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| Techtextil 2011: focus on efficient use of energy and resources The market in technical textiles has been a growth market for years and includes many niche segments related to individual applications. Every day sees the constant emergence of new groups of products thanks to tailor-made fibres, new processing technologies and ultra-modern textile machinery. Because of the increasing importance of technical textiles, there is now a huge need for technology, quality and precision in the production of fibres, yarns, wovens and nonwovens as a first stage in the textile manufacturing process. The development of new high-tech fibres and the need to process them with care require all sorts of things from flexible re-structuring of the production process to user-friendly working procedures. That places high demands on both researchers and engineers. The challenge of the efficient use of energy and resources The efficient use of energy, materials and resources continues to be the current major topic in textile machinery development and manufacture. Effective energy management increases competitiveness! So more and more textile manufacturers are undertaking checks of their input streams and processes with regard to energy efficiency and sustainability. Suppliers of manufacturing technologies will be showcasing large numbers of solutions to these issues at this year's Techtextil, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens. The future belongs to composite components In developing textile-reinforced composite components for complex applications, too, both reinforcement and component structure need to be optimally matched to one another, which inevitably entails close integration of the design processes for both materials and components. Composite materials for light-weight construction and coatings are two areas of application with great potential. Light-weight, long-term durability and high load-bearing properties are required here. Duroplastic and thermoplastic bonded layers are already reinforcing car bodies and aeroplane parts, rotor blades of wind-driven power-generating equipment, sports equipment and moving machine parts, but are, however, also being used in the building industry as reinforcement sheathing for textile-reinforced concrete. Current research projects are also devoting themselves to the topic of textile-reinforced composite components, and the issues arising will be presented at the Techtextil Symposium, which will take place in parallel with the trade fair. The lecture on "Requirements for reproducible manufacture of woven spacer fabrics for composite materials using hybrid yarns of glass fibre and thermoplastics " (Technical University of Dresden) is devoted specifically to the development of a process chain, by which the new kind of spacer fabrics can be woven using glass fibre and polypropylene hybrid yarns, drawn off, cut to shape on pre-forms, buffered and thermally pressed into shape. For this, a new device for drawing off, cutting and stacking even, square-mesh 'spacer fabrics' has been designed and successfully commissioned. Tailor-made solutions sought and found A new kind of technology to be presented in the Techtextil Symposium is set to "revolutionise rope manufacture, since it is significantly more efficient than the traditional plaiting machine". (Jakob Müller AG Frick). In contrast to traditional production methods, the new MultiSphere technology now allows rope, with or without a core, cord and the like to be made in a ribbon weaving process on an adapted needle loom. Compared with the plaiting / braiding process, rope and cord with similar and much improved mechanical properties can be produced considerably more efficiently. The MultiSphere technology offers ribbon weavers an extension of their product ranges and for rope manufacturers it offers higher levels of production with lower manufacturing costs. These and other results from textile research, along with numerous innovative solutions are presented every two years at Techtextil, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens in Frankfurt am Main. New this year: Texprocess will for the first time be held in parallel with Techtextil in Frankfurt am Main and run from 24 to 27 May. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Exhibition News :: home page |