To determine whether a fabric is a rapier woven fabric or a jet woven fabric, one can look at the edge organization of the fabric:
(1) Generally, polyester-cotton yarns are rapier (with edge-securing devices), while filament yarns are jet woven (with planetary gear devices).
(2) For jet double-sided fabrics, one side is yarn and the other side is filament (with edge-securing devices in the middle and planetary gear devices on both sides).
(3) For rapier double-sided fabrics, both side yarns are polyester-cotton yarns (both with edge-securing devices).
Rapier looms: They use rigid or flexible rapier heads and carriers to hold and guide the weft yarns. Besides being suitable for weaving plain and twill fabrics, rapier looms are characterized by their convenient color change, making them suitable for multi-color weft fabrics. They are applicable to the production of yarn-dyed fabrics, double-layer pile fabrics, loop fabrics, and decorative fabrics.
Jet loom: It uses the compressed air flow jetted out to pull the weft yarn and carry it through the shed. The most prominent feature of the jet loom is its high speed and high labor productivity. It is suitable for plain and twill fabrics, fine and high-density fabrics, and fabrics with large production volumes.
1) The production of jet-spun fabric usually involves a wide variety of fine-spun yarns with higher grade varieties, mainly for lightweight fabrics; while the beam loom generally has a larger variety of thick-spun yarns with lower grade varieties, mainly for heavy-duty fabrics.
(2) From the perspective of equipment, there is essentially no difference between jet and beam looms in terms of weft insertion.
(3) For the same weave structure, the raw material cost is the same. The weaving cost of jet is lower. For example, in twill weave, the jet loom can reach a speed of over 800 revolutions per minute, while the beam loom is only around 180-200 revolutions per minute. The weaver in the jet loom can oversee 10-12 machines at a time, while the beam loom can handle up to 4-6 machines.
Commonality: All are frayed edges, and they can be of the same specification.
Differences: Under the premise of the same yarn count and specification: ① The jet fabric weight is slightly lighter. ② The flatness of the jet plain weave fabric is better than that produced by the warping machine. ③ The shrinkage rate of the jet fabric will be larger accordingly. ④ The quality of the yarn used for the jet fabric is better than that for the warping machine.