH-Salt," it is supplied by tanker trucks from our plants in Belle-Etoile (Lyon, France) and Chalampé (Alsace, France) and is the basic building block for the manufacture of polyamide 66 fibres.

Through a continuous process (24/7), this salt is first concentrated by evaporation, then polymerized under high pressure and temperature. The polymer – similar to a “hot & highly viscous paste” – is then directly injected in spinnerets, through thousands of microscopic holes. Once the polymer comes out from the spinnerets, it is quickly cooled down by air, then water and goes from the viscous to the solid state. Here the filaments are born and we leave the “chemical world” to enter the physical, “textile” one.

Those thousands of filaments are gathered together as “cables” and then stretched in another workshop, on five different drawing lines. On those lines the filaments are first stretched to align the microscopic chains of polyamide and give the filaments dimensional stability. This cable can be left as is to produce tow for flock, crimped to produce nonwoven, textile or flooring articles, then finally cut (staple fibers) or not (crimped tow for textile high end specialties).

Tow for flock is packed in American boxes, other products are compressed and packed in bales, to save logistics costs.

The polyamide 66 fibers from Valence are renowned worldwide for their resilience, resistance to abrasion, friction and also lightfastness. They are used for work clothes that are particularly resistant, such as military or firefighter's clothing (reinforcement of cotton). This fiber is also used in furniture (sofas, seats, etc.), automotive (glove boxes, window channels, seats), flooring (carpets, rugs), technical applications (paint rollers, tennis balls), non-wovens and abrasives (polishing, sanding). It is also renowned for its fineness (Valence can produce filaments which weight only 0.06 grams/km!) .

The finished goods are shipped in full trucks (for Europe) or in containers from the port of Marseille to be sold all over the world.

We are fostering innovation, especially on nonwoven and functionalized products (flame-retardant, bacteriostatic, biodegradable fibers). These latter fibers use Amni Soul Eco® technology, from the Solvay Group.  Amni Soul Eco® offers biodegradability while maintaining the standard characteristics of polyamide 66 such as durability, long life, high tenacity, soft touch and abrasion resistance.

Our polyamide 66 cable is transformed and cut (on average 0.7 mm) by our customers and is then applied according to an original industrial process on fabrics, rubber profiles and ceramics. The support to be flocked is glued, either on its entire surface or in the form of a drawing. The object is then subjected to an electric field. The flock is attracted by the electric field, falls perpendicularly and is inserted into the glue. After a drying and fixing phase, the flock adheres completely to its support.

A flocked surface looks like velvet. The main applications are clothing and upholstery (sofas, blankets, wall fabrics), automotive (window frames, car seats, glove boxes), decoration (velvety interior of jewelry boxes, felt figurines) and toys.

With over 70 years’ experience in the flock tow industry, we are committed to provide the best polyamide 66 flock tow in the world. Our flock tow “100% made in France” provides this unique touch of superior quality.

Thanks to our most advanced polyamide 66 polymerization technology, our polyamide 66 flock tows are designed to provide top static flocking performance for the most demanding applications such as textile, furniture and automotive. They are the guarantee of:

• Deep dyeing and long lasting colors
• Superior resilience and wear resistance
• Extremely soft touch and feel
• Stable and consistent premium quality