From the Sector

The full potential of advanced coating and finishing technologies for the production of technical textiles will be outlined by Monforts specialists which takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, in May.

The company and its US representative PSP Marketing, of Charlotte, North Carolina, will be part of the VDMA German Pavilion at the show, at stand 3231 within the Georgia World Congress Center.

A wide range of technical fabrics is now being successfully created with MontexCoat coating units in comination with Montex stenters, including tents, tarpaulins and awnings, black-out roller blinds and sail cloth, automotive interior fabrics and medical disposables.

Full PVC coatings, pigment dyeing or minimal application surface and low penetration treatments can all be carried out with the extremely versatile system. Solvent coatings in explosion-proof conditions, knife coating, roller coating and screen printing are further options and the MontexCoat has been engineered to enable users to switch quickly from one fabric run to the next without compromising on the economical use of energy or raw materials.

“There has already been terrific interest in the MontexCoat and the range of different techniques it enables and we’re far from exhausting its potential uses,” says Achim Gesser, Monforts Area Sales Manager who will be at the show in Atlanta. “For companies who don’t need such flexibility, the economical coaTTex unit is exclusively dedicated to air knife and knife-over-roller coating.

“At our ATC in Mönchengladbach, Germany, however, a MontexCoat unit has been integrated into a full Montex technical textiles pilot line, on which our customers can run trials of new fabrics and finishing formulations in widths of up to 1.8 metres. This line has been engineered to provide the ultimate in precision coating and finishing in industrial-scale trials.”

To fully demonstrate what’s possible, the Montex line at the ATC is able to treat materials not only at temperatures of up to 320°C, but apply separate coatings on the two sides of certain materials at different temperatures, within a single pass through the machine. To achieve this, the first two chambers of the stenter are fitted with TwinTherm burners for individual top/bottom heating. A temperature differential of up to 60°C can be achieved between the upper and lower nozzles within the chamber, depending on the treatment parameters.

“There are many applications where employing two separate temperature treatments is beneficial, such as floorcoverings – where the textile face fabric is treated at one temperature and the rubber backing at another – as well as PVC flooring employing chemical foams, black-out roller blinds with heavy backings or PTFE-coated filter materials,” Gesser explains.

Another key feature of the technical textiles line at the ATC is the Montex stenter’s special stretching device which is capable of pulling ten tons in length and ten tons in width – a huge amount per square metre of fabric and necessary in the production of materials such as woven or 3D knits for high temperature filter media.

Monforts also offers the special T-max grease-free stenter chain for high temperature treatments up to 320°C, at machine speeds up to 100m/min and transverse tension up to 2,500 N/m with the benefits of no maintenance and no grease marks on fabric.

“Technical textiles are extremely diverse in their end-use applications but the needs of the manufacturers of very different materials are still uniform in many respects,” says Gesser. “European-built Montex stenters provide maximum finishing efficiency and many of our customers are operating them 24 hours a day over seamless shifts.”

Existing customers include manufacturers in the fields of home textiles, geotextiles and automotive fabrics, as well as functional materials and dedicated Montex lines have also been supplied to producers of airbags, flame retardant barrier fabrics and spacer fabrics.

“Techtextil North America is a very important show for us because technical textiles are a key pillar of our production programme,” Gesser concludes. “North America is one of our major markets and we are looking forward to reconnecting with existing and potentially new customers at this always-vibrant show.”

High registration numbers with many new exhibitors herald a strong Techtextil and Texprocess 2026. From 21 to 24 April 2026, international suppliers present their innovations at the two leading trade fairs - whether in terms of materials, technologies or sustainability. With an adapted hall layout and new product groups, Techtextil and Texprocess create the best conditions for this.

Turbulent times for the industry: recession, sustainability requirements and geopolitical challenges are putting market participants under pressure with subdued purchasing behaviour, restrained investment or complex process adjustments. The industry's response: innovation and outstanding solutions. Whether new material ideas, efficient processes or sustainable developments: Very important platforms to present these are the world's leading trade fairs Techtextil and Texprocess in Frankfurt. In addition to the familiar big players, an exceptionally large number of new exhibitors will take part in 2026.

Texprocess 2026: Global visibility for world premieres
Exhibitors from all product groups have already registered to take part in Texprocess, the leading trade fair for processing textile and flexible materials. From cutting and sewing to finishing. Among them are Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen, Gütermann (Germany), Morgan Tecnica (Italy), Robotech (Turkey), Sheffield Cutting Equipment (USA), Style3D | Assyst, Veit and Zünd Germany. New exhibitors include Amann (Germany), Coloreel (Sweden), Comelz, Cutting Edge Automation Machines (Italy) or Pathfinder Australia. Driven by automation, digitalisation and AI, exhibitors are developing increasingly efficient solutions - and are thus resonating with the needs of the international market.

Techtextil 2026: realising market potential with innovations
Techtextil is also seeing great booking interest from exhibitors. Among those registered are Concordia Textiles (Belgium), Groz-Beckert (Germany), Klopman International (Italy), Kolon Industries (Korea), Lenzing, Sattler Pro-Tex (Austria), Sioen (Belgium) and Schill+Seilacher (Germany). The many new exhibitors include Dystar Singapore, Indorama Ventures Fibers Germany, Monteiro Ribas (Portugal), TreeToTextile (Sweden) and Woolmark (Germany). The leading trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens covers the entire spectrum of high-tech textiles. Suppliers meet buyers from a wide range of industries here. They are looking for customised material solutions - whether for the automotive or apparel industry. For the first time, there is a separate area for Textile Chemicals & Dyes in Hall 9.0, which is already in high demand. The new Performance Apparel Textiles area in Hall 9.0 is also attracting great interest. It offers promising synergies: With Fibres & Yarns, manufacturers find their upstream stage in the same hall. In addition, the proximity to Texprocess in Hall 8.0 makes it even more accessible for the apparel industry.
 
Techtextil and Texprocess will be held from 21 to 24 April 2026.

At this year's CINTE Techtextil fair in Shanghai, DILO received the innovation award for its intensive needling technology “MicroPunch”. Recent developments in energy costs, particularly for electricity and gas, and given the increasing shortage of water resources, have led to a shift in thinking over the past few years. Together with economic efficiency, the evaluation of the environmental impact of production has become increasingly important.

For DILO, this meant focusing on needling technology for the fine and lightweight nonwoven sector over the last years. The individual elements of the intensive needling technology underwent a complete revision. It became clear that the high production rates could only be achieved using the two-dimensional kinematics of the needle beam of "HyperPunch" or "CycloPunch." The necessary high feed rates of around 50 mm per stroke, coupled with the highest stitching densities to achieve good abrasion resistance, led to a need of a significant increase of the number of needles and needle density—almost doubling from approximately 20,000 needles/meter/board to around 45,000 needles/meter/board. It also became obvious that ensuring a high efficiency rate in production also required the careful attention to a quick assembly of the needle boards with needle modules. A completely new approach was needed in the design and construction of the needle boards to enable rapid module exchange and achieve a very high mechanical precision.

Previously, needling technology was primarily used for a surface weight range starting at 100 g/m² up to several kilograms per m². The expansion into the range below 100 g/m², and potentially down to 30 g/m², now completes the applicability of needling technology. The intensive needling technology "MicroPunch" opens up an economical field for a wide variety of lightweight nonwoven fabrics that can be produced by a pure mechanical processes. The product characteristics achieved, such as abrasion resistance, are comparable to those of hydroentangeld nonwovens. Needled fabrics tend to have more volume and more stretch while offering similar tensile strength values. These special quality characteristics are particularly interesting for applications in hygiene, medicine, cosmetics, and for technical products.

With this new development, the energy required to produce lightweight nonwoven fabrics has been reduced up to approximately 75% compared to other bonding technologies of this segment.

KARL MAYER North America will return to exhibit at CAMX, a composites trade show, taking place from September 9 to 12, 2024 in San Diego. Here it will present as an innovative partner to the composites industry with machines such as the COP MAX 4, a all-rounder to produce multilayer, multiaxial fabric structures; the COP MAX 5, specifically for processing carbon fibers; and the UD 700 fiber spreading system. Furthermore, a new machine was launched this spring, called MAX GLASS ECO.

Besides the machines, KARL MAYER supports customers with pioneering application developments. The focus of the medial presentation will be the processing of natural fibers into sustainable composite reinforcements. In cooperation with representatives of the winter sports industry, KARL MAYER has already processed hemp tapes and flax fibers into non-crimp fabrics for snowboards and skis with COP MAX 4. Examples were launched at the last editions of this year's Techtextil and JEC World which were very well received by visitors.

With the MAX GLASS ECO, the KARL MAYER Technical Textiles Business Unit offers a production machine for the economical manufacture of standard reinforcement textiles made from glass fibers, in particular non-crimp fabrics for the wind power industry. The newcomer can be adapted to the requirements of different application areas thanks to various optional functions and combines short amortization times. At a maximum speed of 1,800 min-1, it produces up to 410 m/h at a working width of 101". This performance is very well received on the composite market. Since the launch of the MAX GLASS ECO at JEC World in March this year, several purchase agreements have already been signed.

Some machines are going to India, and a larger number has been ordered by Chinese customers. Even the demonstration models in the KARL MAYER GROUP customer centers in Changzhou and Chemnitz have already been sold. However, the MAX GLASS ECO at KARL MAYER Technische Textilien in Saxony can still be used for processing trials and performance tests until September.

There is also great interest in Eastern Europe. At Techtextil 2024 in Frankfurt, for example, the new composite machine was a topic of numerous meetings with Ralf Schramm, Sales Manager at KARL MAYER Technische Textilien for this region. "I held many orientation discussions about the machine's performance. But there were also customers with specific purchase requests, including the Polish manufacturer of high-quality, professional solutions for the composites industry, Rymatex," says the sales professional.

Cavitec, part of Santex Rimar Group, presents the redesigned Caviscreen at Techtextil Frankfurt. Caviscreen features latest technology for breathable laminates.

Caviscreen was developed as a hotmelt coating and laminating unit for breathable sportswear, rainwear and protective clothing – with and without applying a membrane. The redesigned machine shows a brand-new method to supply adhesive more evenly and precisely. Using PUR adhesive (polyurethane reactive adhesive) goes with additional benefits like strong bonding capabilities and versatility.

Caviscreen’s hotmelt screen printing is a special system for high-end application garments. With this Caviscreen system, a PUR adhesive is transferred onto the substrate through a rotary screen, similar to the well-established textile printing method. The adhesives are fed from the drum melter through a heated hose to the traversing adhesive distribution system inside the rotary screen, just behind the doctor blade.

The adhesive is pressed by the doctor blade through the screen holes and transferred to the substrate. Different dot pattern (mesh or irregularly) and different screen thicknesses allow different coating weight and adhesive coverages.

The traversing adhesive dispenser is used to distribute the adhesive automatically over the set working width that – an additional technical benefit – can be set without any mechanical changes.

Cavitec’s screen coating system achieves high bonding strength while using less adhesive than other coating processes, because of applying the coating on the surface of the substrate and like this, the adhesive has less tendency to penetrate the substrate.

Bonding strength, softness of the fabric and the breathability are defined by the coating weight and the coverage. The rotary screen allows users to regulate and adapt the coverage respectively the coating weight. Cavitec offers a large selection of screens that are essential to fulfil the fabric requirements. A further advantage is the ease and efficiency of switching from one screen to another by simply unlocking the bayonet fitting. The IR-heater cover opens pneumatically and the lightweight screen can be easily removed by hand. Unlike with other methods, there's no need to deal with hot oil or any other heated liquid that requires cooling down.

The Caviscreen technology supports manufacturers by reducing costs with screens priced at a mere fraction, just 10%, of common gravure roller prices.

Candour Techtex, a Melegaon JR Group company, is satisfied with the latest coating and lamination line supplied by UK’s Amba Projex and has ordered a second, wider one to meet increasing demand.

Based in High Peak near Manchester, BTMA member Amba Projex has over 40 years’ experience in the design and manufacture of special purpose technical textile machines, with coating and laminating installations around the world.

Amba will be working closely with Candour over the next five years, to establish an Indian technical textiles powerhouse capitalising on the UK technology provider’s long experience in the field.

Formerly Chandni Textiles Engineering Industries, Candour Techtex of the Malegaon JR Group assumed its new name in 2022 to reflect its focus on a wide range of technical textiles at its new plant in Malegaon in the Nashik District of Maharashtra.

The company was founded in 1986 and at its existing plant in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, produces an annual 1.2 million metres of light velvet fabrics mainly for the domestic market for apparel and light home furnishings. In 2020 it also began operations at a plastic moulded components division in Gonde, Nashik, with a capacity of 4,500 tons per annum.

Blackout fabrics
In particular, the new Amba Projex system enables blackout fabrics to be produced efficiently and at scale.

Blackout fabrics are installed in rooms where complete light shielding is required, such as in public institutions like hospitals, and retirement homes, in hotels and conference rooms, and also in the home, especially in bedrooms.

They obtain their light impermeability by a special three-layer blackout coating which works on textiles of all colours. Only the middle layer of the three coatings needs to be black for obtaining the necessary light absorption. The fabrics are usually also treated for permanent flame-retardancy, and also with water or stain-repellent finishes. In addition to locking out light and providing maximum privacy, blackout curtains also help to insulate a home and reduce energy costs, in addition to protecting furniture and carpets from fading due to sunlight exposure.

New ideas were exchanged, brainstormed, and discussed freely at members’ booths at the Swiss Textile Machinery Pavilion during the recent Techtextil in Frankfurt. “Customers and researchers met Swiss textile machinery companies to explore the possibility of the not-yet-invented. “We regard our Pavilion as the place where future innovations catch a spark,” says Cornelia Buchwalder, Secretary General of the Swiss Textile Machinery Association. Further developments in the field of hybrid yarns were a hot topic. One example of this involves producing a yarn which has all the typical characteristics and advantages of carbon – but which also prioritizes careful use of resources, combining carbon fibres with thermoplastics.

Technical textiles cover a vast range of applications, and it’s still growing thanks to intensive research by specialist institutes and universities. Many members of the Swiss Textile Machinery Association maintain long-standing partnership with such bodies. Innovations are often joint efforts.

Feel-good technical fabrics
Some technical textiles feel like a second skin. A well-known example is activewear from the ‘sport tech’ field. Activewear includes breathable clothing, usually consisting of a three-layer-laminate: an inner lining, a breathable membrane in the center, and an outer fabric. The challenge is to bond the individual layers without losing breathability or softness, while meeting technical requirements such as resistance to a number of wash cycles.

Bonding solutions meeting top quality requirements, as well as ambitious standards for environmental protection and sustainability, were reinvented by the Cavitec brand from the Santex Rimar Group. This company’s hotmelt technology uses one-component polymers applied to textiles in a hot, molten state. Bonding based on hotmelts is both water- and solvent-free. Drying and exhaust air cleaning are not necessary, which is an ecological advantage. Energy consumption is also significantly lower. Cavitec hotmelt technology is also developed for laminated medical protection fabrics which are safe, high-quality and sustainable. These fabrics can be washed, sterilized, and used again.   

A second skin with added value is the result of Jakob Müller Group’s cooperation with an institute for an established outdoor fashion brand. They have devised a heating mat applied as an inner jacket. Outdoor gear with a heated inlay offers the wearer a comfortable feeling even in a cold climate. The heating mat is particularly light, breathable, flexible and adjustable to three temperature levels.

Fabrics with these advantages are now possible thanks to multi direct weaving (MDW) technology from the Jakob Müller Group. A lacquer-insulated heating strand is inserted into the base textile as a ‘meander’ using MDW technology. The technology is offered with both label weaving machines and the latest generation of ribbon weaving machines. The textile pocket calculator is another MDW based future-oriented application developed in cooperation with a textile research institute.

Safety and health
Life-saving reliability is a must for vehicle airbags. They have to fulfil high security aspects, and must remain inflated for several seconds when an accident occurs. Airbags made of flat-woven fabric – cut and seamed – can show weakness at seams during the inflation phase. Latest Jacquard technology by Stäubli enables one-piece-woven (OPW) airbags to be produced, creating shape and structure in a single process. The final product is an airbag consisting of a sealed cushion with woven seams. OPW airbag weaving reduces the number of production steps, and increases the security aspects.
Another big advantage of Stäubli’s new weaving technology is the flexibility in formats required in today’s mid- and upper-range cars, where lateral protection (in the seat or in the roof over the door) has become standard and is designed in line with the car shape. Safe airbags are woven on modern high-speed weaving machines. The warp material, the variety of fabric patterns, and the importance of precisely shaped airbags require the use of a robust and reliable Jacquard machine.

A revolution for orthopaedic patients is a knitting machine from Steiger Participations, which uses compressive yarns developed to meet the needs of the specific health market. This machine model was exclusively designed for production with inlaid elastic yarns and offers optimum performance with guaranteed final product quality.

In the orthopaedic field, many Steiger flat knitting machines have already been operating as automatic, custom-made production systems. For example, the dimensions of an injured limb are taken by the doctor and fed into a web-based application. The doctor selects the compression class in the various sections of the item and a data file created by the software automatically applies a preconfigured program. With no human intervention required, the program is generated and produced on the machine, precisely matching the patient’s dimensions. Each product is different, and generally available within 48 hours.

The 2002 prize of the Walter Reiners Foundation of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association for the best Master's thesis in German textile mechanical engineering was awarded to a young engineer from the ITA Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University. The prize ceremony took place at Techtextil 2022 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Peter D. Dornier, Chairman of the Board of the Walter Reiners Foundation, presented the award at the VDMA Textile Machinery Association’s booth.

Felix Xaver Zerbes, M.Sc., was awarded the "Promotional Prize for the Best Master's Thesis of the German Textile Machinery Industry 2022", endowed with 3,500 EUR, for his master's thesis "Development and Construction of a Separation Unit for Weft Yarns in Air Jet Weaving".

The subject of the master's thesis was the development of a mechanism with which faulty sections in the weft yarn can be sorted out before they are woven into the textile. This way, both yarn-related weft defects and material defects can be drastically reduced. The prototype developed by Mr Zerbes shows how this can be done even during the ongoing weaving process without having to stop production. Due to its modular design, the yarn rejection unit can be retrofitted to many different types of air-jet weaving machines, which represents an enormous savings potential not only in Germany but in weaving mills all over the world.

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, and Baldwin, a leading global manufacturer and supplier of precision spray systems and technology for sustainable textile manufacturing, announce a new collaboration to optimize performance and resource saving in the finishing department.

The two companies aim to support textile manufacturers in their development projects, targeting to improve their product safety, performance and functionality, while at the same time maximizing the productivity and resource utilization of the finishing application process.

Archroma and Baldwin are collaborating in multiple projects that combine Archroma’s most sustainable product innovations with Baldwin’s Texcoat G4.

TexCoat G4 is a non-contact spray technology for textile finishing and remoistening, designed to allow a controlled and optimal coverage of the exact amount of finish chemistry for reaching specific characteristics of the fabric. The system can be used to reduce water consumption by as much as 50% compared to traditional padding application processes.

Archroma and Baldwin are currently testing Archroma’s finishing products and systems, such as the soon-to-be-launched PFC-free* Smartrepel® Hydro SR for water-based soil repellence, as well as metal and inorganic particle-free antimicrobial technologies like Sanitized T 20-19 and TH 15-14, which will be launched at the upcoming Techtextil 2022.

The first test results will be available for discussions with both partners at Techtextil at their respective booths.