Rewinding (or respooling) carbon fiber is best avoided when possible. When carbon fiber is rewound, filaments can get damaged, fiber can get twisted, and the width of the fiber can become distorted.

However, in many cases rewinding is unavoidable. You may need to break down packages to put on a weaving creel, which may have close to 1000 positions. Since having full carbon fiber bobbins on a large creel is expensive, there may be a requirement to break down carbon fiber packages into smaller packages. Typically small packages are not available from the fiber manufacturers.

There may also be an instance in which smaller left-over packages need to be consolidated into a larger package. In this case a rewinder can also be used.

We offer a few different solutions for rewinding carbon fiber and other high performance fibers, with minimal damage to the fiber.

Proper rewinding techniques

Choosing the correct winder for rewinding carbon fiber is most important to minimize damage during the rewinding process. Our rewinders use the same technology as our carbon fiber take up winders which are used by carbon fiber producers worldwide. Therefore you will get the same quality wind as a package straight from the manufacturer. For heavier tow and flat fibers, a special flat tow traverse guide and self-aligning roller is used to prevent twist and maintain the width of the fiber. Also note that for carbon fiber respooling, it is recommended to wind at speeds under 100 meter/min to prevent filament damage. Even lower speeds are recommended for rewinding high modulus carbon fibers.

Types of rewinders

• EKTW-CL-FR – This is a manual rewinder equipped with a feed roller to handle rewinding of any high performance fiber. It can be equipped with optional flat tow handling guides. The unit is equipped with a length counter to automatically stop at a preset length, ensuring all rewound packages are identical in length.

• KTAW – This is a fully automatic rewinder. Once loaded with empty cores, it will automatically rewind packages to a preset length, cut fiber and doff, reload new cores unassisted. This winder is ideal for large volume rewinding applications. This unit can also be equipped with flat tow guides for heavy and flat tow rewinding.

Rewinding services

We also provide rewinding services in case the rewinding frequency or volume is not enough to justify the purchase of rewinding equipment. The winding specialists at Izumi International can recommend the best wind ratios and optimum rewinding speeds for each fiber, so those unknown parameters can be identified when rewinding.