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News

An elastic yarn designed to provide moisture management is the subject of European Patent EP 1 350 872.
US-based DuPont has developed a film-fibril sheet that, the company claims, has a better balance of key properties such as air permeability and liquid barrier resistance, and toughness and softness.
Saint-Gobain Vetrotex is to invest in its manufacturing capacity for glass fibre at its DouDian plant in Beijing, China.
Diolen Industrial Fibres has invested in more modernization at the company's tyre cord converting operations at its facility in Camacari, Brazil - Companhia Bahiana de Fibras (COBAFI).
In the absence of Saurer and Rieter, Phil Owen found little in Birmingham of interest for technical yarn producers exploiting the staple fibre route.
A problem with open-end (OE) spinning is that it has tended to be inflexible and what it makes has been lacking in character, which means that markets have been restricted to volume consumption of a p
A machine for manufacturing pre-shaped absorbent pads for sanitary items is described in US Patent 6 623 264 by GDM of Offanengo, Italy.
A medical dressing assembly has been developed by Medical Dressings of Muskegon, Michigan, USA.
A process for making a braided bifurcated stent is outlined in US Patent 6 622 604 by Boston Scientific/SciMed.
A design for large sails that are subjected to high air pressures is the subject of US Patent 6 624 098.
Murata - the only company to date to build an air-jet spinning machine (the MJS) - continues to develop what it describes as a vortex spinner-- European Patent EP 1 347 085.
Disposable surgical drapes and gowns that feature laminates secured by cluster bonding techniques have been developed by Allegiance.
Honeywell plans to expand production of its Beltec fibre to meet the growing need for tyre cap plies.
Production of Lenzing Lyocell resumed on 29 November after an incident at Lenzing's plant in Heiligenkreuz, Austria, on 23 September (see also, Technical Textiles International, November 2003, page 7)
A fabric for use in surgical garments is disclosed in US Patent 6 617 487 by Chou Su Jen of Chang Hua, Taiwan.
North American medical technology group C.R. Bard and mnemoScience of Aachen, Germany, have entered into a strategic alliance for the development of innovative shape memory polymers.
A knitted surgical mesh made from a biocompatible yarn is described in US Patent 6 638 284 by Ethicon.
US Patent 6 475 320 reports a development in composite design from Japan: a method of fabricating a composite wing based on superposed textiles placed on mandrels and processed in a closed jig.
International Patent WO 02/052086 describes aerogel composites reinforced by lofty fibrous batting in combination with one or both of short randomly oriented microfibres and conductive layers.
Rhodia is relaunching its phos- phonate-based textile flame retardants under the trade name of Amgard(r).
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