From the Sector

• Sustainable infrastructure solutions, road safety and health protection

At this year’s Techtextil, Oerlikon Polymer Processing Solutions will be presenting the trade audience with new applications, special processes and sustainable solutions focusing on the production of industrial textiles. Among other things, the company will be showcasing new technology for charging nonwovens that sets new standards with regards to quality and efficiency. Between June 21 and 24, the discussions will be concentrating on airbags, seat belts, tire cord, geotextiles, filter nonwovens and their diverse applications.

More polyester for airbags
Airbags have become an integral part of our everyday automotive lives. The yarns used in them are made predominantly from polyamide. As a result of increasingly diverse airbag applications and also the increasing size of the systems used, polyester is today used as well, depending on the application requirements and cost-benefit considerations. Against this background, the Oerlikon Barmag technologies make an invaluable contribution. In addition to high productivity and low energy consumption, they particularly excel in terms of their stable production processes. Furthermore, they comply with every high quality standard for airbags, which – as in the case of virtually all other textile products used in vehicle construction – must provide the highest level of safety for vehicle occupants. And all this without any loss of function in any climate and anywhere in the world for the lifetime of the vehicle.

Buckle up!
Seat belts play a decisive role in protecting vehicle occupants. They have to withstand tensile forces in excess of three tons and simultaneously stretch in a controlled manner in emergencies in order to reduce the load in the event of impact. A seat belt comprises approximately 300 filament yarns, whose individual, high-tenacity yarn threads are spun from around 100 individual filaments.

Invisible, but essential – road reinforcement using geotextiles
But it not just inside vehicles, but also under them, that industrial yarns reveal their strengths. Low stretch, ultra-high tenacity, high rigidity – industrial yarns offer outstanding properties for the demanding tasks carried out by geotextiles; for instance, as geogrids in the base course system under asphalt. Normally, geotextiles have extremely high yarn titers of up to 24,000 denier. Oerlikon Barmag system concepts simultaneously manufacture three filament yarns of 6,000 denier each. Due to the high spinning titers, fewer yarns can be plied together to the required geo-yarn titer in a more cost- and energy-efficient manner.

hycuTEC – technological quantum leap for filter media
In the case of its hycuTEC hydro-charging solution, Oerlikon Neumag offers a new technology for charging nonwovens that increases filter efficiency to more than 99.99%. For meltblown producers, this means material savings of 30% with significantly superior filter performance. For end users, the consequence is noticeably improved comfort resulting from significantly reduced breathing resistance. With its considerably lower water and energy consumption, this new development is also a future-proof, sustainable technology.

New high-tech Staple Fiber Technology Center
Extending to around 2,100 m2, Oerlikon Neumag in Neumünster is home to one of the world’s largest staple fiber technology centers. As of now, these state-of-the-art staple fiber technologies are also available for customer-specific trials.

The focus during the planning and the design of the Technology Center was on optimizing components and processes. Here, special attention was paid to ensuring the process and production parameters in the Technology Center system could be simply and reliably transferred to production systems. Here, the fiber tape processing line is modular in design. All components can be combined with each other as required. And comprehensive set-up options supply detailed findings for the respective process for various fiber products.

The Technology Center is also equipped with two spinning positions for mono- and bi-component processes. The same round spin packs are used for both processes, characterized by excellent fiber quality and properties and meanwhile very successfully deployed in all Oerlikon Neumag production systems. Furthermore, the spinning plant is complemented by automation solutions such as spin pack scraper robots, for example.

The Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) will be presenting innovative highlights from research and development at Techtextil 2022, the international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens. In addition to a warp-knitted textile façade greening in a modular system and textile lightweight construction elements for the building sector made from hemp as a renewable raw material, the STFI will also be showing innovations from nonwovens research. The project optiformTEX is an example of the nonwovens competence: in this project, the mass per unit area was specifically influenced for the production of semi-finished products in the automotive sector. Furthermore, the Chemnitz Institute exhibits an ecological foam coating for protective textiles. Central highlight of the STFI's presence at the fair is also a mobile robot system, which demonstrates the automated loading of a small-scale bobbin creel.

Highlights at Techtextil 2022
The greened façade tile is a system with which large building surfaces can be cost-effectively greened through a simple, modular segment structure. In addition to insulating the building, the system has been created to meet the design requirements of a modern city centre; low-maintenance greening is made possible through functional integration in the textile carrier layer and coordinated plant selection.

Moulded components made of natural fibre nonwovens are increasingly used in the automotive sector. Conventional nonwovens currently have uniform masses per unit area. Technical solutions for load-oriented component reinforcement and the resulting optimised use of materials represent an enormous economic potential. The basic idea of “optiformTEX” was therefore to specifically influence the mass per unit area distribution in the pile before the semi-finished product is consolidated. As a result, a textile-technological process and the corresponding plant component were successfully developed.

Future-oriented materials are offered by developments from the field of renewable raw materials in combination with bio-based resin systems: In the “Gro-Coce” project, an innovative ceiling system was developed by combining sustainable building products and methods. Currently, a high-performance hemp-based semi-finished product as well as the steps for its reproducible production by means of textile surface formation is developed by the research team. Initial application and load tests of the hemp-based semi-finished products on wooden beams confirmed the high performance potential of the natural fibre materials.

Special functional textiles are based on composite materials with coatings or membranes. The previous production of the coatings/membranes poses ecological and health risks. At STFI, solvent-free, purely aqueous coating systems and a technology for their application were therefore developed for the protective textile sector, resulting in a breathable, waterproof and wash-resistant textile coating.

The central highlight of the STFI's presence at the fair is a mobile robot system, which demonstrates the automated loading of a small-scale bobbin creel. At the STFI, the robot is part of the “textile factory of the future”, where a play mat is woven and processed step by step along the textile chain.

• Continued focus on sizeable investments in innovation and sustainability.
• Underway in India, the acquisition of the Engineering Plastics business of Ester Industries Ltd. with the objective of keeping up the Group’s global growth trend

With total sales of EUR 1.508 million generated by over 30 production and sales units in Europe, Asia and America, RadiciGroup closed its 2021 financial year with positive results, despite the difficulties due to the lingering effects of the pandemic and the steep increase in the cost of raw materials and energy, especially during the latter part of the year.

The Group – led by brothers Angelo, Maurizio and Paolo Radici – continued to pursue its strategy of focusing on the core businesses considered to be strategic and synergistic, such as nylon chemicals, engineering polymers and advanced textile solutions, while, at the same time,  introducing new products, such as a line of personal protective equipment for medical and industrial use.

EBITDA reached EUR 268 million, and net income for the year was EUR 150 million.

Despite this situation, RadiciGroup considers it essential to continue making investments.

“In 2021, the Group invested EUR 53 million financed from cash flow,” Alessandro Manzoni, CFO of RadiciGroup, emphasized. “There was no impact on net financial position, which registered an improvement over 2020, as did all our balance sheet ratios."

Furthermore, in spite of the complexity of the period, in 2022 the Group shareholders have kept on with their significant investment plan aimed at strengthening RadiciGroup’s presence in global markets and improving its competitiveness.

Indeed, the Group has moved forward, according to plan, with the acquisition of the Engineering Plastics business of Ester Industries Ltd., an India-based company engaged for decades in the production of engineering polymers and listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. RadiciGroup’s EUR 35 million investment in this transaction furthers the internationalization strategy of its High Performance Polymers business area.

The orders index for textile machinery for the first quarter of 2022, processed by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, shows a slight decrease (-4%) compared to the same period from January to March 2021. In absolute value, the index stood at 117 points (basis: 2015 = 100).

On the domestic front orders shrank by fully 22%, whereas abroad the decline was more contained (-2%). The absolute value of the index in Italy was set at 136 points. On foreign markets, the index scored a value of 114.9 points.

ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi commented that: “The global pandemic and Russian-Ukrainian conflict have accentuated the climate of uncertainty for the whole of the textile industry. Criticalities already present in the past year (such as a sharp rise in prices of raw materials and their scarce availability, as well as increased transport costs) are now accentuated more than ever. While orders appear to have settled on foreign markets, domestically, following a strong recovery in 2021, we now have to deal with a general negativity permeating the Italian economy.”

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, together with successive pandemic lockdowns in the main market for textile machinery manufacturers, namely China, have undermined the confidence of Italian companies in the sector. “I believe 2022 will be a transition year for the industry, as we await a calming international economic scenario. In the meantime,” adds Zucchi, “our association continues to work to strengthen the positioning of Italy’s textile machinery industry worldwide through promotional initiatives in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Italian Trade Agency.”

The latest of these initiatives was carried out at the end of April, with the opening of an Italian technology training center for textile machinery in Mongolia, a Country that ranks among the world’s leading producers of raw cashmere. ACIMIT’s president concludes that, “With the training center starting its operations, our sector is laying the foundations for further business opportunities in an emerging market. I’m certain the initiative will bear a return in terms of image not only for individual Italian companies who are participating by supplying machinery, but on the entire Italian textile machinery sector as a whole.”

Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) announces the release of its 2021 Annual Report. Even with the continued constraints of COVID-19, 2021 was a year of significant developments for GOTS. An increased interest in sustainability in the textile industry led to greater awareness of GOTS certification from businesses as well as consumers.

The 31-page report details the record growth experienced in 2021, which included an increase of 19 percent in GOTS certified facilities around the world, with Certification Bodies (CBs) reporting 12.338 facilities in 79 countries (+11 percent). Three new GOTS-approved Certification Bodies brought the total to 18, nine of which have chemical input approval in their scopes. The additional CBs are helping meet an ever-increasing demand for certification. The rise in certifications also allowed GOTS to expand internally, adding Representatives as well as colleagues with expertise in Standard Development and Implementation, Quality Assurance, Communication, and IT. GOTS representatives worldwide offered training and education to thousands of participants, including businesses, governmental representatives, certification bodies, and other stakeholders. Visits to the GOTS website jumped 43 percent from 2020 and GOTS’s following on social media expanded significantly, gaining 57 percent across platforms.

“Despite ongoing difficulties and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, decision-makers continue to pursue their sustainability goals and value GOTS as a tool to accomplish them. We will continue to strive toward our vision of a future in which organic textiles are a significant part of everyday life, enhancing people’s lives and the environment,” says GOTS Managing Director Claudia Kersten.

Additional highlights covered in the report include chronicling the implementation of the most recent update to the standard document, GOTS version 6.0, and the release of ‘Conditions for the Use of GOTS Signs (CUGS)’, which outlines the rules for using the GOTS logo and labeling and updates to GOTS Scope and Transaction Certification policies which are a crucial part of the certification process.

The Techtextil and Heimtextil Summer Special exhibitions, taking place together in Frankfurt from June 21-24, represent an opportunity for Monforts to showcase its finishing and coating technologies for two of its major markets – especially at a time when energy prices continue to soar for textile manufacturers in Europe.

Existing customers of Monforts include many manufacturers in the field of home textiles, as well as those making geotextiles, automotive fabrics and other functional materials – all of whom will be well represented in Frankfurt this June. Dedicated Montex lines have also been supplied to producers of airbags, flame retardant barrier fabrics and spacer fabrics, as well as high-temperature filter materials.

Energy prices are rising steeply everywhere and a particular emphasis for Monforts in Frankfurt will be on the energy and heat recovery that can be achieved with Montex stenters, through features such as better insulation of the treatment chambers or the MonforClean system, in which waste heat from the drying process is used to pre-heat the drying air resulting in a radical reduction in the conventional heat supply required compared to gas and thermal oil heating. The modular system for heat recovery can also be extended for exhaust air cleaning and odour elimination. Monforts can provide a range of further resource-saving and energy recovery options tailored to each individual line installation including modification of the heating source.

With the Qualitex 800 visualization software, all article-specific settings can be stored and the formulations for thousands of treatment processes called up again at any time. Individual operators can also personalise their dashboards with the most important machine functions and process parameters.

The Qualitex 800 system is available for the automatic and continuous operation of the company’s Montex stenters, as well as its Thermex continuous dyeing ranges, Monfortex shrinking systems and Montex®Coat coating units.

Monforts Montex®Coat coating units serve an equally diverse number of markets, 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 and solvent coatings (in explosion-proof conditions) with knife coating, roller coating or screen printing can all be accommodated with this system.

All of these very different materials require coating and finishing for maximum efficiency, using Monforts technologies which provide the ultimate in flexibility and the ability to switch quickly from one fabric run to the next, without compromising on the economical use of energy or raw materials.

The Monforts EcoApplicator offers further potential for sustainably achieving perfect finishes via a precise direct application system, as an alternative to conventional padding – where fabrics are immersed in a bath of the required finishing chemicals. It can significantly further reduce the energy and water required and finishes can be applied on just one side of the fabric, or both, and even separately on each side, to be sealed in place via different heating zones in the stenter.

Lenzing – In the first quarter of 2022, the Lenzing Group, like the entire manufacturing industry, was significantly affected by the extreme developments in global energy and commodity markets. A predominantly positive market environment and the strategic focus on specialty fibers such as those of the TENCEL™, LENZING™ ECOVERO™ and VEOCEL™ brands nevertheless ensured a solid revenue and earnings trend, with the effect of higher costs being largely offset.

•    Solid revenue and earnings performance despite extremely tight cost situation
•    Personnel changes on the Managing and Supervisory Boards – Stephan Sielaff appointed as the new CEO
•    Successful production start at world’s largest lyocell plant in Thailand
•    World’s largest pulp mill of its kind successfully started-up in Brazil
•    Premium textile brand TENCEL™ celebrates 30 years of sustainable fiber innovation

The Lenzing Interim Report 01-03/2022 is available on the company website.

SANITIZED AG, a specialist for hygiene function in textiles, is expanding its Sanitized® Odorex™ portfolio for odorneutralizing technologies. The new OX20 product is usable on cotton, viscose, or synthetic fibers. It does not contain any biocides, it is highly wash-resistant, and it can be combined well with other effects.

Sanitized® Odorex™ is the product of several years of experience with environmentally friendly textile treatments. SANITIZED focuses heavily on the causes of, the production of, and the fighting of unpleasant sweat odor in textiles. The basis for the newly introduced biocide-free OX20 product is a metal-free polymer that neutralizes odors. It meets market requirements regarding wash-resistance with excellent results after up to 50 household washes.

Versatile and highly cost-efficient
The new product can be applied in extraction, pad, and spray. It can be used on all common substrates and is compatible with other textile effects. These properties increase the flexibility and efficiency during product design, and they reduce production costs. As one of the first technologies worldwide, OX20 can be applied to synthetics in the dye bath.

Feel and wearing comfort
Binders and particle systems negatively affect the textile’s feel and moisture management. OX20 is a particle-free product with a long-lasting effect that does not change how the textile feels, nor does it affect the textile’s moisture management.

Under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) initiative to enhance transparency and traceability in the garment and footwear industry, Haelixa realizes a pilot project with Costach Cooperative and Peruvian textile company Creditex to give sustainable rural cotton producers in Peru more visibility in the value chain.

In 2019, UNECE and United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) have set up an initiative to drive transparency and traceability for sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear industry. The initiative is jointly implemented with the International Trade Centre (ITC) with financial support by the European Union. Haelixa is proud to be part of the group of experts that develops policy recommendations, traceability standards, and conducts projects to set traceability benchmarks. With the support of the +Cotton Project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) a pilot is being realized in this context to mark and trace the finest Pima cotton for Creditex directly at the gin in Piura, Peru. Haelixa’s DNA marker connects the actual lint cotton to the entry on a blockchain system provided by UNECE. The Haelixa technology ensures that the information about the product’s origin and the journey of the product along the value chain is always safely embedded into the product itself. The marked cotton will be used to make exclusive pajamas sets for Cat´s Pajamas. DNA traceability will enable the verification of the premium origin of Peruvian Pima cotton in the final garment produced using sustainable practices by family farmers associated with the Costach cooperative.

Costach is the main cooperative of cotton farmers in Peru. The cooperative consists of 5,200 family farmers in the Piura region, producing mostly extra-long fiber of Pima Cotton. Since 2017, the +Cotton project has been supporting the farmers with training on sustainable practices and has been providing technical assistance for improved markets access.

Creditex is vertically integrated from cotton ginning to fine thread, up to the production of high quality apparel for international premium brands. The company takes social responsibility and environmental stewardship very seriously and therefore makes a strong partner for this project, empowering the cotton family farmers that hold the majority of cotton production in Peru.

High-performance yarns now offer almost unlimited possibilities for replacing traditional raw materials in a vast range of technical applications. Often tailor-made, these filament yarns go way beyond the conventional idea of ‘textiles’ – finding new uses in sectors such as automotive, aviation, maritime, medical and construction, among many others.

Technical textiles are everywhere in our daily lives today, even if we may not always realize it. Some are in more obviously textile products, from sewing threads to artificial turf. But then, take cars as an example: modern vehicles are stuffed with parts made from sophisticated yarns. It’s common for producers of automotive parts now to send template material and requirement lists to Swiss Textile Machinery members, trusting their expertise and experience. Members operate development and testing centers with latest machine installations, where their experts devise customized solutions, as well as calling on the pure innovative spirit which is part of their DNA.

At the extremes
Technology drives applications beyond our current imagining in the case of Heberlein air splicers. Developed for a wide range of uses with high-strength technical fibers, they have no problems splicing aramid fibers up to 16’100 dtex, carbon up to 30’000 dtex, Dyneema up to 5’500 dtex, and glass up to 4’800 tex. Using compressed air, the splicers produce a tear-resistant, homogeneous splice of material without interfering knots.

Retech has the technology to achieve specifications for filament yarns, drawing and stretching fibers to perfection. Top heated godet rolls – many customized – are developed for high-performance fibers. Temperatures up to 400 °C can be achieved. Combining the right settings and wide speed ranges for each specific process results in unique end-products.

Fabric producers of high-end applications must avoid any quality risk. Yarn producers are well aware of this responsibility, so they use precision package winders for technical yarns, developed by Rieter’s subsidiary SSM. Taking yarns from ring twisting bobbins, its specialist finish winders can produce coarse-count technical yarns up to 50’000 dtex, offering a new level of flexibility and winding quality.

Lifestyle essentials
At first glance, motorists might fail to notice many of the technical yarns ‘hidden’ inside their cars. These products have functions such as providing stability with hardly any weight, or absorbing tensile forces at defined elongation. This kind of controlled elongation behaviour, for example, arises from the choice of textile material and the special construction of the yarns used.

Such specifications make twisting and cabling machines essential for the automotive industry. Saurer offers machines for the production of technical yarns made from a variety of feed materials in a very wide yarn count range. They are needed for vehicle products such as tire carcasses, toothed engine belts, seat belts, airbags and lorry tarpaulins.

Technical yarns also play a surprising role in our mobile devices. Tapping, scrolling and swiping are second nature for billions, with our phones and a plethora of other lifestyle essentials. Yet, how many people would know that the touch-sensitivity we take for granted on these screens is largely made possible by twisted glass fibers. Bräcker, part of Rieter’s components business, offers a selection of vertical sinter metal rings and nylon travelers for glass fiber twisting, so that mills can achieve high levels of productivity and quality.

Future unlimited
Automotive and communication technology are already important industries for Swiss Textile Machinery members, along with well-known technical textiles markets in sectors such as medical, transport and construction. Smart-wear is already noted as a field with significant potential. Naturally, members are constantly investigating other possibilities. Swiss textile machinery is already applied in energy (batteries), and plastics.

The Swiss Textile Machinery Pavilion will be at the Techtextil exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, taking place from 21 to 24 June 2022.