Chris Byrne
Mediatex, Technitex, UK
The scope of technical textiles
The term “technical textiles” was coined in the 1980s to describe
the growing variety of products and manufacturing techniques being developed
primarily for their technical properties and performance rather than their
appearance or other aesthetic characteristics. It largely superseded an
earlier term “industrial textiles” (still widely used in the
USA) which had become too restrictive in its meaning to describe the full
complexity and richness of this fast growing area. A major international
exhibition, Techtextil, was launched in 1985 to reflect the growth of
technical textiles and soon developed a simple taxonomy that has been
used ever since to describe the scope of this new industry and market
sector.
| • Agrotech agriculture, horticulture, forestry
and aquaculture textiles • Buildtech building and construction textiles • Clothtech technical components of shoes and clothing e.g. linings • Geotech geotexiles and civil engineering materials • Hometech technical components of furniture, household textiles & floorcoverings • Indutech textiles for industrial applications – filtration, conveying, cleaning etc • Medtech hygiene and medical products • Mobiltech automobiles, shipping, railways and aerospace • Oekotech environmental protection • Packtech packaging materials • Protech personal and property protection • Sporttech sport and leisure |
Within each of these headings are literally hundreds of products and applications for textiles, some traditional, some replacing other well-established materials and techniques, and some that have been newly created by the unique properties and capabilities of textile materials and structures.
The automotive industry is not only one of the largest single markets for technical textiles but also one of the most diverse. Applications range from tyre cord, hose and drive belt reinforcements to thermal and sound insulation, safety belts and airbags, filters, cable harnesses and textile reinforced composites for body and suspension parts. Even the internal furnishings of a car – headliners, seating, carpets, parcel shelf and trunk liners – are all regarded as technical textiles because of the extremely demanding specifications to which they are made and tested.
As just one other example, the medical and hygiene textiles market ranges from high volume disposable products for babies’ nappies, feminine hygiene and adult incontinence through to extremely specialised and high value textile products for use in blood filtration, surgical sutures, prostheses and, most recently, scaffolds for new tissue growth.
The economic importance of technical textiles
The technical textiles sector in the UK alone is worth £1.3 billion
per year and at least double that in terms of downstream processing and
fabrication activities. Worldwide, technical textiles account for 25-30%
of all textile manufacturing and approaching 50% in some regions.
Most advanced textile economies (now including the likes of China, South Korea and Taiwan) have embraced technical textiles as a new source of growth and as an alternative to low added-value, mass production textiles and clothing. Indeed, as the technology and functionality of these textiles increase, including combinations with other materials such as metals, ceramics, polymer films, foams and powders, many technical textile producers are now seeking to redefine themselves as part of a new advanced flexible materials industry, adopting new manufacturing techniques and addressing new markets which have little in common with their traditional activities. Likewise, many manufacturers from completely outside the textile sector are adopting textile and fibre-based materials and techniques wherever they see these as appropriate but without ever regarding themselves as part of the textiles industry.
Meanwhile, many of the technologies and products of this advanced materials sector are diffusing across into consumer applications. The first generation of such ‘performance’ products were the membranes and breathable coatings of protective clothing textiles, first introduced into high-end ski and out-door wear but now almost an everyday component of leisure clothing. Similarly, a growing range of ‘well-being’ textiles have evolved from products initially developed for medical and other technical applications, in combination with innovative technologies such as microencapsulation and nanotechnology.
Beyond technical textiles
The new promise of technical and performance textiles is an emerging generation
of products combining the latest developments in advanced flexible materials
with advances in computing and communications technology, biomaterials,
nanotechnology and novel process technologies such as plasma treatment.
These will eventually have a direct impact upon all sorts of consumer
textile markets, including both clothing and furnishings. The field of
‘wearable electronics’ has already captured the imagination
of many researchers and large corporations and, although most products
on the market today are relatively unsophisticated ‘implants’
of conventional electronics and wiring, the prospect of truly ‘interactive
textiles embodying sensors, actuators and logic circuits built into the
structure of the fibres, yarns and fabrics themselves is not impossibly
far-fetched.
‘Technical textiles’ already sounds a terribly antiquated and inadequate term to describe much of what is going on in this exciting new market.
Research Bodies Working within the field of Textiles and Clothing
