BTMA Members at Techtextil with New Technologies for Technical Textile Applications
British Textile Machinery Manufacturers Association (BTMA) member companies exhibited their sustainable technologies developed for high performance applications at Techtextil Fair held between 23-26 April.
The development of specific multifilaments, monofilaments and nonwovens for niche fibre applications – over 70 to date – is very much the specialist field of BTMA member Fibre Extrusion Technologies (FET), along with designing the bespoke fibre extrusion and spunbond and meltblown nonwoven systems to successfully produce them. FET will exhibit its wide range of products at booth A84 in Hall 12 at Techtextil.
Currently, they include fibres based on organic or recycled feedstocks to meet sustainability targets and others with new functional properties for advanced high-performance applications. Many of these were presented to the visitors at Techtextil 2024.
Following the opening of its expanded Fibre Development Centre with considerably enhanced facilities more than doubling capacity and increasing efficiency at the start of 2023, FET, has significantly accelerated the number of technical trials it has conducted for clients.
“We work closely in collaboration with customers ranging from huge multinationals to start-ups and spin-out companies,” explains FET managing director Richard Slack. “At present we’re doing a lot of work with biopolymers and recycled fibres, because they all have different characteristics and behaviours. We specialise in processing challenging materials.”
The patented splicers in Airbond’s latest range are 3D printed, making them both lighter and stronger, and now enable the splicing of yarns in sizes of up to 16,000 tex – compared to the 1,200 tex most splicing machines can handle.
“Understanding the physics behind splicing has enabled us to change the characteristics of the air in the splicing of fragile or ultra-large yarns,” explains Airbond research engineer Carwyn Webb. “We have increased the limits of normal splicers by a factor of ten, which will enable a huge reduction in expensive waste.”
Sophisticated systems for the testing of fibres and advanced materials showcased by BTMA members James Heal (Hall 12, stand A40 at Techtextil 2024) and Verivide (Hall 12, stand A70), both of whom have established strong ties with major producers of technical textiles over many years.
The precise detection of faults during the production of technical fabrics has meanwhile recently been significantly advanced with the introduction of the latest WebSpector automated fabric inspection system by Shelton Vision (Hall 12, stand E54)
Building on its market leading vision system for plain, single colour textiles, Shelton’s patent-pending image processing techniques now recognise and adapt to complex patterns – even those on fabrics with significant distortion and deformation.
Other BTMA members who exhibited at Techtextil 2024 include Avocet (Hall 11, stand B25) the manufacturer of Cetaflam high performance flame retardant (FR) chemicals, Ascotex (Hall 12, stand B41) a specialist in the development and application of yarn guides, and Vandewiele UK (Hall 12, stand D20) the UK arm of Bonas Textile Machincery specialising in high capacity jacquard technology for the weaving industry.
