Features

The importance of testing, and quality assurance and control, for manufacturers of technical textiles cannot be overstated. It is fortunate, then, that Techtextil will provide attendees with numerous opportunities to discover the latest equipment and instruments to help them maintain and prove the standards of their products. James Bakewell describes a few places to look among the extensive halls.

A wide range of functionalities can be imparted to textiles through the use of finishing, coating and laminating technologies. Editor James Bakewell picks-out some of the highlights from the busy show floor at Techtextil.

While the recent IDEA exhibition (held in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, on 28–31 March 2022) principally catered for hygiene markets, Techtextil offers nonwovens manufacturers the chance to show a range of technical applications for their products. James Bakewell picks his highlights. 

Belgian manufacturer of weaving machinery, Quality Machines Textiles (QMatex) BV, has almost 80 years of heritage, but this year it will exhibit at Techtextil for the first time. Editor James Bakewell speaks to the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Henk Lambrecht, about QMatex’s systems for the production of technical textiles, the challenges and opportunities presented by this market and his plans for the future.

The creator of a novel odour-capturing molecule and the developer of a process for impregnating textiles with dry powders have joined forces to create nonwoven dressings that have been proven to reduce malodours from chronic wounds. Editor James Bakewell caught-up with those involved to find-out more. 

When JEC World returns to Paris, France, on 3–5 May 2022, the theme of the show will be “composites for a sustainable world”. Editor James Bakewell describes a number of technologies for reducing the environmental impact of the production of textile-based reinforcements for composites that can be found on the show floor. 

The combination of the human coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic and the introduction of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) in Europe created unprecedented challenges for manufacturers of nonwoven wipes in 2021. Nonwovens Editor, Adrian Wilson, reports on the development of some potential solutions to these problems. 

Chair Adrian Wilson reports from the Smart Nonwovens seminar on how the functionality of engineered nonwovens continues to expand.

The staging of virtual conferences and the first in-person exhibitions in recent months has provided the industry with much-needed opportunities to talk about the way forward as it looks to recover from the pandemic. In debates, several key topics have emerged, but the need to make substantive progress towards sustainable manufacturing clearly overshadows them all, writes Adrian Wilson.

Following two postponements, Index 2020 is finally set to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, and online on 19–22 October 2021. Editor Nick Butler rounds-up some of the highlights to expect at the exhibition.