Features

A wealth of opportunities continues to be created by the development of high-performance fibres, yarns, filaments and threads. Nick Butler offers some ideas of what to look for during Techtextil.

While machinery builders will save their most significant announcements for ITMA (to be held in Barcelona, Spain on 20–26 June 2019), Techtextil still represents an important opportunity for them to present to the technical textiles market. Editor Nick Butler previews what readers can expect to see in Frankfurt, Germany, on 14–17 May.

A dedicated hall for digital printing at Heimtextil in January 2019 provided pointers as to where this technology is headed in the lead-up to two other significant exhibitions in this sector later in the year. Adrian Wilson reveals what readers should now be looking for at FESPA Global Print Expo and ITMA.

An international symposium held in October 2018 and a market report published the month before have helped to identify the disruptive technologies that insiders believe will have the greatest impact on the nonwovens industry in the decade to follow. Ahead of IDEA 2019 on 25–28 March, Nick Butler reports which technologies have been singled out so that readers can use the occasion of the exhibition in Miami, Florida, USA, to find out more about them.

Ahead of JEC World on 12–14 March 2019, Composites Editor James Bakewell takes a closer look at materials technology that will no doubt be prevalent on the stands in Paris, France, and could be key to the high-volume manufacture of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic  parts for the automotive industry—sheet moulding compound. 

Two UK-based partners have developed a binder-free method for adding highly functional particles to nonwoven fabrics. During the Nonwovens for High-performance Applications symposium, held in Cannes, France, on 10–11 October 2018, Nick Butler learned how they do this.

Already a significant market, the latest products for bedding will be this year’s focus at a major annual exhibition dedicated to textiles for the home. Adrian Wilson previews what exhibits visitors to Heimtextil (to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, on 8–11 January 2019) can find to enhance their sleep.

In an age where industrial, even cross-sector, collaboration is creating significant opportunities for businesses, Darren Mitchell, a specialist patent attorney for the law firm Potter Clarkson, offers advice to would-be participants on how to protect their assets and avoid subsequent court battles while negotiating partnership deals.

Gaining significant clues to the kinds of developments textile manufacturers can expect to see at next year’s ITMA, Adrian Wilson visited this year’s precursor event, ITMA Asia + CITME, and discovered enthusiasm among machine builders for a future based on automation and data exchange.

Major opportunities for textile manufacturers supplying reinforcements to the composites industry are anticipated, with those working in the markets for transportation standing to gain most, as Adrian Wilson learned during the recent Global Fibers Congress.