WELCOME TO TECHNICAL-TEXTILES.NET, the web's most comprehensive source of information about the world of performance and technical textiles. Full membership gives access to: unique feature articles; relevant, edited and verified news; events and more, to keep you up to date with the latest developments in materials, technologies, processes, patents and research, and business and markets

Features

IDTechEx predicts that the global market for advanced wound care products will grow to a value of US$20 billion a year by 2028. The market analyst recently shared its insights into the drivers behind this growth, reports Nick Butler, who also looks at the variety of medical textiles being developed to address these needs.

More than1600 textile machinery manufacturers will exhibit at the sixth combined ITMA Asia + CITME taking place on 15–19 October 2018 in Shanghai, China, covering 170 000 m2 of exhibition space to showcase state-of-the-art machinery. James Bakewell selects his highlights from the show.

Having invested more than US$10 million in equipment and additional converting services for flexible materials at sites in North America during 2018, Web Industries is now looking to expand its operations in Europe. Adrian Wilson interviewed key personnel to learn more.

The potential of integrated manufacturing and micro-factories was a dominant theme during the Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas exhibitions. Adrian Wilson reveals what he found during the co-located events, held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 22–24 May 2018.

Delegates at the International Conference on Textile Coating and Laminating (held in Berlin, Germany, on 8-9 November 2017) learned how: acoustic energy can be exploited to coat textiles; a technology for creating three-dimensional coatings can be used to exploit a consumer’s attraction to the touch and feel, in addition to any visual appeal, of a product; biotechnology is used to engineer polysaccharides as the basis of a range of high-performance biomaterials without the need for petrochemicals.

French company Fibroline has developed a process based on using electrical fields to drive dry powders into substrates. No heat is required and there is no rise in temperature during processing, which takes place at room temperature. Speaking at the International Conference on Textile Coating and Laminating, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jérôme Ville described the latest technology, its applications and the company’s vision for commercializing them.

Polyurethane, fluorocarbon and flame-retardant coatings have been integral parts of the textiles industry for many years, but all are based on the use of chemicals falling foul of modern legislation and standards with respect to human health and environmental impacts. Nick Butler reports how several speakers at the International Conference on Textile Coating and Laminating considered the viability of alternative technologies.

John McCurry interviewed Leib Oehmig, Glen Raven’s new Chief Executive Officer, and Harold Hill, the President of its Technical Fabrics division, to learn about a company determined to remain one of North America’s foremost manufacturers of specialist fabrics.

In the first months of 2018, plastics have continued to make plenty of unwanted headlines, with synthetic textiles entangled in an ongoing debate about sustainable manufacturing and single-use disposable products. Inevitably, this raises fears in the industry of wide-ranging legislation that will ban such products, fears that are already becoming reality in the UK, as Adrian Wilson reports.

The world is changing at a rapid pace, driven in major part by advancements in technology. The high-performance composites industry is no different and, as James Bakewell reports, at the 2018 edition of JEC World held in Paris, France, on 6–8 March, several key trends became apparent.

XXXX