What is the difference between water-jet, rapier and air-jet looms?
Short answer
They differ in how the weft yarn crosses the loom. Water-jet looms shoot it with a jet of water and suit synthetic filament yarns. Air-jet looms use compressed air and are very fast. Rapier looms carry it with a gripper arm and handle a wide range of yarns and fancy designs.
Water-jet looms: carry the weft across with a jet of water. They are fast and well suited to synthetic filament yarns like polyester, which is why Surat has about 95,000 of them.
Air-jet looms: use compressed air. They are the fastest and suit high-volume production of standard fabrics.
Rapier looms: a gripper arm carries the weft. They handle many yarn types and fancy and jacquard designs.
Shuttle powerlooms: older, slower looms that carry the weft in a shuttle.
When sourcing grey fabric, ask which loom type was used, because it affects quality, defects and price.
