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| Issue date:21/08/2009 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Aug 2009 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
| Staff Reporters |
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| Technical textiles remain a crucial sector in the developed countries, where premium performance and quality is the lifeline for textile machine builders, fabric developers, chemical suppliers and manufacturers alike. |
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| About 23,300 visitors attended the Techtextil in Frankfurt this June. |
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The recent Techtextil exhibition held in Frankfurt, Germany, has thus drawn attention from players across Europe and North America, as well as from around the globe.
New machines for the manufacture of high-end industrial textiles (e.g. aramid) and internationally advanced systems from the weaving and other sectors were exhibited to capture opportunities in areas remaining intact even though banks have turned reserved since the onset of the global financial crisis late last year.
With exhibitor numbers representing 1,201 companies from 43 countries, the three-day trade fair this June began in positive mood from the outset. The visitor numbers increased to 23,300 from 22,876 in 2007, according to the organizer Messe Frankfurt.
Industry associations representing European textile machinery were also aware of the challenges in the market, but maintained their confidence with long-standing experience and the wealth of know-how in the field.
The ACIMIT estimated that about 100 Italian manufacturers offering machinery for the production of technical textiles and nonwovens. This kind of machines accounts for about 10% of the global textile machinery production, which in 2008 amounted to over 2,000 million euros.
Machinery for technical textiles is also an important segment for French builders, as described by Bruno Ameline, chairman of UCMTF, a trade organization for French manufacturers of textile machinery. “Particularly in difficult economic times, R&D and investments are top priorities to offer, at the best price, the products the market needs. Then, even if the recovery road is rocky, the crisis will come to an end and our customers who have taken the good investment decisions will emerge even stronger,” he said.
Noting the segment of technical textiles is less impacted by the global economic downturn, Mr Ameline believed that the French machinery manufacturers in the segment will continue strategically positioning themselves as specialized manufacturers, and providing tailor-made solutions for customers in niche markets.
Four Spanish companies also participated in this year’s technical textile fair in Frankfurt, namely Galan Textile Machinery, Talleres Ratera, Frimal Trading, and Valentin Rius Clapers, according to Amec Amtex, the Spanish textile machinery association.
Special textile weaving in demand
ITEMA Weaving offers users a variety of weaving machines for technical applications. The Sulzer Textil brand covers weft insertion systems from Rapier (G6500), Air-jet (L5500) to Projectile (P7300HP V8) as well as Customized Weaving Technology (CWT) for specific needs in areas of complex fabric forming.
The company commented that weavers were looking for new application fields and upgrading opportunities of existing weaving machines to cover new segments.
Sulzer Textil G6500 rapier weaving machine is suitable for weaving aramid fibres
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In demand was weaving aramid fibres. The rapier weaving machine Sulzer Textil G6500 suits well for weaving 0-twist multifilament yarn since the rapier tapes are unguided thus freely flying through the shed, the company explains. There are no guide hooks or any other elements in the shed to interfere with the warp. Small and effective rapier heads run-ning close to the weaving reed make sure that there is only a small shed opening needed thus guaranteeing a very low yarn load and tension. It results in top quality fabrics, an optimum fabric cover, less shrinkage and increased yield per square metre of fabric.
Wide-width weaving, up to 6.55 metres, is growing more popular as well. Flat multi-filament weft yarns (mostly 0-twist) for very wide coating fabrics create daily challenges in fabric forming. ITEMA Weaving offers an answer with Sulzer Textil Projectile weaving machines P7300 HP featuring a new weft tensioning device and other improvements.
Dornier weaving machine, type PS, 220 cm wide, can manufacture ballistic fabrics |
Lindauer Dornier is also a machine builder in the market for airbag weaving as well as for manufacturing reinforcement fabrics made of carbon, glass and aramid. It noticed a market trend towards larger fabric widths, and presented the 540 cm wide air-jet weaving machine for cost-effective production of, for example, screen fabrics, spinnaker sailcloth and coating fabrics such as airbags and geotextiles.
Secondly, a versatile Dornier rapier weaving machine in a new width dimension was presented. The open shed weaving technology on Dornier rapier weaving machines allows processing coarse and heavy yarns that cannot be used by the filling insertion systems on any other conventional weaving machines, the company says.
The machine produces fabrics reliably, cost-effective and without faults, from the finest wire (0.012 mm) or monofilament (11 dtex) up to 50K carbon or BCF yarn (Nm 0.5), with a single filling or with 5-fold multiple filling insertion, in a single layer or up to 8 layer fabrics, Lindauer Dornier adds.
Another machine builder, Picanol, offers the OMNIplus 800 airjet and the OptiMax rapier platforms to meet users’ needs. Weavers venturing into new markets appreciate the good price/performance ratio offered by Picanol, the company says.
Picanol dedicates 30% of its product management capacity to technical textiles. In the last couple of years, it has developed technically advanced solutions in such fields as tire cord, conveyor belts, canvas, industrial glass, monofilaments, decatizing cloth, one-piece-woven airbags, awnings, spinnaker, medical textiles, coating fabrics, high-speed leno weaving, car seats and etc.
Picanol also pays attention to user-friendliness and modularity, and indeed it pioneered the Quick-Style-Change system.
Resin impregnated distance fabric woven with glass yarns (a) can produce light sandwich laminated wind mill wings (b) (Photo: Van De Wiele) |
Developed by Van De Wiele, the VTR23 for technical fabrics is a double rapier weaving machine inserting simultaneously two fillings. Pile yarns are used to connect the top and bottom fabric. Numerous technical fabrics are woven on the VTR23, e.g. distance weaves, multiple layer weaves, geotextiles and filter fabric.
Distance fabrics consist of a top and bottom woven fabric bonded together by vertical pile yarns. These pile yarns are woven into the top and bottom fabrics forming an integral sandwich structure.
Distance fabrics woven with glass yarns are impregnated with thermoset resin. Due to the capillary forces, the distance fabric rises to the preset pile height. A strong and light sandwich laminate is formed. The mechanical properties of this light sandwich allow many applications in the composites industry, e.g. light partition walls and hardtops, double wall for storage tanks, bus panels and roofing and trucks side skirts.
Besides, a French manufacturer of electronic warp let-off systems, Crealet offers solutions for the entire sector of weaving technical fabrics, including controlled warp let-off and cloth take-up; warp beam support in high position for full-width and twin beams; warp beam frames behind the weaving machine; and warp feeding systems for weaving from bobbin creel.
Advanced machinery produces sophisticated fabrics and composites
The production of complex technical fabrics and composites were further displayed by exhibitors from France, Italy, Germany and other areas.
Two new systems were introduced by RITM to manufacture industrial yarns. The Universal Twister & Cabler 60 (UTC 60) enables either to twist yarn using the two-for-one principle (like the UT 50 machines) or to cable yarn using the direct cabling principle. Getting two processes on the same machine is an advantage for the yarn producers. Another premiere exhibit from RITM was UTW 30, which allows a one-step process in assembling and twisting. It uses individual positions and the latest drives for a maximum flexibility.
Comez, meanwhile, has made available a range of machines which are especially suited to producing a countless number of articles for technical use: ribbons, bands, plain and tubular fabrics, 3-D fabrics, plain and tubular netting, which are employed in a multitude of varied applications in several sectors like medical, geo-textile, building, automotive, industrial, transport, sports and leisure, furniture and so forth.
A range of machines were on display including the Comez CLX/EL high-efficiency electronic needle loom and the Comez CLX/EL needle loom.
In addition, Karl Mayer and Karl Mayer Malimo showcased a portfolio of machinery for the technical textiles sector, including those opening up additional end-use areas for the functional materials, the company says.
Examples are machines for the production of bi- and multiaxial ply structures. These textiles with enormous strength are made from high-performance fibres such as carbon, glass or aramid and form the basis for fibre-reinforced composites. The web structures, which are bonded by thermosetting or thermoplastic means, are used mainly in lightweight constructions, for instance, as car body parts and aircraft components, rotor blades for wind power plants, materials for sports goods, moving parts for machines, and also in the building sector. Here they are used as reinforcing components for textile-reinforced concrete, amongst other things.
In view of the rapid upward trend in the composites sector, and particularly because of the high growth rates in the wind power industry, Karl Mayer Malimo has intensified development work in the multiaxial machine sector. The result is the innovative Maltronic Multiaxial introduced to the market this March, the company concludes.
Latest nonwoven and finishing technologies shown
In the area of nonwovens and finishing, a number of textile machinery suppliers presented their newly designed systems to accommodate with changing market needs.
The DiloGroup presented information about its complete production range from opening and blending by DiloTemafa through carding by DiloSpinnbau to crosslapping and needling by DiloMachines. Special focus was laid on complete production lines as the AlphaLine designed for cost-efficient production of standard nonwovens like filters and geotextiles or the HyperLine for highest throughput speeds and lightweight products used in medical, hygiene, cosmetic and more applications.
Stand of DiloGroup at Techtextil '09 |
The HyperLine consists of VentoFeed, DeltaCard, HyperLayer and Hyperpunch needling technology. The new card feeding system VentoFeed is a universal card feeder characterized by continuous feeding even at high throughput speeds for short fine fibres as well as for longer and coarser fibres. The HyperLayer crosslapper achieves web infeed speeds of up to 200 m/min. Such infeed speeds, combined with highest layering precision to give straight web edges and precise web joint, reduce restrictions in crosslapper output and web quality.
New standards for high speed pre-needling are set by the Hyperpunch technique using a DBF batt feeding system and EPMC technology. Increases in productivity together with high web uniformity are an important prerequisite of the new Hyperneedling technology for “intense needling”. The term “intense needling” means an extreme increase in needle and penetration density with a simultaneous reduction of the fibre transport per stroke. This results in good entanglement of individual fibres in the web, high resistance against abrasion forces and best surface quality without markings.
Andritz Küsters MycroCoat: High precision doctor blade with deflection control |
Andritz Küsters introduced the patented MycroCoat system, which makes coating or finishing of webs with a precision in the μ range (one thousandth of a millimetre) achievable. Like the S-Roll and HyCon Roll systems by Andritz Küsters, the fixed comma doctor blade MycroCoat has a deflection-control, which facilitates an exactly defined precise nip against the optimally bedded counter roll. Continuous measuring of thickness and grammage allows for automatic application control in a closed loop under running production. Disturbance variables, such as changes in viscosity of the coating substance or rise in nip pressure at increasing speed can thus be compensated immediately.
Other highlights from Andritz Küsters for technical textiles are the teXcal s-roll calender, the neXkiss plus and the wetlaid technology of neXline wetlaid.
More development in the field of nonwoven technology is demonstrated by Trützschler Nonwovens Group (Fleissner, Erko-Trützschler and Trützschler Card Clothing).
A new card, Random Card EWK413, for the requirements of hydroentangled products was launched, with a high capacity of up to 400 kg/h/m, a good MD/CD ration of 3:1 or better, and a weight range of 20-100 gsm that competes with a three-doffer card.
The new system is found good for cotton based webs, with outstanding web quality and the capacity, after running various trials, the company explains. Capacities of up to 300 kg/h/m are realized with 100% bleached comber noils.
New Erko Carding System at the Fleissner Technology Center |
Fleissner and Trützschler also worked on a solution for small-scale lines. In combination with the new Trützschler TC-07-H card with web take off, an economical solution was presented for the production of cotton pads and other cotton products. The system serves the need of institutes and companies requiring research and development work, producers in niche markets, as well as “beginners” in the nonwovens world.
In addition, Oerlikon Neumag stressed its carding technology with a series of improvements on FOR preparation and carding, Fehrer needle punching and Autefa in crosslapping for applications like geotextiles, automotive, filtration or roofing. Besides the new modular card system, lines for the production of nanofiber nonwovens for acoustic application which base on the cooperation with Elmarco, will be one of the highlights in the carding area.
The capability of Oerlikon Neumag’s spunlaid technology to produce nonwoven materials out of a wide variety of different polymers like PP, PA, PET or bicomponents, or the ability to produce microdenier filaments, offers a huge potential for a wide range of technical applications, the company explains.
In the fields of finishing and printing, Brückner, highlights the market potential of functional textiles for sports and outdoor in the last years, especially the dramatically increasing demand for elastic functional textiles.
Brückner and Stork Prints developed an innovative technology for the direct coating of elastic knitted fabric and applied for a patent. This solution integrates a rotary printing screen in the entry zone of the stenter; centers the fabric in front of the introduction to the coating unit; and allows a short fabric path between the coating unit and the pin-on point at the stenter.
This new positioning of the application unit in the stenter entry opens new possibilities for the coating and functionalising of elastic knitted fabric, Brückner comments.
In today’s market, economic success in technical fabrics is determined by quality and reproducibility, Benninger comments.
Up-to-date finishing (especially in nanotechnology finishing) becomes more and more cost-intensive and at the same time process engineering has to be secured within stricter quality and production limits. Benninger presented Küsters DyePad to meet the market needs.
Küsters DyePad from Benninger |
With the deflection controlled S-Roll the pressure is infinitely variable and still capable to maintain a constant uniform nip pressure, the company explains. Further developments by Benninger have put the main emphasis on the infrastructure, such as fabric guidance, dosing and recipe management, and thus adapts the processes to the requirements of modern textiles. Benninger regards itself well positioned to meet the demands and challenges in the field of sophisticated technical textiles.
On the other hand, A. Monforts exhibited a working model of its TT (Technical Textiles) Montex stenter, which offers a new concept of finishing for coatings and the technical textiles sector.
The Chamber highlights its four-meter long build compared with standard three-meter long stenter chamber and designed to provide an absolute even temperature over the width and length of the dryer for coating processes.
A. Monforts also provided energy saving solutions available with the latest generation of Monforts dyeing and finishing units.
Facility set-up helps save energy and costs
Eco-friendlier solutions are getting more popular as costs for energy have been rising drastically within the past years.
Even though the energy market is fluctuating in these days, it is a proven fact that in future the energy prices will increase significantly, Wumag Texroll remarks.
The Wumag Texroll’s Cylinder Dryer with insulated housing is separated from hall ambient. Due to this feature, the quantity of extracted air is decreased considerably and the temperature within the housing is increasing from 40°C up to 70°C. Cylinder and fabric are therefore surrounded by air with higher temperature and cannot cool down.
New technologies for automotive textiles and apparel
Notably, BASF introduced Electroconductive textiles (E-Textiles), which can open up new possibilities, the company comments.
Also known as E-Textiles, they combine typical textile properties such as flexibility, tensile strength and handle with electrical or metallic functions such as thermal and electrical conductivity. BASF introduces under the name Texapret E, a new technology, where these products can be produced on an industrial scale. E-Textiles can be used in diverse fields of application such as the automotive and construction sectors. Various possible applications for this innovation include:
‧The surrounding environment can be observed with textiles fitted with sensors: A sensor-equipped carpet, for example, could detect, evaluate and relay movements. Such textiles can be used in nursing homes where unusual falls can be immediately reported and assistance called for.
‧Textiles with LEDs (light-emitting diodes) open up new possibilities for furnishings and advertizing media. They could, for example, be used in flags and banners that are visible at night.
Double layered weave structure for airbag (Photo: Bonas) |
Additionally, Bonas highlighted the application of technical Jacquard weaving in the manufacture of automotive safety bags.
In a relatively short time span the utilization of safety airbags has seen Jacquards break convention and push performance criteria well beyond previous limits.
A typical curtain bag, fitted to most modern cars, requires a Jacquard of approximately 12,000 hooks to weave at speeds in excess of 600ppm.
Faults are detected within the pick cycle, without damage or “stitching” of the fabric. Bonas models also offer the highest lifting capability per selector whilst maintaining a precise drive principal and very low torque figures, the company says.
Dow Corning’s Active Protection System S-Range products can be cut into different shapes and sewn into garments or pockets |
For the segment of automotive wear and other garment, Dow Corning Corporation introduced two new product lines to its Dow Corning brand Active Protection System family of impact protection materials. The S-Range is based on 3D spacer textile technology while the TP-Range is based on thermoplastic technology. The patented silicone-based impact protection materials are comfortable and breathable.
Another innovator, Schoeller Technologies, presented Coldblack with Clariant. Dark colors, when treated with coldblack, look dark but react like light colors. Therefore, they remain cooler when exposed to direct sunlight.
Moreover, Schoeller Technologies offers a new textile technology, 3XDRY finish, which repels water and dirt from the outside (hydrophobic) and absorbs moisture from the inside (hydrophilic). Clothing with 3XDRY keeps the body dryer, prevents perspiration stains and produces a cooling effect.
Also from Switzerland is HeiQ Materials, a supplier of silver composite additives and high performance sustainable textile finishes, which has launched “Barrier by HeiQ”.
Barrier by HeiQ is a novel particle-based water and oil repellency system, providing extraordinary protection against the elements and stains for all types of fabrics. The company claims that the superior performance is possible, thanks to the unique 3D structure of the textile surface built-up by specialized microsized particles that are firmly embedded in the textile finish applied to the textile.
Last but not the least, FiberVisions provides finishing technologies for applications of apparel. Featured developments also include CoolVisions – the first disperse dyeable polypropylene (PP) fiber for the apparel market.
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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