TECHNICAL TEXTILES

& ITS IMPORTANCE

TECHNICAL TEXTILES AND ITS IMPORTANCE

The awareness towards the technical textiles is projecting the importance of this segment of textile very high. The consumption of the technical textile is also increasing day by day. Developing countries have high potential for this type of textile, provided they could meet the requirements, as the production cost compared to the developed countries will be much cheaper.

TYPES OF TECHNICAL TEXTILE

Agrotech: Buildtech: Clothtech: Geotech: Hometech:

Agriculture, aquaculture and forestry. Building and construction. Technical components of footwear and clothing. Geotextiles and civil engineering. Technical components of furniture, household textiles and floor coverings. Indutech: Filtration, conveying, cleaning and other industrial. Medtech: Hygiene and medical. Mobiltech: Automobiles, shipping, railways and aerospace. Oekotech: Environmental protection. Packtech: Packaging. Protech: Personal and property protection. Sporttech: Sport and leisure.

Different fibers which are used in making technical textiles are as follows:

Natural Fibers. Viscose rayon.

Polyamide and Polyester.

Polyolefins. High performance fibers.

Natural Fibers

Cotton, flax, jute and sisal have been used, but their characteristic properties such as relatively heavy weight, limited resistance to water and microbial/fungal attack as well as poor flame retardency,makes them not very attractive fibre. Wool proves far less versatile and economical for most industrial applications, although it is still valued for its insulating and flame retardency properties. Silk is mainly used for surgical suture threads.

Viscous rayon:

Viscous rayon was used as re-enforcement material for tyres, drive belts, conveyers, and hoses etc. Because of its high uniformity, tenacity, modulus and good temperature resistance and absorbency, this material is widely used for disposable cleaning and hygiene products.

Polyamide and Polyester

Polyamide and Polyester fiber has high strength, good abrasion resistance, good elasticity, uniformity, good moisture resistance properties. These are very suitable for making climbing ropes, parachute fabric and sails.

Polyolefins

Polypropylene fibers because of its low cost, low density, good abrasion and moisture resistant properties has gained a big market specially for sacks, bags, packaging, carpet packing, furniture linings, ropes and netting.
Polypropylene has benefited from a growing appreciation of the important role that moisture wickening can play in hygiene applications such as coverstock for diapers.

High performance fibers

Apart from the above mentioned conventional fibers, a range of speciallity fibers are also available such as carbon fiber, Aramids (meta and para), Phenolic fibre, PBI polybenzimidazole, HMPE high modulus polyethylen, PTFE Polytetraflouroethylen, PPS polyphenylene sulphide, PEEK polyethyletherketone.Glass and ceramic fibers.

Important Technical Textile can be specified as follow

Heat and flame protected fabrics:

In the highly industrialized countries, the safety of human beings has become an important issue. A number of new fibers, fabrics and protective clothing have been developed in the recent years. Main uses of this clothing are for fire fighters, foundry workers, defense personnel, etc. In protective clothing it is desirable to have low propensity for ignition from a flaming source, or if the item ignites a slow fire spread with low heat output, thermoplastic fibers qualifies these requirements but they fails to meet the additional properties such as protection from heat by providing insulation, high dimensional stability of the fabric so that fabric neither shrink nor melt, and if they then decompose, form char. These properties can only be met by special fibers such as aramid.

- The flame retardant fibers, such as aramid,

modacrylic, polybenzimidzole PBI, Panox(oxidized acrylic), semicarbon, phenolic, asbestos, ceramic, etc. - Chemically modified fibers and fabrics i.e. flame retardant cotton, wool, viscose and synthetic fiber.

Textile-reinforced composite materials:

Composite materials are characterized by being multiphase materials within which the phase distribution and geometry has been deliberately tailored to optimize one or more properties. There is one phase called matrix, reinforced by fibrous material in the form of textile. Textile reinforcement is also more viable option for pre pegging or autoclave manufacture, because of its low cost and enhanced processibility, with more than adequate or in some cases more improved mechanical properties. The reinforcement textile can be produced by woven, knitted, braided or stitched.

Water-proof breathable fabrics:

Waterproof breathable fabrics are used in garments that provide protection from weather, i.e. wind, rain and loss of body heat. Waterproof fabric completely prevents the penetration and absorption of liquid. While water repellant only delays the penetration of water.

The term breathable fabrics passively allow water vapour to diffuse through them yet still prevent the penetration of liquid water.
Waterproof breathable fabrics prevent the penetration of liquid water from outside to inside the clothing yet permit the penetration of water vapour from inside the clothing to the outside atmosphere.

Types of waterproof breathable fabrics:

a) Densely woven fabrics b) Membranes c) Coatings

a) Densely woven fabrics:

In 1940 a fabric called Ventile was developed for the forces which will allow the personnel to be comfortable while performing their duties and prevent the penetration of water if they were immersed in the water. For that type of fabric, long staple combed cotton yarn was selected and then plied. This improves regularity and ensures that the fibers are as parallel as possible to the yarn axis and there are no large pores where water can penetrate. When the fabric surface is wetted by water, the cotton fibers swell transversely reducing the size of the pores in the fabric and requiring very high pressure to cause penetration. The fabric becomes waterproof without any water repellant finishing chemicals. Now synthetic microfilaments fibers are also used for such fabrics.

b) Membranes:

Membranes are extremely thin films made from polymeric materials and engineered in such a way that they have a very high resistance to liquid water penetration, yet allow the passage of water vapour. A typical membrane is only about 10 micrometer thick and therefore is laminated to a conventional textile fabric to provide the necessary mechanical strength. They are of two types, micro porous and hydrophilic.

c) Coatings:

These consist of a layer of polymeric material applied to one surface of the fabric. Normally polyurethanes are used for such purpose, acrylic coatings are also used. They are also micro porous and hydrophilic. Micro porous coatings are produced by following methods: 1-Wet coagulation 2-Thermo coagulation 3-Foam coating

Hydrophilic Coatings

Use the same basic water vapour permeability mechanism as the hydrophilic membrane. The difference between micro porous materials and hydrophilic materials is that with the former, water vapour passes through the permanent air permeable structure whereas the latter transmit vapour by a molecular mechanism involving absorption-diffusion and desorption. These coatings are all based on polyurethane, which has been chemically modified by incorporating polyvinyl alcohols and polyethylene oxides.

Medical Textiles:

Medical textiles are related to medical , related health care and hygiene sector. Medical textiles are combination of strength, flexibility and sometimes moisture and air permeability; they can be of monofilament, multifilament, woven, knitted and non woven fabrics. These materials can be categorized into four areas of application such as: Nonimplantable materials- wound dressing, bandages, plasters etc. Extracorporeal devicesArtificial kidney, liver and lungs. Implantable materialssutures, vascular grafts, artificial ligaments, artificial joints, etc. Health care hygiene products- bedding, clothing, surgical gowns, cloth wipes etc.

Textiles in Defense:

Defense forces on land, sea or air throughout the world are heavily reliant on technical textiles of all types wether woven, knitted, non woven, coated, laminated or other composite form. Most of the specialized textiles are consumed for army purposes. and they require. Lightweight, low bulk, durable, dimensional stable, antistatic good handle, drape and low noise emission. Water proof, wind proof, weather resistant, air permeable, rot resistant, uv light resistant, biodegradable. Camouflage, concealment, deceptive. Flame retardant, heat resistance and flash protection.

Textile for Survival

There has been a large increase in the hazards to which humans are exposed as a result of developments in technology in the work place and on the battle field. The types of protective garments which fall in this category are:
Tents, helmets, gloves, sleeping bags, survival bags and suits, fire protective clothing, heat resistance garments, biological and chemical protective clothing, military protective apparel, etc.

Thanks