Attendees at the International Conference on Textile Coating and Laminating held in Berlin, Germany, on 8–9 November 2017.

Judging from their comments, attendees at the International Conference on Textile Coating and Laminating held in Berlin, on 8–9 November 2017, left the German capital with a wealth of ideas relevant to their businesses, including knowledge about the latest cutting-edge technologies and materials creating an impact in the sector, and insights into how their suppliers, customers and competitors are dealing with changes forced on the industry by concerns for the environment, and health and safety.

Baldwin Technology, for instance, explained how it is exploiting its experience in the highly demanding newspaper print industry and adapting its hydraulic spray technology to suit the needs of textile finishers.

French company Fibroline, meanwhile, 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, according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jérôme Ville, who described the technology, its applications and the company’s vision for its commercialization.

Delegates also learned how: acoustic energy can be exploited to coat textiles; a technology for creating three-dimensional coatings can be used to attract a consumer’s attention 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 raw materials derived from petrochemical feedstocks.

Finally, 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. Several speakers considered in detail the commercial viability of alternative technologies.

Now the organizer has announced the details of the next event in this long-running series, which will return to Berlin on 14–15 March 2019. As always, the conference will focus on areas of high impact and growth potential for industry, such as smart and intelligent textile coatings and laminates, digital printing and coating, and coated nonwovens. And, while the core of the programme will consist of presentations by invited experts, there are opportunities for anyone with exciting and relevant ideas to present via the current Call for Papers, but hurry the deadline for responses is 14 September 2018.

Suggestions for topics include, but are not limited to:

• new developments in machinery and techniques such as bonding systems, developments in polymers, surface modifications and methods for adding highly functional properties to textiles;
• smart/intelligent textile coatings and laminates;
• growth technologies, including nanotechnology, antimicrobial/antibacterial, environmentally friendly technologies and self-decontaminating coatings;
• new applications in growth markets such as solar/thermal, fuel cells, composites and medical/biotechnology;
• environmental issues;
• disruptive technologies—new developments that will potentially change the industry, such as digital printing, graphene and nanotechnology in membranes, and alternatives for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coatings.

Accepted papers will qualify the speaker for a highly discounted registration fee (50%) and there will be preferential rates for delegates registering before the Early-Bird cut-off. To keep up-to-date with the latest  information, sign-up on the conference web-site for free updates. And for further information from the previous conference, contact the organizer to request a copy of the soon to be published Technical Textiles International Supplement on Textile Coating and Laminating, based on the presentations made last year.