Features

A survey of recent patents related to nanofibres and filtration allows Adrian Wilson to share some insights into research trends among major US and European manufacturers aiming to create improved filter media.

What are high-performance applications for nonwovens and why are they proliferating? From this vast array of opportunities, how can manufacturers choose the right market for their business? Adrian Wilson describes a unique event that will provide the answers.

Innovations abound throughout the fibre processing chain and increasingly developments are targeting technical textiles, writes Nick Butler.

Nick Butler selects the highlights from those exhibiting finishing machinery at ITMA Asia + CITME 2016.

Increasingly Asian manufacturers are turning to technical textiles and, while the principal focus of many attending ITMA Asia remains the traditional sectors of the industry, Nick Butler has still found plenty to interest those operating in performance markets.

More and more, nonwoven manufacturers are looking to make fabrics for technical applications and machinery builders are responding by developing equipment to meet their specific needs. Nick Butler reviews those about to be exhibited in Shanghai.

ITMA Asia + CITME 2016 will be held in Shanghai, China, on 21–25 October 2016 and Nick Butler shares his highlights of the exhibits relevant to manufacturers of technical textiles. He starts with technology for digital printing where the rapid pace of development will be evident as visitors discover just how much has changed in the scant few months since the last ITMA was held in November 2015 in Milan.

The oil price may be low, but as far as the growing market for biopolymers and biofibres is concerned, the prices of sugar and corn are just as significant, according to Adrian Wilson.

Ian Holme reports technical textiles were high on the agenda at the 24^th International Congress of the International Federation of Associations of Textile Chemists and Colourists, held in Pardubice, Czech Republic, on 13–16 June 2016.

Production of cars and lightweight vehicles in China has slowed over the past few years, but this has not stopped suppliers of textiles and nonwovens from investing in this market, says Adrian Wilson.