INTRODUCTION TO TECHNICAL TEXTILES

Definition of Technical Textiles:The definition of technical textiles adopted by the Authoritative Textile Terms and Definitions published by the Textile Institute is textile materials and products manufactured primarily for their technical and performance properties rather than their aesthetic or decorative characteristics. Technical textiles is the term given to textile products manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion. Technical textiles consist of all those textilebased products, which are used principally for their performance, functional characteristics, technical properties, and used for non-consumer (i.e. industrial) applications rather than for their appearance, aesthetics, and decorative characteristics. The Technical Textile and Nonwoven Association (TTNA) of Australia defines technical and non-woven textiles industry as a supply chain that covers the manufacture of high performance often customized fabrics, for various industrial users (such as the automotive, sanitation and construction industries) and for individuals with specialist personal use requirements (such as sports and leisure equipment and clothing). In many cases it has been replacing the conventional materials with low cost, high efficiency materials along with many other features. Other terms used for defining technical textiles include industrial textiles, functional textiles, performance textiles, engineering textiles, invisible textiles, and hi-tech textiles. Here one should note that industrial textiles is a category of technical textiles used as a part of an industrial process, or incorporated into final products. The basic and main characteristic of technical textiles that differentiates it from ordinary or traditional textiles is its purpose, i.e., functionality and performance. Technical textiles could be made from both natural and synthetic fibres. It can be used by both individuals for specialist personal use and requirements of industries. Terms such as performance textiles, functional textiles, engineered textiles, and high tech textiles are also used in various contexts sometimes as a substitute for the world technical textiles. Technical textile can be made from natural, man-made, inorganic fibres. The following table lists the various fibres that can be used for technical textiles.

Fibre type Natural Man made

Example Cotton, wool, wood pulp, others Regenerated (viscose, other cellulose fibres), synthetic (polyester, polyamide, polyolefin, polypropylene, polyethylene, acrylic,

Inorganic

electrometric, aramid, p-aramid, m-aramid), other high performance fibres Glass, carbon, ceramic, steel

Based on the final product type technical textile can be of several types.

Table 1: Types of technical textiles based on final product type

Particulars Yarn Woven fabrics Knitted fabrics Non-woven fabrics Other fabrics

Details Consisting of ropes, other braided products, non-braided yarn type products. Consisting of broad-woven fabric, narrow-woven fabric, circular woven. Consisting of warp knitted fabric, weft knitted fabric, hosiery knitted fabric, sliver knitted fabric, santoni knitted fabric, flat-bed knitted fabric. Consisting of dry-laid nonwovens, air-laid non-wovens, wet-laid nonwovens, extruded non-wovens. Consisting of tufted fabrics, knotted nets.

Depending on the requirement technical textile can be coated with PVC, PU, rubber, and other material.

Scope of Technical Textile:An exceptional feature of technical textiles is the use of innumerable varieties of raw materials, processes, products and applications for their production. Some of the materials used for making technical textile are listed below.

Metals, like steel. Minerals, like asbestos and glass. Synthetic polymers, like PES, PA, PAN, PP etc. Regenerated fibers like rayon fiber and acetate fiber. Natural fibers like cotton fiber, jute fiber, wool fiber etc.

Not only a great variety of raw materials but a multitude of processes are also employed for manufacturing technical textiles that include basic processes like weaving and knitting and much advanced processes like stitch bonding, chemical, thermal bonding to needle punching and many more. All these processes result into various products like fibers, yarns, and threads that are further used for making the finished technical textile. Not only this, many processes also lead to the manufacture of end products like ropes, cords, bags, belts etc. The figure above goes to explain the complexity of the technical textile process chain

Classification of technical textiles:Internationally several schemes are proposed for creating an acceptable description and classification of technical textiles. Among these several schemes, the most accepted and widely used classification has been given by Techtexil (leading international trade organization for technical textiles). Techtexil defines 12 main application areas of technical textiles. They are as follows: 1. 2. Agrotech (Agriculture, horticulture and forestry). Buildtech (building and construction).

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Clothtech (technical components of shoes and clothing). Geotech (geotextiles, civil engineering). Hometech (components of furniture, household textiles and floor coverings). Indutech (filtration, cleaning and other industrial usage). Medtech (hygiene and medical). Mobiltech (automobiles, shipping, railways and aerospace). Oekotech (environmental protection). Packtech (packaging). Protech (personal and property protection). Sportech (sport and leisure).

Technical Textiles Classification:According to the end use, technical textiles can be divided into different categories.

Agrotech:
These are the Agro-textiles, also known as Agrotex, that are used in agricultural applications related to growing and harvesting of crops and animals. Not only crop production, they are also used in forestry, horticulture, as well as animal and poultry rearing including animal clothing. Agro-textiles have to be strong, elongated, stiff, bio-degradable, resistant to sunlight and toxic environment.

Buildtech:
These are the Construction Textiles, also known as Buildtex, used in construction and architectural applications, such as for concrete reinforcement, facade foundation, interior construction, insulation, air conditioning, noise prevention, visual protection, protection against sun light, building safety etc. The field of textile architecture is also expanding as textile membranes are increasingly being used for roof construction. Such fabrics as PVC coated high tenacity PES, teflon coated glass fiber fabrics or silicone coated PES are used extensively in football stadia, airports and hotels.

Clothtech:
These are the Clothing Textiles, also known as Clothtex, including all those textile products that represent functional, most often hidden components, of clothing and footwear such as

interlinings, sewing thread, insulating fibrefill and waddings. They are the 'high performance' garment fabrics whose demand is increasingly rising with the time.

Geotech:
These are the Geotextiles, also known as Geotex, which are woven, nonwoven and knit fabric used for many functions such as support, drainage and separation at or below ground level. Their application areas include civil and coastal engineering, earth and road construction, dam engineering, soil sealing and in drainage systems. Geotech have good strength, durability, low moisture absorption and thickness. Synthetic fibers such as glass fiber, polypropylene and acrylic fibers are used to prevent cracking of the concrete, plastic and other building materials.

Hometech:
These are the Domestic Textiles, also known as Hometex, used in making of many home furnishing fabrics including carpet backings, curtains, wall coverings, etc. They are mostly fire retardant fabrics whose properties are derived either by using fire retardant fibers such as modacrylic fiber or by coating the fabrics with fire retardant additives such as bromide of phosphorus compounds.

Indutech:
These are the Industrial Textiles, also known as Indutex, used in different ways by many industries for activities such as separating and purifying industrial products, cleaning gases and effluents, transporting materials between processes and acting as substrates for abrasive sheets and other coated products. They range from lightweight nonwoven filters, knitted nets and brushes to heavyweight coated conveyor belts.

Medtech:
These are the Medical Textiles, also known as Medtex. They include all the medical fabrics that are used in health and hygiene applications in both consumer and medical markets. They are generally used in bandages and sutures that are used for stitching the wounds. Sutures and wound dressing uses fibers like silk fibers and other synthetic fibers. Hollow synthetic fibers are used with nano particles (very small particles) for delivery of drugs to any specific part of the body. Cotton, silk, polyester, polyamide fabrics are also used in medical applications.

Mobiltech:
These textiles, also known as Mobiltex, are used in transport industry, such as in construction of automobiles, railways, ships etc. Truck covers and restraints are significant textile end-uses in the transportation sector. They can range from simple ropes and tarpaulins to highly engineered flexible curtain systems

and webbing tie-downs. Other examples include seat covers, seat belts, non-wovens for cabin air filtration, airbags, parachutes, inflatable boats, air balloons am

Oekotech:
These are the Eco-friendly Textiles, also known as Oekotex or Ecotex. They are mostly used in environmental protection applications - floor sealing, erosion protection, air cleaning, prevention of water pollution, water cleaning, waste treatment/recycling, depositing area construction, product extraction, domestic water sewerage plants. They are even gaining unimaginable popularity in other sectors of textile industry. Clothing, home furnishings, fashion accessories etc. all now come in eco-friendly versions made of oekotech.

Packtech:
These are the Packaging Textiles, also known as Packtex. Textiles have been used for packaging since ages. It ranges from heavyweight woven fabrics used for bags, packaging sacks, Flexible Intermediate Bulk Carriers (FIBCs) and wrappings for textile bales and carpets to the lightweight nonwovens used as durable papers, tea bags and other food and industrial product wrappings.

Protech:
These are the Protective Textiles, also known as Protex, that are used in the manufacturing of protective clothing of different types. Protection against heat and radiation for fire fighter clothing, against molten metals for welders, for bullet proof jackets or for chemical protective clothing- all depend on the use of protech. The protective textiles are made with the help of specialty fibers such as aramid fiber used in making of bullet proof jackets, glass fibers used in fire proof jackets etc. Sometimes the protective textile is also coated with special chemicals, for example, when used in manufacturing astronauts suits.

Sporttech:
These are the Sports Textiles, also known as Sporttex, used mainly for making sports wear including sports shoes and other sports accessories. Increasing interest in active sports and outdoor leisure activities such as flying and sailing sports, climbing, cycling, etc. has led to immense growth in the consumption of textile materials in manufacturing sporting and related goods and equipment. Synthetic fibers and coatings have largely replaced traditional cotton fabrics and other natural fibers in the making of spottech

World Technical Textiles Consumption Analysis by Application Areas 1995 2010

Application Area Agrotech Buildtech 1995 1,173 1,261 2000 1,381 1,648 Volume in 1,000 tons 2005 2010 1,615 1,958 2,033 2,591

Clothtech Geotech Hometech Indutech Medtech Mobiltech Packtech Protech Sporttech Total of which Oekotech

1,072 196 1,864 1,846 1,228 2,117 2,189 184 841 13,971 161

1,238 255 2,186 2,205 1,543 2,479 2,552 238 989 16,714 214

1,413 319 2,499 2,624 1,928 2,828 2,990 279 1,153 19,683 287

1,656 413 2,853 3,257 2,380 3,338 3,606 340 1,382 23,774 400

Traditional v/s Technical Textile Markets :_

The market trends for traditional textiles is heavily inclined towards countries with cheap labor. In such an environment, technical textiles give an opportunity to the companies in the industrialized countries to survive the competition and to achieve sustainable growth due to their specialized skills, materials, processes and equipments. There are certain basic differences between technical textiles and traditional textiles industries:

Technical textiles are preferred for their highly specific performance quality and as such they are more expensive than the traditional textiles. Technical textile manufacturers have to use accepted testing methods in order to gain customers' faith regarding standard specifications. Technical textiles are for a distinct segment of a market as opposed to mass market. This target market needs more flexible and smaller production spells. Thus the technical textile manufacturers too have to be flexible in their production schedules. Technical Textiles survive on innovations. Thus, technical textile manufacturers must be ready to invest in research and development and newer equipments too. In certain categories of technical textiles, the legal necessities have to be followed by the manufacturers.

Technical Textiles Industry- Market Trends:The global market for technical textiles is rising as never before. Although US and EU continue to be major manufacturers and consumers of technical textiles, the Asian countries like China and India have recently emerged as chief production centers of technical textiles. Russia is also an important market where the consumption of technical textiles is growing at a fast speed. Turkey's technical textiles market has also started to develop in the recent years. Some of the facts related to world technical textile markets will throw some more light on the issue:

The total global sale of technical textiles is expected to touch US$126 billion by 2010.

Asia is fast emerging as the chief producer and consumer of technical textiles. The Texas Tech University has predicted the growth of nonwovens and technical textiles markets in India by 13.3% per annum during 2005-50. The demand for filters in China is forecast to rise by 14.4% a year up to 2011 due to developments in motor vehicle production, manufacturing output, construction activities, and urbanization of the population. Turkey is developing as an important center for technical textiles production and is exporting technical textile raw material and end products to the world.

World Consumption:

World consumption of this sector is estimated 19.68 million tonnes in 2005 and will rise to 23.77 million tonnes in 2010 with an average growth rate of 3.8%. The largest application areas by value are transport, industrial and sports-related products. But the faster growing sectors up to 2010 will be the geo-textiles and medical and hygiene related products. Asia will accounts for 45% of the market by weight in 2010 compared with 23% in the case of Europe and 29% for the Americas. It is estimated that the volume growth of technical textiles in developing countries will average between 4% and 5% per annum to year 2010. Table 1:Market Size of Technical Textiles (sector wise) Quantity: 000 Tonnes Value: US : $ Million 2005 2010 Sector Quantity Value Quantity Value Agrotech 1,615 6,568 1,958 8,079 Buildtech 2,033 7,296 2,591 9,325 Clothtech 1,413 7,014 1,656 8,306 Geotech 319 927 413 1,203 Hometech 2,499 7,622 2,853 8,778 Indutech 2,624 16,687 3,257 21,528 Medtech 1,928 6,670 2,380 8,238 Mobiltech 2,828 26,861 3,338 29,282 Paktech 2,990 5,329 3,606 6,630 Protech 279 5,873 340 6,857 Sporttech 1,153 16,052 1,382 19,062 Oekotech 287 1,039 400 1,389 Total 19,683 106,899 23,774 127,288 Source: David Rigby Associates / Techtextil