From the Sector

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Albaad Massuot Yitzhak Ltd. to supply a neXline wetlace hybrid line for their Dimona facilities, Israel. The line will produce a wide variety of pulp-based wet wipes and is scheduled for start-up during the third quarter 2023.

The state-of-the-art neXline wetlace hybrid is the perfect combination of inline drylaid and wetlaid web forming with hydroentanglement and drying, including quality control equipment and a Metris Industry 4.0 package. All components will be delivered by ANDRITZ and are designed to produce first-class fabrics, including biodegradable, carded-pulp and flushable/dispersible nonwovens for end uses as wipes.

Tobias Schäfer, Vice President Sales at ANDRITZ Nonwoven, comments: “Our innovative production line gives Albaad enormous flexibility in the production of wipes. In addition, the Metris digitalization package by ANDRITZ will provide Albaad with highly efficient and smart operation.”

Dan Mesika, CEO and President of Albaad, says: “We are dedicated to developing new products – such as eco-friendly, biodegradable wipes. As pioneering manufacturers of our Hydrofine® flushable wipes, we are committed to environmental sustainability. Thanks to the new ANDRITZ line, we will enlarge the product portfolio at our Dimona production site with innovative fabrics and high efficiency.

Gadi Choresh, President of the Nonwovens Division at Albaad, says: “Our knowledge and experience in drylaid and wetlaid technology, together with the state-of-the-art equipment supplied by ANDRITZ, will enable us to provide the market with natural-source nonwovens and the best answer to the market demand.”
 
Albaad is one of the world’s three largest wet wipe manufacturers and is committed to delivering excellent wipes for every need. The company runs world-leading production facilities on three continents, each equipped with the latest technologies. Albaad produces spunlace and flushable fabrics in its facilities as well as purchasing from other roll goods suppliers in order to support production of a wide variety of wipes.

Kornit Digital Ltd. announced the release of its Kornit Presto MAX system for sustainable on-demand production of apparel and other textile goods. The new system will make its live debut at Kornit Fashion Week Los Angeles + Industry 4.0 Event, which the company is hosting November 2-5 to showcase technology innovations, partnerships, and proven strategies driving the business case for sustainable, on-demand production of fashion and textile goods worldwide.

Kornit Presto MAX is the first digital print system to offer white printing on colored fabrics, enhancing decoration capabilities for dark colored fabrics more broadly. It is the only single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing, delivering the highest quality and softest feel with brilliant whites and brighter neon colors. The system is ready to incorporate future iterations and evolutions of XDi technology—3D decorative applications to produce threadless embroidery, high-density, vinyl, screen transfer, and other innovative effects.

Kornit Presto MAX is compatible with natural fabrics, synthetics, and blends, and includes advanced algorithms for smart autonomous calibration, to deliver high-quality results with short cycle times and minimal manual interruptions or defects. The system was devised for compatibility with the KornitX global fulfillment ecosystem to enable anywhere, anytime production, supporting a true distributed production model that fulfills nearer the end consumer, eliminating time and logistical waste from the experience while empowering brands to ensure quality and consistency across all systems and production sites.

Kornit Presto MAX provides the cornerstone of a smart, efficient, sustainable EcoFactory that empowers producers to cover and integrate more parts of the process, from design to finished product, to decrease their carbon footprint, use minimum manpower, and generate less waste. This means eliminating excessive time, labor, and shipping throughout the value chain, enabling proximity production to meet the accelerated demands of a web-driven global marketplace—revealing new sales channels and clever business models to grow the business long-term.

Knopf’s Sohn, a contract finisher of technical textiles, has installed a fully automated Montex stenter at its plant in Helmbrechts, Germany.
Knopf’s Sohn is processing technical textiles for the automotive, aerospace, home furnishings and workwear markets, based on wool, cellulose, polyamide and polyester fabrics, along with elastane blends, in weights of 80-800gsm.

The Montex machinery range is constantly being upgraded to meet evolving customer needs for greater automation, ease of operation and energy optimisation. The latest ten chamber line at Knopf’s Sohn, with a working width of up to 2.0 metres, was engineered to specific requirements in order to accelerate the company’s move to fully automatic control of its production, and high scaffolding was required for its installation.

The line benefits from two integrated ECO Booster modules to provide high energy savings. These compact, air-to-air heat exchangers, installed within the roof structure of the line, exploit energy from the exhaust gas to preheat up to 60% of the incoming fresh air entering the stenter.

The use of a single ECO Booster unit has been calculated to save up to 35% in energy costs, based on fixation processes. Fully automatic operation, set at the Monforts Qualitex control unit, ensures there is no additional burden on the machine operator.

The line is powered by Exxotherm indirect heating, which practically eliminates the yellowing which can be experienced during the treatment of certain polyamide and elastane-based fabrics, and is also equipped with a Conticlean circulating air filter system for constant high drying capacity.

Software
The latest Qualitex visualisation software offers operators reliability and easy control with its full HD multi-touch monitor and slider function, dashboard function with individual adaptation to operating states and faster access to comprehensive recipe data management.

With the Monformatic control system, the exact maintenance of the dwell time in combined treatment processes (drying and heat-setting) can be monitored. When the heat-setting point is reached, the fan speed is automatically adjusted, keeping energy consumption fully under control.

Baldwin Technology Company Inc. will showcase its new portfolio of optimized LED-UV curing, IRdrying and automated cleaning solutions—all specifically designed for corrugated high-graphics printers—at the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) Technical Seminar, held October 20 to 22 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Baldwin’s FlexoCleanerBrush™ removes hickeys in four seconds and can clean plates within three to four minutes, increasing print quality and providing a cleaner, safer work environment. This automated cleaner removes fibers, debris and fine lines from printing plates at the beginning, during or at the end of a job, allowing printers to achieve optimal quality with minimal downtime—Baldwin has a proven track record of enabling significant productivity improvements for its long list of customers. Designed to replace all manual activities, this cleaning system eliminates skin contact with wash agents, increasing workers’ safety.

For wide-format flexo corrugated box printing, Baldwin’s AMS Spectral UV has engineered CorruCure™, a new generation of LEDUV technology that offers more than a 60% reduction in power consumption in an ultra-compact UV lamp head. This revolutionary solid-state curing system, designed specifically for corrugated LED printing, emits almost no heat or ozone, and accommodates width-switching. It also enables the curing of high-value decorative solutions, such as full-gloss, spot and matte coating effects on a variety of corrugated substrates, making it the ideal addition for product enhancement.

Lastly, Baldwin’s FlexoDry2™ infrared dryer, developed for corrugated flexo printing presses, utilizes patented Diamond IR lamps capable of reducing energy consumption by up to 30%, when compared to traditional IR dryers with aluminum or gold reflectors. Dramatically improved drying enhances color definition, and reduces or eliminates marking, while allowing full-speed printing. The system offers an optional integrated hot-air knife with temperature control to provide better surface drying. Taking safety into consideration, the FlexoDry2 comes with an integrated safety light curtain as standard and an optional camera vision system.

• Composites in the construction industry - The lightweight construction material of the future

Building with fibre-reinforced materials opens up completely new possibilities. In terms of engineering, design, and organisation. This is due, on the one hand, to the excellent properties of fibre-reinforced materials (FRM) and, on the other hand, to the fact that the material – unlike wood or brick, for example – is not machined or processed for its use, but custom-produced.

Excellent properties – in terms of engineering, design, and organisation
Fibre-composite materials offer a whole range of technical properties for innovative and sustainable building:
•    High mechanical rigidity
•    Low weight
•    High corrosion resistance
•    Low material fatigue
•    Low heat transfer coefficient of the plastic matrix
•    Resistance to frost and de-icing salt
•    Good draping capability

In addition, fibre composites offer numerous design options for novel and exceptional new building and maintenance projects:
•    Unique variety of shapes
•    Different structures of the textiles
•    Large spectrum of colours and colour combinations
•    Translucency of the plastic matrix
Thanks to these properties, composites can be used to produce coloured, phosphorescent, thermochromic or – through the use of LEDs or light-conducting fibres permanently integrated into the matrix – luminescent components.

In addition, there are organisational benefits for planning, construction and maintenance work with fibre-reinforced materials:
•    Easier handling and assembly of the far lighter and more flexible components – compared with steel, concrete or wood
•    Faster installation
•    Shorter construction site times in road and bridge maintenance
•    Shorter delivery times
•    Ability to integrate electronic monitoring systems

Individual composite textiles – for every lightweight engineering project
The composites experts at vombaur develop and manufacture woven tapes and seamless round or shaped woven textiles from carbon, glass, flax or other high-performance fibres on special weaving lines for individually specified round and shaped woven textiles – and can therefore offer you the best possible fibre base for every lightweight construction project.

"Regardless of whether it's a new construction or a renovation project, a façade design, a bridge or a staircase – as your development partner for composite textiles, we have plenty of experience with composites for demanding tasks," emphasises Dr.-Ing. Sven Schöfer, Head of Development and Innovation at vombaur. "We develop, create samples and manufacture woven tapes and seamless round or shaped woven textiles – in collaboration with the customer enterprise development teams and individually for the respective projects." This is how novel and unique lightweight components made of high-performance textiles are created for visionary projects.

Als interdisziplinäres Kompetenznetzwerk aus Industrie- und Forschungspartnern ist futureTEX 2014 gestartet, um den Wandel der traditionsreichen Textilbranche im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung zu einem zukunftsfähigen Industrieplayer – mit Technischen Textilien (TechTex) als Fundament – zu gestalten. In dieser Zeit ist das Konsortium auf mehr als 300 involvierte mittelständische Unternehmen, wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen und textile Branchenverbände angewachsen, die sich in insgesamt 34 Vorhaben der textilen Zukunft verschrieben haben. Das erklärte Ziel der Akteure bestand darin, die Position Deutschlands als Weltmarktführer im Textilmaschinenbau zu stärken sowie den Weg zu einer globalen Spitzenposition bei den Technischen Textilien bis 2025 zu ebnen.

Nun befindet sich das Projekt auf der Zielgeraden: Über 20 der insgesamt 34 Vorhaben wurden bereits erfolgreich abgeschlossen – Die noch in Arbeit befindlichen werden in den kommenden Monaten folgen.

Um die erreichten Ziele der vergangenen Projektjahre Revue passieren zu lassen sowie einen Ausblick zu geben, wie es nach Projektende weitergeht, hatte der Konsortialführer – das Sächsische Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI) – zur hybriden Abschlussveranstaltung geladen. Rund 50 Teilnehmer folgten online und vor Ort dem abwechslungsreichen Rahmenprogramm.*

*Weitere Informationen finden Sie im Anhang.

• Next-Gen Technologies for Nonwovens/Engineered Materials
• Canopy Respirator from Canopy Wins Innovation Award

145 professionals in product development, material science, and new technologies convened for the 11th conference edition of RISE®—Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics, held virtually, Sept. 28-30. The event was co-organized by INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, The Nonwovens Institute, and North Carolina State University.

The program focused on Nonwoven Material Science Developments, Sustainability, Increasing Circularity, Promising Innovations, Process Innovations, Material Innovations, Government/NGO Challenges to Single-Use Plastics, Machine-Assisted-Learning Development of Biopolymers, and Market Intelligence and Economic Insights.

Participants praised the high-quality program content, in-depth round table discussions, networking and Q&A’s where participants ask expert speakers questions pertaining to their focused presentations.

Highlights among the 26 presentations included

• Sustainable Solutions for our Plastic Planet Predicament, by Marc A. Hillmyer, Ph.D., McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair, University of Minnesota;
• Closed-Loop Recycling Pilot of Single-Use Face Masks by Peter Dziezok, Ph.D., Director of Open Innovation, Proctor & Gamble;
• Innovating a Sustainable Future for Nonwovens: A European Perspective, by Matt Tipper, Ph.D., CEO, Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute (NIRI);
• Phantom Platform: The Polyolefin-cellulose Coformed Substrates Technology, by Fabio Zampollo, CEO and Founder of Teknoweb Materials; 
• Guiding Environmentally Sustainable Innovations – From Reactive to Proactive Life Cycle Management, by Valentina Prado, Ph.D., Senior Sustainability Analyst, EarthShift Global LLC;  
• High-Loft, Ultra-Soft Hygiene Solutions, Paul E. Rollin, Ph.D., Senior Principal Scientist – Global Hygiene, Propylene-Vistamaxx-Adhesion (PVA) Global Technology, ExxonMobil Chemical Company;
• Canadian Plastic Policy Update, by Karyn M. Schmidt, Senior Director, Regulatory & Technical Affairs, American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Other highlights included the announcement of Canopy Respirator as the winner of this year’s RISE® Innovation Award winner. The annual award recognizes innovation in areas within and on the periphery of the nonwovens industry which use advanced science and engineering principles to develop unique or intricate solutions to problems and advance the usage of nonwovens.

RISE® Innovation Award Winner
The RISE® Innovation Award was presented to Canopy for their Canopy Respirator. The productis an innovative respirator that is fully mechanical, non-electrostatic, with a filter designed for superior breathability while offering the wearer facial transparency. The breakthrough respirator features 5.5mm water column resistance at 85 liters (3 cubic feet) per minute, 2-way filtration, and a pleated filter that contains over 500 square centimeters of surface area. The patented Canopy respirator resists fluids, and eliminates fogging of eyeglasses.

Global energy consumption reached a record high in 2019, following a 40-year trend for rapidly increasing energy demand that was only halted by the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s estimated that more than 80 % of this energy is still generated from fossil fuels that produce CO2 emissions and contribute to climate change. Renewable energy offers a solution to this problem, but saving energy whenever possible is an even more effective approach. That are the motives for Trützschler to develop the intelligent card TC 19i, which sets a new benchmark for energy-efficient carding.

The intelligent Trützschler card TC 19i features the unique T-GO gap optimizer, which continuously and automatically monitors and adjusts the carding gap to an ideal position during production. Innovative drive- and air technology further reduce energy consumption of the TC 19i.

The most energy-intensive elements in a carding machine are the drive, the dust suction process and the compressed air system. Permanent suction is needed to remove dust and cotton waste in key places. Smart optimization of these areas has made the intelligent card TC 19i a benchmark for energy efficiency in carding because it uses less electricity, lower suction pressure and less compressed air than other machines, while providing the highest production rates currently available on the market.

In a head-to-head comparison between the TC 19i and a high-performance card from a competitor, the TC 19i consumed at least 10 % less energy per kilogram of material produced when manufacturing rotor yarn from a cotton and cotton waste mix. The compared energy values included electric power consumption and energy required for suction and compressed air and were measured in both cards at the same production of 180 kg/h. A 10 % reduction in energy per kilogram of sliver produced, as proven here by TC 19i, can have a significant impact on a spinning mill’s profitability; annual savings worth a five-digit sum are frequently possible, depending on factors such as the output of the mill. The customer trial also showed TC 19i’s excellent reliability at the customer’s usual production rate of 180 kg/h, and even demonstrated stable performance at 300 kg/h in the same application. Because the TC 19i with T-GO gap optimizer realizes maximum production rates at no compromise in quality, manufacturers can reduce their energy demand and investment costs drastically: Less machines are needed to achieve the desired output, and energy consumption per production is reduced.

This improvement was made possible by a long and sometimes challenging innovation process involving mathematical models of air flows, as well as flow simulations and prototypes. By combining the final flowoptimized parts in the TC 19i, Trützschler’s experts have developed a card that operates with suction pressure of just -740 Pa and with an air requirement of only 4200 m³/h. This translates into 40 % less energy demand for air technology compared to the latest high-performance competitor model.

WEIDMANN GmbH in Süßen is known worldwide as a specialist for the finishing of fiber and down-proof articles and woven industrial fabrics. Customers particularly appreciate the company's reliability and flexibility with regard to their individu-al requirements, and consistently high quality of its products. The Swabian textile manufacturer finishes premium fabrics, mainly for the bedding industry, using the latest technology and in an environmentally conscious manner.

The complex production and finishing processes for high-quality fabrics require a reliable and efficient machine technology. With this in mind, WEIDMANN has always relied on the proven stenter technolo-gy from BRÜCKNER. For many decades, the German textile machinery manufacturer has been a world leader in the con-struction of production lines for the finishing of classical textiles, woven industrial  fabrics, nonwovens, glass fabrics and floor coverings. In addition to stenters, the company's production program also in-cludes coating lines, relaxation dryers, sanfor lines, continuous dyeing lines as well as ovens for the bonding of nonwovens and other special lines. All machines are produced 100% in-house in Germany.

Both companies continuously invest in new and innovative technology in order to be successful and competitive today and in the future. Only Recently, a completely newly developed BRÜCKNER stenter was installed in the ultra-modern plant at WEIDMANN. During the intensive project engineering phase it soon became clear which features are of special importance for their daily production requirements:

• uniform moisture distribution in the machine entry and during pick-up of the specialized   chemicals in the finishing padder before the thermoprocess
• weft-straight fabric flow with minimized residual distortion
• very good accessibility for maintenance and daily cleaning
• sensor technology and automation of setting parameters for energy optimization
• heat-recovery with hot water generation for the dye house
• the line must be fully Industry 4.0 capable

Kornit Digital announced that the London-based LOVE HERO fashion label uses Kornit’s sustainable, digitized, on-demand production capabilities to deliver its complete line of nature-themed apparel.

All fabrics are traceable and certified via their blockchain platform, Retraced, to minimize their eco footprint. Cut-and-sew operations take place in Portugal.

LOVE HERO is currently engaged with Kornit on the mechanics of imprinting silk, biodegradable nylon, and other diverse materials. One such application involves two-sided fabrics—nylon on top, with cotton on the reverse.

“Kornit is committed to becoming the operating system for sustainable fashion fulfillment, on demand,” says Chris Govier, KDEU Managing Director. “With visionary creators like Joshua and LOVE HERO ready to test the bounds of our design and color capabilities, and our growing network of digitized producers ready to make those visions tangible with speed, economy, and quality from all corners of the globe, we’re changing the public percetion of what digital can do—meeting the global sustainability imperative, without demanding compromise from any actor in that value chain.”