Car seats and roof linings made of wood, flax, maize and recy-cled PET

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Current legislation requires the automobile industry to employ innovative recycling concepts and renewable raw materials. Hence, research and industry are working together to develop new, environmentally-friendly fibres – for everything from seat covers to foot mats.

When it comes to developing new, extremely sustainable vehicles, the focus is no longer solely on service life and fuel consumption but also, and increasingly, on the entire life cycle. One of the main reasons for this is the EU Directive on the Environmentally Friendly Disposal of End-of-life Vehicles, which prescribes that 95 percent of a vehicle by weight must be suitable for recycling by 2015. From the body shell, engine and wheels to the foot mats, every component is subject to close scrutiny. Accordingly, textiles also have an increasingly important role to play.

On course for the "uncompromisingly sustainable vehicle"
Sales of textile companies to the automobile industry amount to around four billion euros a year. Accounting for around 22 percent of the technical-textiles market, 'mobile textiles' are the biggest single segment – and this share is likely to continue to grow. Together with textile-research institutes, these companies are developing innovative technical textiles for tomorrow's cars. In this connection, the focus is on two aspects in particular: recycling concepts and fibres made of renewable raw materials. Future-oriented new products will be presented at Techtextil, International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens, in Frankfurt am Main from 11 to 13 June 2013.

BMW paid particular attention to resource-friendly fibres when developing the new BMW i3. In addition to the extensive use of natural fibres and naturally-dyed leather, plastics made using recycled materials or renewable raw materials account for 25 percent of the interior by weight. BMW has invested € 400 million in the production of this 'uncompromisingly sustainable vehicle'.

Seat covers made of eco-textiles at Ford and Citroën
"To all intents and purposes, no meetings are held nowadays without the subject of sustainability being discussed", says Christian Deutmeyer of IBENA Cartex GmbH, manufacturers of woven fabrics for the automobile industry. For seat covers, IBENA Cartex has developed a sandwich design comprising three components that can either be recycled or have been made using renewable raw materials. The face fabric consists of recycled polyester and the foam of up to 50% bio-polyol obtained from rapeseed, soya, sunflower seeds, etc. The bottom layer is a knitted or nonwoven material made of cotton or recycled polyester. "The demand is there", says Deutmeyer. However, he adds that the price is often a barrier to implementation.

Recycled polyester is used extensively in the new Ford Focus Electric. A large part of the seat covers are made from 'Repreve', a fibre produced using old PET bottles. Around 22 plastic bottles are turned into textiles for every Ford Focus Electric interior. This not only saves the corresponding quantity of mineral oil but also the associated energy and CO2 emissions.

At Citroën, the emphasis is on nature. Since last year, the seats of the Citroën C4 have been covered with a fabric woven from Tencel fibres. Tencel is a cellulose fibre made out of wood by Lenzing in Austria and is biodegradable. In addition to seat-cover fabrics, Tencel fibres can also be used in the automobile sector as highly voluminous fibres for mats, as a fibrous powder for plastic parts and as textile fibres for nonwovens and battery separators. "At present, tests are being conducted by automobile manufacturers in Germany, Italy, South Korea and Japan", says Dr Friedrich Suchomel, Head of New Applications Global Textile Innovations & Business Development at Lenzing. However, he also draws attention to the price sensitivity of automobile manufacturers.

Resource-friendly + function = ready for mass production
"Cellulose fibres will only be really interesting for the automobile industry when they are also functional", says Ralf Bauer, CEO of Ostthüringische Materialprüfgesellschaft für Textil- und Kunststoffe mbH (OMPG), a subsidiary of the Thuringia Institute for Textile and Plastic Research (Thüringisches Institut für Textil- und Kunststoff-Forschung e.V.). Together, they work on projects in the field of polymer materials and composites for clients from the business and science spheres. They will show their latest developments at Techtextil 2013: cellulose fibres that can be fused with liquids. Thus, using a complex process, OMPG is able to combine cellulose with paraffin to create a climate fibre with a cooling effect. Used for car seats, it makes them more comfortable. Using it for roof linings helps keep the interior temperature down, which is very interesting for vehicles in very hot regions, such as Dubai. "Sustainability does not come cheap. However, if you can combine a resource-friendly material, such as cellulose, with the supplementary benefit of functionality, the fibres will be ready to go into mass production", explains Bauer.

In its 'Nature Wins' project, the Institute for Textile Technology of RWTH Aachen brings together no less than three sustainable factors: recyclability, renewable raw materials and biodegradability. Since January last year, the Institute has been working together with its Belgian project partners, Centexbel Research Centre and Sirris Leuven Composites Application Lab, on a new composite material made of PLA as a biopolymer and flax as a natural fibre. Combining the two components creates a bio-composite with the positive qualities of flax fibre, which approximate to those of glass fibre but are not so dense. This means that material can be saved in subsequent processing. The fibres can be used to make both nonwovens and yarns and woven fabrics. After exhaustive testing, the first seat for a F1 racing car – using composite structures made of flax and PLA – is scheduled to be produced by February 2013.

Visitors to Techtextil, International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens, in Frankfurt am Main from 11 to 13 June 2013, will be able to see the fabrics to be used in tomorrow's seat covers, roof linings, door panels and foot mats, as well as the latest developments in the field of innovative technical textiles.

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